First SEALs (11 page)

W
INSTON
C
HURCHILL CONTINUED
to push for operations in the Aegean with an eye on a postwar world; however, the Allies lacked sufficient resources to conduct operations in the area. As a result, the British operations failed. Ultimately the Germans boldly counterattacked with a combined airborne and amphibious
assault. They crushed the British garrison on Leros, which had a critical airfield, and seized the island of Kos. Soon they also encircled Samos and cut it off. In an unheralded operation, OSS caïques successfully evacuated hundreds of Greek and British personnel from the island.

T
AYLOR'S EXPERIENCE ON
the missions to Samos and Leros highlighted the glaring need for high-speed motorboats. The caïques were mechanically unreliable and extremely costly to operate. The OSS took a number of stopgap measures to compensate for the boats' problems, including swapping out the marine engines for tank and aircraft engines that the service somehow obtained. For months Taylor hounded OSS and Allied headquarters in the area to provide his fledgling Maritime Unit with fast motorboats.

Despite the lack of high-speed craft, Taylor accomplished a great deal in the few months he was in Egypt. Additional MU personnel hadn't left the United States by October 8, so Taylor had to rely entirely on himself. Of his accomplishments in the region the chief of the Maritime Unit in Washington noted, “
Lieutenant Taylor has been successful in establishing water transportation out of Alexandria to various island contacts, and his service is being enthusiastically received by all parties in the Middle East. Lieutenant Taylor is the caliber of a man who can do a big job in his field; in spite of all handicaps he has proven his worth to Maritime.”

Always forward thinking and pioneering, Taylor realized the fast craft he was requesting suited a range of missions, including those of the underwater variety that Taylor had spent so much time planning for in the States. He would later write, “
Provisionally tried underwater swimming apparatus now includes underwater breathing apparatus and mask; luminous and waterproof watches, depth gauges, and compasses; protective underwater suit; auxiliary swimming devices; and limpets and charges. With this equipment and proper training, operatives could make a simple and almost
perfectly secure underwater approach to a maritime target and effect a subsequent getaway. An underwater operative, for example, could place a limpet against the hull of an enemy munitions ship in a crowded harbor with good chances of destruction.”

Taylor also saw the opportunity to open up a new dimension of warfare, one that would become a hallmark of the U.S. Navy SEALs: parachute insertion. Taylor was one of the first OSS officers to document this groundbreaking method of delivering underwater commandos to the target, stating, “
Underwater operatives and equipment might be landed by parachute to attack targets in inland waterways, such as hydro-electric dams on a lake or important locks in canals. Such an approach offers a unique technique in the penetration of enemy defenses.” Several months later Taylor's innovative ideas were incorporated into the Maritime Unit training manual, which included an exercise to destroy a canal by parachuting underwater swimmers into the target, where they would don rebreathers and plant limpet mines along the enemy-held waterway.

A
FTER THE ASSAULT ON
Salerno in September 1943, the Allies trained a significant focus on Italy. Determined to remain in the midst of the fighting, Jack Taylor requested and received a transfer to Italy to set up Maritime Unit operations in the port city of Bari on the Adriatic Sea to implement the plans he hatched with Hayden and Tofte to complete the supply service to the Yugoslav partisans. Led by Josip Broz Tito, the partisans numbered about 180,000 men. Joining forces with the Loyalist troops led by Draza Mihailovic, Yugoslavia's insurgent troops embarked on a series of military operations that tied up roughly fifteen German divisions. The Allies wanted to keep those German troops in Yugoslavia rather than fighting in Italy or on the Eastern Front. In this context, supplying Tito's forces became a key priority for the Allies and the OSS.

Taylor's request for transfer was helped along by a letter from the British governor general of the island of Samos, which thanked the OSS and expressed “
his appreciation for the services rendered and for the medical supplies.” According to official MU history, “
It was experience of this type that caused Lieutenant Taylor to be appointed OSS Operations Officer at Bari when the decision was made in December, 1943, to establish a base there to service Yugoslav partisans.”

As Taylor was leaving for his new post in Italy, additional Maritime Unit men from Washington arrived at the Greek Desk in Cairo to augment Taylor's command of one. Along with the men, word came that the long-awaited high-speed boat would also arrive, on loan from the U.S. Army. Taylor's parting words to his replacements were “
sign for it in my name before they change their mind.”

