 Headquarters of the operational groups in the Mediterranean Theater are located at Caserta, Italy. Company A, at present the only active unit, is operating solely in Italy, with its headquarters at Siena. For the conduct of effective guerrilla warfare in enemy occupied territory, organized native resistance groups are indispensable. The first job of Company A, therefore, was to drop food and supplies into the partisans who are trapped in northern Italy, between the German-Austrian border and the fighting front to the south. When the Allies invaded Italy, some 200,000 of these Italian anti-fascists, anticipating liberation, declared themselves openly against both the Germans and the fascists. But when the Allied offensive bogged down, the partisans became marked men, known to the fascists among whom they formerly lived. Having to live out of reach of the Germans in rugged, unproductive country, their houses and crops often burned. These natives became dependent upon OSS for their maintenance, especially during the harsh winters. On December 2, 1944, OG headquarters in Siena received a directive from Allied armies in Italy for men to operate with a given group of partisans behind enemy lines. This directive put into motion a mission typical of the many now operating in northern Italy. The men selected for the job were members of the Cayuga team, which was called in for a briefing session by Captain Albert R. Matarazzi, operations officer for Company A. Here the men are given the data furnished by R&A, G2 and SI. They study the terrain in which they are to operate, pinpoint enemy installations, identify communication and transportation lines, learn who the partisan leaders are, and get all available information pertinent to the job at hand. The pilots who fly the men in are briefed on weather and given their destination. They must be very careful to identify the drop zones, which will be marked on the ground by code letters formed with rocks, logs, paths in the snow, or even clothes looking like wash spread out to dry. This team, representative of OG activity in Italy, is composed of volunteers from the U.S. Army, recruited particularly for their foreign language speaking abilities. Trained by OSS as specialists in guerrilla warfare, they are infiltrated or parachuted behind the lines, where their job is to organize, equip, lead and fight with the partisan resistance groups. The fact alone that American soldiers in American uniforms speaking the native language come to aid the people in their fight against the enemy has a tremendous morale effect among these native groups. The partisan officer, the man with the cigarette, having come down from the north to appeal for help, is returning with the Cayuga team to his people. The mission of OG teams in general is to exploit to the limit the possibilities of waging war behind enemy lines, but no specific operations can be planned until the men actually drop into the region and study the situation at first hand. No communication except routine reports were received from the Cayuga team for six days. On December 8, however, the Cayuga radio operator sent a message which was not routine. Received and decoded by headquarters, it meant that Cayuga was ready for action. Urgent, stens, marlins, plastic for demolition, ammo. The message meant that the mission had laid plans for an operation. Immediately the equipment required to do the job is broken out of the supply sheds and prepared for delivery. Where special equipment, such as mortar shells is requested, it must be individually wrapped and OG personnel often pitches in to speed up delivery. Packed in special containers to ensure perfect parachute drops, the material is loaded into the waiting C-47s, planes of the 12th Air Force. The drops will be carefully tied to the static lines, marked by their special code letters. Flying over unfriendly territory is hazardous under the best conditions. There is constant fear of enemy interception and often the planes are turned back by foul weather. Whenever available, escorts of fighter planes are provided to protect the C-47s. Mass daylight drops are attempted only over areas which are fairly hidden in mountain ranges and where there are no reported German patrols. The supplies which are dropped into the missions enable the partisans to hit back at the Germans. The supplies are used to blow up highway bridges, cut power cables, destroy substations, attack garrisons, harass the Germans wherever and whenever possible. We know that this particular equipment was put to good use because the last report received from the Cayuga mission read, enemy mopping up operations in this area have now ceased.