OSS Operation Spokane Plaque
Details:
On the front side of a commercial building at the second floor level.
An inscribed blue gray stone mounted to the side of a building.
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS)- precursor to the modern CIA, conducted numerous operations behind enemy lines in Italy in WW2. This plaque remembers the Spokane mission in Northern Italy conducted by Operation Groups Spokane. Operation Groups of the OSS in WW2 were the modern-day precursor to our Current Special Forces teams. These missions all operated in close coordination with Italian Partisan units.
From the OSS History Website:
This summary of the SPOKANE and SEWANEE missions is presented as a single mission report since the buildup of field deployment of this operation integrated the two missions under the command of Major Lorbeer, the commanding officer of SPOKANE.
Mission:
To harass German garrisons; disrupt enemy communications; gather and transmit intelligence; and establish liaison, supply, arm and train partisan units in the Tyrolean Alps north of Edolo, roughly between Valtellina and Val Camonica. The Operational group worked primarily with the Giustizia e Libertà (Justice and Liberty) Anti-Fascist Partisan movement.
Personnel of Operation Spokane:
| The OG of SPOKANE mission, and the dates of their landing were: SPOKANE | |
Monument Text:
The text is written in Italian:
Qui soggiornò il comando della
Missione alleata “Spokane” dell’ O.S.S.
Americana in appoggio alle formazioni
Partigiane “giustizia e libertà”
Marzo-maggio 1945
The translation in English is:
The location of the headquarters
Allied Mission “Spokane” American O.S.S.
Supporting units of the "Justice and Liberty" Partisans
March-May 1945