T
AYLOR WOULDN'T BE
heading to Italy alone: Hayden, Tofte, and Smith would accompany him, although it looked at first as though Hayden would be taking part in a very different mission. Initially Hayden received orders for a proposed mission in the Greek isles. Handing the former leading man “
a formidable sheaf of documents, Colonel Guenther advised, ‘I suggest, lieutenant, that you study these intelligence reports. Familiarize yourself with the situation in Greece. But I warn you, you will find it a most complex situation.'”

Weeks passed, and no one in command followed up with Hayden, who was under the impression he was taking “
a group of escapees from Greece fitting out a cargo ketch, and running her up through the Greek Islands.” Guenther, after returning from Washington, finally informed him that “
The British have that mission sewn up.”

“I see,” responded Hayden.

“Well, [Hayden], a report has just come in that there is a man named Tito up in Yugoslavia. They say he's a Communist, but apparently he's in control of quite a large guerrilla organization, so why don't you hop up to Bari, Italy . . . and see whether you can be of some service.”

With a “fistful of orders,” Hayden joined Taylor, Smith, and Tofte, and they departed for Bari.

*
The Italians, who had broken from the Axis not long after the Allies landed at Salerno, Italy, on September 9, 1943, surrendered to the Allies. To prevent Italy's collapse, the Germans quickly occupied Rome and other portions of the country with their forces. For several weeks the Italians were unsure of their alliances. Later the Italian change of allegiance would provide a unique opportunity for MU's underwater operations.

9

TREASURE ISLAND

B
ACK IN THE
U
NITED
S
TATES
,
under Woolley's direction, the original handful of combat swimmers multiplied, morphing into Operational Swimmer Groups I, II, and L, comprised of thirty to forty men per unit.
*
Woolley's vision of creating combat swimmers on par with the Italians was becoming a reality. With Christian Lambertsen finally graduated from medical school, the newly minted naval captain joined the OSS on a full-time basis. He would play a key role in the swimmer groups' ongoing development as well as the continuing development of the LARU.

Recruiting men to utilize the rebreather equipment proved a challenge. Instead of looking for former Navy divers, who often used hardhat-like diving equipment and worked on everything from submerged wrecks to ship repairs below the waterline, the OSS wanted expert swimmers. The MU didn't want average swimmers who needed instruction; they sought out the best in the world—Olympic-caliber swimmers and national champions. The OSS knew these men were in excellent physical condition and were experienced in the use of swim fins and face masks. A large number of these world-class swimmers were, in
fact, Southern California “beach rats.” Undoubtedly spurred on by Taylor's early experience testing the rebreather in the waters of Santa Monica with Wadley and Peterson, OSS combed the beaches as well as the Coast Guard and Navy ranks, looking to recruit lifeguards and expert swimmers. One Southern California beach rat, James Eubanks, later reflected,

I was a lifeguard in L.A. County. If you've seen
Baywatch
on TV, it was
Baywatch
minus the babes. We had a boat named
Baywatch
, but we didn't have girls in the lifeguard towers. Prior to the war, I was a diver who won quite a few rough-water swim meets. The Coast Guard put out a call for expert swimmers to help with operating landing craft since we knew surf conditions. Two of us volunteered. They gave us a Second Class Boatsman rating. After boot camp, they placed me as a swimming instructor and I couldn't get off the base camp. After several months of boring duty (with the Coast Guard), we received notice that the OSS wanted volunteer swimmers for hazardous work with a ten percent chance of coming back. It sounded like a good way to get off the base, and a way into the war, so I volunteered.

After Raider training at Camp Pendleton, which included small-boat handling and beach assaults, additional training commenced at Catalina Island on the West Coast on the leased grounds of a former Boy Scout camp. MU dubbed the facility “Area WA.”

OSS Maritime Unit underwater training then migrated to the sun-swept beaches of the Bahamas, specifically Treasure Island, a spit of land only two and a half miles long and three hundred feet wide. Only an elderly black caretaker and his family occupied the limestone-formed island. The remote location offered security from the prying eyes of the Bahamians and the unlikely prospect of German spies.

In sharp contrast to the chilly, polluted Potomac River in which earlier swimmer training took place, the pristine, crystal waters of the Caribbean offered excellent visibility. The men were hit with a massive amount of vivid sensory detail, including gorgeous reefs and a variety of colorful, exotic fish. They frequently encountered a four-foot barracuda “
who was jokingly named Horace.” One operative recalled, “He seemed to take great delight in rushing at a swimmer and then stopped about three feet away to work his jaws. As soon as the swimmer made a flick at him with a spear, he would dash off with a swish of his tail.”