Eighty-two years ago, Operation „Ваздушни мост“ (Vazdušni most – Air Bridge, also known as Operation Halyard) was launched in German-occupied Yugoslavia. It became one of the largest Allied operations to rescue airmen stranded behind enemy lines during the Second World War. More than 500 Allied airmen were eventually evacuated by air, with the village of Pranjani in present-day Serbia serving as the centre of the operation.
The 82nd anniversary of the operation was recently commemorated in Pranjani with a state ceremony attended by representatives of the Serbian authorities and armed forces, the US Embassy in Serbia, the Ohio National Guard, the Halyard Foundation and families of those involved in the mission. Wreaths were laid at the Halyard Mission memorial, while the programme also included a flypast by a US Air Force transport aircraft and parachute jumps by US service members, personnel of the 63rd Parachute Brigade of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit of the Serbian Ministry of Interior.
Addressing those gathered in Pranjani, Milorad Veljović, representing the President of the Republic, highlighted the courage of Serbian soldiers and local inhabitants who sheltered and assisted Allied airmen at considerable personal risk.
“The Serbian people have always shown and demonstrated a sense of justice and humanity, even in the most difficult moments of their glorious history. Not even the superior fascist force could discourage Serbian peasants and fighters from carrying out a rescue operation that would be written about in textbooks for decades. This is a moving wartime drama which, regardless of the scale and magnitude of the operation, says much about the character of a people capable of showing solidarity and unity for a higher goal – freedom and a better future for generations to come,” – said Veljović during the ceremony in Pranjani.
Operation Halyard was organised in response to the growing number of Allied aircraft being shot down or forced to land in Yugoslavia. From spring 1944, the US Fifteenth Air Force intensified its bombing campaign against targets in Romania and Bulgaria, with aircraft flying from bases in southern Italy along routes over the Balkans. Damaged aircraft were particularly vulnerable to Axis fighters, forcing many crews to bail out over occupied Yugoslavia. Some airmen were captured, while others found refuge in areas controlled by local resistance forces.
By the summer of 1944, more than 100 Allied airmen were in areas controlled by Draža Mihailović’s forces, with local inhabitants providing them with food and shelter. Pranjani became a key location in the rescue effort.
An improvised airstrip was constructed at Galovića polje, near the village, allowing Allied aircraft to land and evacuate the airmen. The Halyard team, led by US Army Air Forces Lieutenant George Musulin, arrived at Pranjani by parachute on the night of 2–3 August 1944 and began organising the evacuation.
This operation subsequently enabled hundreds of Allied airmen to be flown out of occupied Yugoslavia. The rescue effort continued until the autumn of 1944 and formed part of a wider Allied effort to recover aircrews stranded behind Axis lines in the Balkans. The improvised airfield at Pranjani has since become the central site commemorating the Halyard Mission and those involved in the rescue.
All photos and quotations © Министарство одбране Републике Србије / MoD Republic of Serbia. Serbian MoD press releases were used.
