13. This Hero Led 6000 French Irregulars Behind Nazi Lines
In his first mission, William Colby deployed into France as a Jedburgh team commander, working with French Resistance guerrillas. He experienced harrowing adventures along the way. They began with a pilot who mistakenly dropped Colby 20 miles off target, in the middle of a German-occupied village, and included a narrow escape from a collaborationist traitor who almost delivered him to the Gestapo.
Our hero overcame the rough start to his mission and worked his way through the difficulties. He eventually ended up commanding about 6000 French irregulars and led them in harassing the Nazis, until his command linked up with General George S. Patton’s Third Army in the fall of 1944. That stellar performance was praised by Colby’s superiors, and earned him a Bronze Star plus a French Croix de Guerre. He was given some time to rest and recuperate, and upon his return on November 1st, 1944, Colby was given command of an ethnically Norwegian OSS unit based in Scotland.