Lieutenant George M Hearn USMCR OSS
This text is taken from Chapter Twelve of "Herringbone Cloak - GI Dagger: Marines of the OSS" by Major Robert E Mattingly, U.S. Marine Corps, and is interesting because it throws a different light on PPA's part in the capture of Chioggia on 28 April 1945 than appears in Popski's book. More commentary will be added later: we just wanted to show this, having discovered it a few years ago.
Wed 25 Jan 2012: Sometimes you have to laugh: only a few days after publishing this page and completely coincidently, the son of Lieutenant George Hearn's boss Lieutenant Richard Kelly got in touch with us and provided a press release relating to these OSS activities, now reproduced at the end of the article. We hadn't realised the involvement of the US Coastguard in OSS Maritime Unit operations either, as can be seen in a link also kindly provided today by another knowledgable researcher: Guardian Spies.
Chapter XII : One Marine ... Eleven Hundred Germans
The tall, freckle-faced American strolled casually into the elegant hotel room as though he owned the entire premises. Twelve German officers were seated at a polished table; outside, hundreds of heavily armed enemy troops were busy turning the Italian town into a fortress. The American eyed the Germans and said, "I've come to offer you a chance to surrender before we start our air bombardment and ground attack." First Lieutenant George M. Hearn, USMCR, was about to accomplish one of the most dramatic coups of any OSS officer in World War II.
Lieutenant Hearn was dirty and unarmed, but he made an immediate impression nonetheless. Over six feet tall and heavily muscled, he looked like a football player and soke with the authority of a commander. Both descriptions were accurate, although his command was hardly one to strike fear into the assembled enemy. What was highly inaccurate was his assertion that the city of Chioggia was marked for imminent attack. Hearn's airplanes did not exist and his ground troops amounted to a handful of guerillas and six Italian Marines.
George Hearn had entered the Marine Corps in 1943 following graduation from San Jose State College in California. Commissioned on 1 December, he immediately volunteered for duty with OSS and was so detailed once his basic Marine training had been completed.
Hearn was initially assigned to the operating base at Algiers. later he became a member of the Maritime Unit operating in the Adriatic.
His first job involved the training and conduct of clandestine agent and sabotage infiltrations by cabin cruiser and rubber boat along the northern Italian coastline. By mid-1944, the Allied drive in Italy had been stymied by Field Marshall Kesselring's Goth Line. All attempts to batter through the mountain defenses brought heavy casualties to the British Eighth and U.S. Fifth Armies. Clearly, flanking attacks from the sea were called for. But Anzio and Salerno had been costly near-failures, and the bulk of Allied shipping was tied up in supporting the "main" fronts in Normandy and southern France.
Raids, on the other hand, might bring such chaos to the German rear area that any penetration of the Gothic Line would unhinge the whole system. To accomplish just this task, OSS began a series of supply runs to the Italian partisans operating north of the Po River.
In northern Italy, six principal anti-Fascist parties had banded together to form the Comitato di Liberazione per l'Alta Italia, commonly referred to as CLNAI. Headquarters of the resistance was centered in the industrial city of Milano. In November 1944, several top CLNAI leaders, including future premier Ferruccio Parri, were smuggled out of Italy through neutral Switzerland by the OSS. "On 7 December 1944 an agreement was signed by SACMED authority whereby OSS and SOE would each allocate 80 million lire per month to support CLNAI. This money would be repaid to the British and American Governments after the war.
In the summer, fall and winter of 1944, OSS was instrumental in harnessing resistance groups throughout North Italy and forging them into a weapon that could create a major diversion of German effort on the Italian front. In the interior, partisan bands were equipped and trained and their operations coordinated for maximum effectiveness.
Lieutenant Hearn and his associates were concerned lest major partisan operations begin too soon. The Po Delta area was a major agricultural region. Three hundred years before, the Venetians had begun building a vast system of dams, dikes, and bypasses which resulted in changing the entire course of the Po. Napoleon had also conducted extensive engineering projects in the vicinity. If the Germans destroyed the dams and pumping stations, not only would the Po become a nightmare for the Italians, but it would also present the advancing Allied armies with a water barrier as formidable as the mountains.
It was a ticklish situation, and when the British and American advance began in earnest in early 1945, the partisans grew increasingly restive. By mid-April, Bologna had been liberated and the guerillas were itching to commence operations. OSS operative who continued urging restraint were greeted with mal occhio--the evil eye.
Just south of the mouth of the Po is a large island, the Isola Donzella. OSS planned to use this as a main supply base, but the Germans struck, first. On 20 April, they attacked the island, which was defended by several companies of poorly armed irregulars. For two days a eries of short but bitter fights erupted up and down Donzella. The guerillas had one important advantage--they knew the island's terrain backward and forward. Eventually the Germans decided to cut their losses. On 22 April, most retreated back to the mainland, blowing the only connecting bridge on their way out and killing all farm animals upon which they laid eyes.
