Operation Maple was a series of World War II operations in Italy in support of the

Anzio landings The Battle of Anzio was a battle of the Italian Campaign of World War II that took place from January 22, 1944 (beginning with the Allied amphibious landing known as Operation Shingle) to June 5, 1944 (ending with the capture of Rome). The ope ...

. It comprised operations by the British

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

(2 SAS), starting on 7 January 1944. Operation "Thistledown" was successful but "Driftwood" failed and its objective had to be destroyed later by "Baobab". None of the members of the first two parties returned safely, either being captured or going missing. Before Anzio landings, it was required to cut rail links north of Rome and elsewhere on the east coast. Rail lines around Terni and

Orvieto Orvieto () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy, situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff. The city rises dramatically above the almost-vertical faces of tuff cliffs that are compl ...

were to be attacked by four men of "Thistledown" but all the team was captured. "Driftwood" consisted of two four man teams to cut the lines between Urbino and Fabriano and Ancona and Rimini: their fate is unknown but they are thought to have drowned or been captured and executed. A reinforcement party ("Baobab") was landed by sea on 30 January and destroyed a bridge between

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...

and Fano.

References

Conflicts in 1944 World War II British Commando raids Special Air Service 1944 in Italy {{WWII-stub