by Malcolm Tudor
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CHEROKEES IN PIEDMONT

Special Force Cherokee Mission parachuted into northern Piedmont on the night of 17-18 November 1944. The target, codenamed Adstone, was in Zimone, a small village near the mill town of Biella - known as 'the Manchester of Italy.'
    Heading the operation was Major Alastair Macdonald, who had previously served with the French Resistance. The other officers were explosives and sabotage expert Captain Jim Bell and Lieutenant Patrick Amoore, a skilled linguist who had been in Italy since the invasion and was afterwards promoted to captain. Corporal (later sergeant) Tony Birch was the wireless operator.
    In a signal to base Lieutenant Amoore reported:

    'Our drop was successful, though I landed in the middle of a pigsty between two large pigs that climbed over the wall in their excitement. I had dropped fourth and last which accounted for my narrowly missing the roof of a farmhouse situated outside Adstone DZ, this being achieved by pulling on the right hand lift web which pushed me a yard to the right in time. DZ Adstone is not ideal for body dropping, being rather too small. All the other members of the mission landed well. The DZ was attacked two hours afterwards by the fascist garrison of Cerrione, but the thrust was beaten off.'

    The very arrival of the mission was a tonic to the partisans. For more than a year they had been forced to rely on weapons captured from the enemy. Airdrops had been meagre owing to Allied suspicion of left-wingers ...
    The success of the project depended on boosting the firepower of the Resistance. So, in Alastair Macdonald's words, the 'first task was to find a larger and more easily defensible drop zone and to organise a big parachute drop of arms and explosives destined for the main partisan formations.'
    The choice for the new drop zone fell on a snow-covered plateau surrounded by high mountains, but it proved too difficult for aircraft to reach. As an alternative the partisans proposed a flat area at Baltigati in the commune of Soprana, north east of Biella. The site was high enough for the accesses to be safeguarded, but was also clothed in thick woods. This seemed to have compromised the plan until a clever solution was devised. Partisans approached sympathisers on the council and they readily agreed to announce a charitable initiative. The commune asked for 'volunteers' to cut the trees down in order to provide firewood for the needy during the harsh winter. Dozens of eager helpers appeared as if from nowhere and in two days completely deforested the site without raising the enemy's suspicions ...
    Confirmation of the airlift came through on Tuesday, 26 December - Saint Stephen's Day in Italy. The organisation was scrambled, though many partisans were rather sceptical after past disappointments. But an hour before sunset a squadron of Liberator bombers arrived over the Sessera Valley. The fascist garrison at Lessona fired random shots into the sky as multicoloured parachutes began to rain down on the hills. The supply drop was the largest by Special Force during the Italian campaign. ..............................................................................................................................................................