During
World War II, Operation Begonia was the
airborne
Airborne or Airborn may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis
* ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film
* ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...
counterpart to the amphibious Operation Jonquil, conducted by
British SAS
SAS or Sas may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''SAS'' (novel series), a French book series by Gérard de Villiers
* ''Shimmer and Shine'', an American animated children's television series
* Southern All Stars, a Japanese rock ba ...
and
Eighth Army Airborne between
Ancona and
Pescara,
Italy, from 2–6 October 1943. The operational force comprised 61 men.
[Operation Begonia](_blank)
/ref>
Objective
The object was to locate escaped POW
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...
s in the interior and muster them on beach locations for extraction. ''Begonia'' involved the interior parachute drop by four parties of Airborne and one party of 2 SAS. ''Jonquil'' entailed four seaborne beach parties from 2 SAS with the French SAS Squadron as protection.
Outcome
Faults in planning and the omission of radios resulted in hundreds of POWs being located and forwarded to the beaches, but only 50 meeting with the beach parties and being evacuated.