OSS Slovakia & Mauthausen Execution Monument
Details:
On the left side of the walkway into the park. Monument
A granite stone monument with two brass inscribed brass plaques attached to the front.
The plaque remembers US Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and British Special Operation Executive (SOE) that operated in Slovakia during WW2. The OSS Teams were known as Team "Dawes", "Day" and "Bowery". Many of the team members were executed at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp in January 1945.
From the US Embassy Slovakia Website:
In August 1944, teams from the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and British Special Operations Executive (SOE) personnel arrived in central Slovakia to work with Slovak resistance fighters in liberating Slovakia from Nazi occupation. As the uprising faltered, Tri Duby airfield was lost and Banska Bystrica was bombed, forcing the U.S. teams to flee toward Soviet lines. The OSS personnel separated into three small groups, one of which took refuge in Polomka, where they met up with their SOE counterparts. They found shelter in a small cabin on a hill above the town where they celebrated Christmas with their Slovak colleagues. The next day the cabin was overrun by a force of 300 Nazi troops including Slovak collaborators. The entire team at the cabin was captured and sent to Mauthausen concentration camp. Fourteen Americans and three British agents were shot after long interrogations and torture. War Correspondent for Associated Press Joe Morton was among the victims.
From the American Battle Monuments Commission Website:
Six months after the United States entered World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). As the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency, the OSS filled a specific need during the war—gathering intelligence and conducting covert operations behind enemy lines. As a small, nimble agency, the OSS typically focused on missions outside the scope of the traditional armed forces.
In September and October 1944, two small OSS teams-including American and European personnel-were flown in to Czechoslovakia, to assist an uprising of Slovak Partisans against the Nazi collaborationist regime. Resistance had begun in late summer and gained momentum. By September, the Slovak partisans controlled a large swath of territory centered around the city of Banska Bystrica. This created an opportunity for the OSS to help the resistance and provide intelligence back to OSS headquarters, while also assisting in the recovery of Allied airmen downed while flying bombing raids from Italy into Germany.
Shortly after the OSS teams arrived in country, a resolute German counteroffensive crushed the uprising. The German Army regained territory occupied by the partisans and began seeking out the OSS teams. For weeks they evaded detection. Plagued by limited supplies and bad weather, most of the mission’s personnel were found and captured in December 1944. They were brought to the Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz, Austria, where they were interrogated and tortured. In late January 1945, 14 members of the group were summarily executed. Their remains were never recovered.
Of those killed in Mauthausen, two were Europeans, and one, Joseph Morton, was an AP correspondent covering the mission. The remaining 11 are honored in ABMC cemeteries. Ten are commemorated on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery, and one is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing at Florence American Cemetery.
Cpl. Robert R. Brown, Headquarters Detachment, Office of Strategic Services
Capt. Edward Baranski, 2677th Regiment, Office of Strategic Services
Lt. James Holt Green, United States Naval Reserve
Lt. Jim Gaul, United States Naval Reserve
SP/X/2 Charles Heller, United States Naval Reserve
SSgt. Joe Horvath, Headquarters Company, Office of Strategic Services
1st Lt. Tibor Keszthelyi, Headquarters, Office of Strategic Services Regiment
MSgt. Jerry Mican, Headquarters Company, Office of Strategic Services
1st Lt. Lane H. Miller, 13rd Bomber Squadron, 376th Bomber Group, Heavy,
Photographers Mate First Class Nelson Paris, United States Naval Reserve
1st Lt. Francis Perry, 2677th Regiment, Office of Strategic Services
See site Banska Bystrica for more on the OSS in Slovakia.
Monument Text:
The inscription on the plaques are written in English and Slovakian. The English reads:
Upper Plaque:
IN TRIBUTE TO THE COURAGEOUS AMERICANS OF THE OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES AND THEIR SLOVAK COMRADES IN ARMS WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR FREEDOM
1944-1994
Lower Plaque:
LT James Green +
LT James Gaul +
CPT Edward Baranski +
1st LT Tibor Keszthelyi +
1st LT Kenneth Lain
1st William MacGregor
1st LT Lane Miller +
1st LT Francis Perry +
M/SGT Jerry Mican +
S/SGT Joseph Horvath +
SGT Steve Caltos
SGT Kenneth Dunleavy
SP/X/2 Charles Heller +
PhoM1C Nelson Paris +
Cpl Robert Brown +
Agent Steven Cora
Agent Francis Moly
Agent Anton Novak-Facuna
Agent Daniel Paletich +
Agent John Schwartz
Correspondent Joseph Morton +
Agent Maria Gulovicova
List of SOA Agents
+ indicated executed at Mauthausen Camp on 24.1.1945
1944-2017
Commemorates:
People:
Units:
13rd Bomber Squadron, 376th Bomber Group
2677th Company, Office of Strategic Services
2677th OSS Regiment
Office of Strategic Services (OSS)
OSS
Partisans
Resistance
SOE
United States Army
United States Naval Reserve
United States Navy
Wars:
WWII
Other images :
