5 – Operation Wallace: 19 August – 19 September 1944
This was a mission led by the incomparable Major Roy Farran and involved aiding the French Resistance as they looked to push the occupying Germans back. At this point, the Germans had lost their position in Normandy and indeed, they had retreated from Southern France. The majority of German troops in the Falaise Pocket (an area around the eastern town of Falaise) were being killed or captured and more troops in the west were trapped.
On 19 August, Farran arrived at Rennes airfield as part of a 60 man and 20 jeep squad from the 2nd SAS. Within four days, the team had navigated 200 miles through enemy lines and joined the Allied-held base near Chatillon which had been set up by Operation Hardy. It could be said that this mission was one of the final nails in the coffin of German occupation in France.
The retreating Germans were no match for the fierce SAS team and by the end of the operation on 19 September, the Germans had sustained 500 casualties. In addition, a German train was destroyed along with 95 vehicles and 100,000 gallons of petrol. For a Nazi force that was rapidly running low on supplies and in full retreat, this was yet another blow. Once the hard work was done, the SAS squad took ‘illicit’ leave in Paris!
It is said that Farran was amazed by the fighting spirit of the French Resistance members who had accompanied the SAS on their mission. He used this beautiful phrase to describe a Frenchwoman’s desire for freedom: “Her smile ridiculed the bullets.” As it happened, Farran and his men were not quite done and they prepared for Operation Tombola.