Operation Halyard, 1944

Operation Halyard (or Halyard Mission), known in Serbian as Operation Air Bridge (Serbian: Операција Ваздушни мост, romanized: Operacija Vazdušni most), was an Allied airlift operation behind Axis lines during World War II. In July 1944, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) drew up plans to send a team to the Chetniks force led by General Draža Mihailović in the German-occupied Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia for the purpose of evacuating Allied airmen shot down over that area. This team, known as the Halyard team, was commanded by Lieutenant George Musulin, along with Master Sergeant Michael Rajacich, and Specialist Arthur Jibilian, the radio operator. The team was detailed to the United States Fifteenth Air Force and designated as the 1st Air Crew Rescue Unit. It was the largest rescue operation of American airmen in history. Historian Jozo Tomasevich cites a report submitted to the OSS stating that 417 Allied airmen who had been downed over occupied Yugoslavia were rescued by Mihailović's Chetniks and airlifted out by the Fifteenth Air Force. Lieutenant Commander Richard M. Kelly (OSS) gives a total of 432 U.S. and 80 Allied personnel airlifted during the Halyard Mission. Historian Robert J. Donia places the number of Allied airmen rescued from Chetnik-controlled territory at between 500 and 600.