During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Operation Cold Comfort was a failed SAS raid that began with a parachute drop north of

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

on 17 February 1945. It was later renamed Zombie. The 12 man ski team under Capt. Littlejohn, and their equipment were widely scattered in the drop, and thereafter found themselves among hostile locals of essentially German origin. Their mission was to block by landslide the main rail lines through the

Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass ( , shortly ; ) is a mountain pass over the Alps which forms the Austria-Italy border, border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Alps, major passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has the lowes ...

, thus having a dramatic effect on German reinforcements moving south. The men spent most of their time in hiding and attempts to supply and reinforce by air were unsuccessful. Capt. Littlejohn and Corporal Crowley were captured and executed under

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

’s

Commando Order The Commando Order () was issued by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, OKW, the high command of the Wehrmacht, German Armed Forces, on 18 October 1942. This order stated that all Allies of World War II, Allied commandos captured in Europe and Africa ...

. Eventually on 31 March the situation had worsened to the point

exfil In military tactics, extraction is the process of removing personnel or units from an area; when conducted with stealth in an area controlled by the enemy it is referred to as exfiltration. An example of a hostile extraction was Battle of ...

tration was ordered.

References

A list of special operations
Includes a reference for the exact date of this mission. Conflicts in 1945 World War II British Commando raids Deaths by firearm in Italy Special Air Service operations 1945 in Italy {{WWII-stub