That morning,OSS headquarters in Ravenna asked for a volunteer to join the partisans on Isola Donzella. Lieutenant Hearn jumped at the opportunity. Accompanied by Corporal Peter Rago--an American GI from Staten Island--and six members of the San Marco Marine Regiment,Royal Italian Navy, Hearn boarded a Chris-Craft and set course northward. Seldom had the Maritime Unit operated in daylight (Hearn had done 20 previous missions at night), but the Luftwaffe had been gradually expunged form the Italian sky and the little motor yacht made the passage without incident.
Once ashore, Hearn learned that some enemy troops still occupied the northeastern tip of the island and were holed up in the small village of Ca Tiepolo. There were now about 300 guerillas on hand, all of whom were anxious for Hearn to lead them. Moving toward Ca Tiepolo, Hearn and his motley force came under sporadic rifle and machine gun fire. Soon German artillery began accurate fires from the mainland as well. The Italians wavered.
Sensing that the position was too strong to attack, Hearn and his San Marco Marines set about establishing a rough defensive line. This proved a wise precaution. Soon after sundown, the enemy made a bid to rout the guerillas by a surprise attack. Amidst the crack of the shells, the chatter of machine guns, the crump of mortars, and glowing red star clusters, he, his San Marco Marines, and his one Corporal were tiny desperate figures running up and down the frontline partisan positions. Hearn and his men encouraged them to fight, to stand their ground, not to flee before the violent German pressure. . . . the advance was checked.
The next morning, Hearn took stock of the situation. Although the enemy had not been crushed, he continued to control most of the portion of Donzella which overlooked the mouth of the Po. This ruled out any German retreat across the river on the mainland. But seven miles upriver was a major ferry point. Hearn wanted to block that route as well, but first he needed to eliminate any possibility of further acton on the island. The only solution was to launch another attack.
Taking the only bazooka in the guerillas' small arsenal, Hearn crawled to within a hundred yards of the main German position. Two quick rockets sent sandbags flying. Then, three of his Marines rushed the bunker. Heartened, the guerillas followed this lead and within 90 minutes the island was theirs. Twenty Germans surrendered, the rest were either killed or managed to escape to the mainland.
His rear secure, Hearn sent a patrol of twenty guerillas and one Italian Marine NCO across to the mainland. Six hours later, this little group returned with the news that the Germans were pulling out northward; good ambush sites were available; and the populace was waiting for "liberation."
Emboldened by the patrol report, Hearn picked 40 men and headed for the ferry.
After a three-hour march, the ambush party reached their harbor site. Hearn's men were now several miles inland and well over a hundred miles ahead of the advancing British Eighth Army. They set up their two mortars, laid out fields of fire for the pair of machine guns, and waited.
Within an hour, two German trucks appeared. Both were loaded with troops. Hearn calculated the range and dropped a 60mm mortar bomb dead center on the first truck. The machine guns opened fire. It was over in two minutes. Dead soldiers littered the road and the living had their hands skyward. The guerillas cleared the road, posted a guard on the prisoners and resumed their firing positions. Forty-five minutes later the same scene was reenacted.
For most of the day, Hearn's group kept to this script. The ferry was out of earshot and worked so slowly that only two or three truckloads could be moved across at one time. Proceeding piecemeal, the convoy was methodically chopped to pieces without a single friendly casualty. Just before dusk, Hearn withdrew back to the island and radioed the day's results to Ravenna: thus far he had knocked out a dozen vehicles, killed nearly a hundred Germans, and had a growing bag of POWs. In response to this news, OSS despatched two resupply drops and promised reinforcements. During the night, the planes came over and parachuted additional arms and ammunition to Donzella.Then Hearn got his first sleep in more than 3 days.
At ten o'clock the next morning, several landing craft flying the White Ensign of Britain's Royal navy growled into the Po's estuary.On board were 60 wind-burned veterans of the Long Range Desert Group's "Special Demolition Squadron Number 1," better known as Popski's Private Army. With them they brought six more San Marco Marines, additional weapons and supplies, and their own favorite mode of transport: 20 jeeps, each mounting a .50 caliber machine gun.
Popski's men had orders to sweep inland and roar about the countryside in their accustomed fashion shooting up everything German that moved. Hearn was to facilitate their operations by going back to the mainland himself and organizing guerilla support for both the PPA and the advancing Allied ground troops.
Fifteen miles to the north was the Adige River. Beyond that lay the Brenta River, which empties in the Lagoon of Venice. The principal defensive terrain in the region was occupied by the town of Chioggia, an old fortress. The Germans were concentrating their forces there. Hearn organized a 35-man patrol and moved out.
After five hours of steady by cautious advance, they reached the Adige. No Germans had been seen, so Hearn commandeered two small fishing boats and crossed the river. The Brenta was three miles further . . . still no resistance. Just as dusk was settling on the mountains to the west, the first contact occurred.
A strong German outpost on the south side of the Brenta opened fire on the patrol's advance guard. Hearn immediately posted his men in front of the blocking position and, taking the remainder, circled around to the right. Soon he had the enemy caught with the river to their backs and a turned flank. Forty-five more sets of hands were raised.
That night, dozens of refugees from Chioggia filtered through Hearn's perimeter, One told an interesting story. "The German," he said, "are evacuating. By tomorrow there will only be twenty or thirty left in the city." This news prompted the Lieutenant to enter the town proper.
Before dawn, Hearn and Corporal Rago set out toward Chioggia with a small party of Marines and guerillas. Soon they met an Italian fisherman who was headed into the city. With Rago interpreting, Hearn asked the man if he had hear anything about the Germans' leaving or wanting to surrender. The fisherman replied that he had indeed hear such rumors. Hearn told him to go and find a German officer and tell him that the American Army was advancing and that an American officer wanted to parlay.
Within fifteen minutes, three Germans carrying a white flag appeared. Hearn told them he had been sent to accept the surrender of Chioggia. They eyed him suspiciously and said they needed to discuss this with their commander, perhaps the American would like to accompany them? Hearn instantly started to sweat. How many commanders could thirty troops have?
Turning to Rago, the only other American within a hundred miles, Hearn said, "Go back to our men and tell them to hold their fire until I return." In a few minutes, Rago was back (it did not take long to "pass the word" to 35 men) and the two OSS men headed for town with the German officers.
In ten minutes we were in the town proper. One glance at the streets and I knew my worst fears were justified. For the first time a sharp sense of personal fear hit me. Hundreds of heavily armed German troops were milling around; every second one had an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder. Barbed wire and sand bagged buildings were everywhere. Surrender? If ever a place looked ready for a fight this was it.
Hearn and Rago were escorted to the main hotel, which doubled as the Kommandatur. There the Lieutenant met his twelve Germans. The senior officer, a Kriegsmarine Captain, signalled for him to take a seat. Hearn began, "I am Lieutenant George Hearn of the United States Army. I am in command of the forward scouting unit of my regiment. . . . In graphic detail, the Lieutenant explained that the Air Corps was about to launch a devastating raid on Chioggia, and that only an immediate surrender could prevent further bloodshed. The Germans glanced at each other and whispered back and forth. Finally, the Captain asked, "If I agree to surrender can you call off the air attack immediately?"
Now was the time for "poker nerves," and Hearn had them.
"I will call off the Air Force as soon as I return to my unit," he said. "And, by the way," Hearn continued, "exactly how many men will you be surrendering?"
"Eleven hundred," came the reply. Eleven hundred! Hearn's mind reeled. He had barely enough food for his own men. How in the devil was he going to cope with over a thousand POWs? While he did some fast calculating, the Lieutenant's blue eyes never wavered. He explained that he would be back at two o'clock to work out the final details. The Germans seemed anxious to get it over with, so why not accommodate them?
Hearn rose, saluted, and marched out. Then he and Rago climbed into a waiting horse-drawn cart and drove slowly out of the city. Back at his guerilla command post, Hearn immediately sent men in every direction to search for the PPA. At least they looked like an advance guard.
It was one-thirty when a jeep carrying Lieutenant Harold S.C. Wallbridge of Popski's "R" Patrol came roaring into view. Steve Wallbridge listened incredulously to Hearn's story. He had gotten the message that something was brewing at Chioggia, but that was all. Wallbridge's arrival raised the "Allied" strength to six jeeps and to men. With two Second Lieutenants now on the scene, the German position was surely hopeless!
While the PPA jeeps swung downriver to find a bridge, Hearn and Wallbridge requisitioned two bicycles and pedaled furiously back into the town. Arriving at the Kommandatur, Hearn announced that the air attack had indeed been cancelled and that the "main Allied force" would bypass the city to avoid any incidents. Soon, additional reconnaissance troops would arrive. The Germans accepted it all as gospel.
That night, German and British soldiers jointly patrolled the streets of chioggia. The majority of the garrison was directed to stack its arms and withdraw to the coastal defense positions overlooking the Adriatic approaches to Venice. The German commander turned over all of his files, including a complete chart of the barrier mine field. In addition to the bag of prisoners, Hearn and Wallbridge inventoried eight batteries of 88mm dual purpose guns and a battery of coast artillery. It took two days for the first regular army units to reach the area and relieve the lieutenants of their charges. Ironically, the division assigned to this duty was Italian and had never before liberated a town.
Lieutenant Hearn received the Bronze Star for his daring coup at Chioggia. Today it seems a small reward. The Italian Government was more grateful. Hearn was one of only a handful of OSS officers to receive the Silver Medal for Military Valor. His citations reads in part:
. . . assigned to duty with the Saboteur Unit of the San Marco Marine Regiment, Royal Italian Navy, he took part in 30 operations behind enemy lines. During a series of bold and successful actions carried out with saboteur squads and partisan groups, Lieutenant Hearn participated in the liberation of a large area of the national territory, alone he captured the city of Chioggia, together with 1400 prisoners. . . .
OSS Rago Rismondo Press Release 26 Sep 1945
