WW2 Stories: Operation Halyard - The Greatest Rescue Mission

Greetings, history enthusiasts. I'm Steve Matthews, and welcome back to WW2 Stories. Today, we're going to explore what might be the most extraordinary rescue mission of World War II—an operation so incredible that it remained classified for over half a century after the war ended. This is the story of Operation Halyard, a mission that combined daring, ingenuity, sacrifice, and cooperation between American airmen and Serbian villagers to achieve what seemed impossible—all while under the constant threat of Nazi discovery and execution.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Greetings history enthusiasts. I'm Steve Matthews and welcome
back to WW2 Stories. Today, we're going to explore
what might be the most extraordinary rescue mission of
World War 2IN Operation so incredible that it remained
classified for over half a century after the war ended.

(00:20):
This is the story of Operation Halliard, a mission that
combined daring, ingenuity, sacrifice, and cooperation
between American airmen and Serbian villagers to achieve
what seemed impossible, all while under the constant threat
of Nazi discovery and execution.Imagine, if you will, a scene
that seems straight out of a Hollywood thriller.

(00:42):
Hundreds of American airmen stranded behind enemy lines and
Nazi occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian farmers risking
execution to hide these strangers in their homes.
A makeshift airstrip carved frommountainous terrain using only
hand tools and oxen. Transport planes landing in
broad daylight deep in enemy territory while fighters circled

(01:05):
overhead for protection. And all of this coordinated by a
small team of operatives who parachuted in with nothing but a
radio and their wits. This wasn't fiction.
This was Operation Halliard, andit's story begins high above the
Romanian countryside in 1944 as American bombers undertook one
of the most dangerous missions of the air war in Europe, the

(01:28):
oil campaign targeting Nazi Germany's Achilles heel.
By early 1944, Allied military planners had identified
Germany's oil supply as a critical vulnerability.
Without fuel, the Nazi war machine would grind to a halt.
No tanks, no aircraft, no warships.

(01:49):
The largest single source of this precious resource was the
Plosti oil fields and refineriesin Romania, which supplied
approximately 35% of Germany's wartime petroleum needs.
The strategic importance of the Plosti oil complex had been
recognized early in the war. On August 1st, 1943, the

(02:10):
Americans had launched OperationTidal Wave, a daring low level
bombing raid against the refineries.
The mission had been a costly failure.
Of the 177 B, 24 bombers that participated, 53 were shot down
and another 55 were damaged. Five Medals of Honor were

(02:31):
awarded for the raid, the most for any single air action in
history. But the damage to the oil
facilities was quickly repaired.By 1944, with improved aircraft,
better tactics and greater numerical strength, the Allies
were ready to try again. This time, the task of
destroying the Pelosi facilitiesfell largely to the 15th Air

(02:54):
Force, based in southern Italy. Beginning in April 1944, waves
of B24 Liberator bombers began pounding the heavily defended
Palosti complex. Colonel Harold Stormone, who
commanded the 456th Bombardment Group during the campaign,
described the challenge. Palosti was the most heavily

(03:16):
defended target in Europe, worsethan Berlin.
The Germans knew exactly how important those refineries were
and defended them accordingly. Every time we approached, the
sky would turn black with anti aircraft fire.
You can almost walk on it, it was so thick.
And once we got through that we'd face waves of German

(03:37):
fighters. Sending my boys to Plosti was
the hardest order I ever gave. The Germans, fully aware of
Plosti's strategic importance had created one of the most
formidable air defense networks in Europe.
Hundreds of anti aircraft guns barrage balloons and smoke
generators to obscure targets, plus squadrons of fighter

(03:59):
aircraft ready to intercept Allied bombers.
The defenses were so strong thatcrews began referring to
missions to Plostius flying intohell.
Lieutenant James Peterson, AB 24Navigator, recorded his
impressions of a Plosti mission in his diary.
Approaching the target, the sky ahead looked like a solid black

(04:20):
cloud. Flak bursts so numerous they
seem to merge together. As we entered this man made
storm, the aircraft shuttered with each near miss.
Shrapnel rattled against the fuselage like hail on a tin
roof. Through my small window I could
see other bombers being hit, some exploding in the dare,

(04:41):
others trailing smoke as they fell out of formation.
And to think we had to fly through this inferno, drop our
bombs and then face the fighter gauntlet on the way home.
The odds of completing a full tour of missions to targets like
Pelosi seemed astronomical. The flight path from Allied
bases in Bari, Fauja and other Italian airfields took these

(05:03):
massive bomber formations directly over Nazi occupied
Yugoslavia. If a bomber was damaged over the
target, and many were, the return journey became a
desperate struggle for survival.Numerous aircraft limping along
with damaged engines, riddled with Flack holes or with wounded
crew members, couldn't make it back across the Adriatic Sea to

(05:26):
safety. For many flight crews, the only
option was to bail out over the mountainous Serbian countryside.
Each B24 carried a crew of 10 men, pilot, copilot, navigator,
Bombardier, flight engineer, radio operator and four Gunners.
When the order came to bail out,these men faced terrifying

(05:49):
uncertainty. Many had never parachuted
before. Their only training had been
brief instructions during flightschool.
They had no idea what awaited them on the ground.
Would they be captured immediately?
Would local civilians betray them to the Germans?
Would they be able to evade an escape to friendly territory?

(06:11):
Bail out over enemy territory. Lieutenant Richard Feldman, AB24
pilot whose aircraft was badly damaged during a mission to
Pelosi in July 1944, later recalled the moment when he
realized they wouldn't make it home. 2 engines were out, we
were losing fuel and our hydraulic system was shot to

(06:32):
hell. The aircraft was barely
responding to controls. I gave the order to bail out
over what looked like mountains and forests below.
As I jumped, I had no idea if I'd survived the landing, let
alone what would happen afterward with the Germans.
Find me first. Would I die alone in those

(06:52):
mountains? It was the most terrifying
moment of my life. After a heroin parachute
descent, Thelman landed in a small clearing, quickly burying
his parachute to avoid detection, he consulted his
escape map. The disheartening reality set in
immediately. He was hundreds of miles from
Allied lines or neutral territory.

(07:15):
With limited supplies and no knowledge of the local language.
His prospects seemed bleak. Staff Sergeant Michael Hill, a
ball turret gunner on another B24, described his experience.
I landed in a forest, my parachute catching in the trees.
I was hanging there about 15 feet off the ground, trying

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desperately to free myself before any Germans came along.
After what seemed like hours, but was probably only minutes, I
managed to release my harness and drop to the forest floor.
I sprained my ankle on landing but knew I couldn't stay put.
I limped away, trying to put distance between myself and the
parachute that was now an obvious marker of where I'd come

(07:58):
down. Feldman and Hill were not alone.
By August 1944, the Pelosi facilities were virtually
destroyed, but at a devastating cost.
Approximately 350 bombers were lost during the campaign, with
each bomber carrying a crew of 10.
This meant thousands of Americanairmen had either been killed,

(08:20):
captured, or were now evading German patrols in enemy
territory. For those who survived, their
parachute descends. A new kind of terror waited.
Lieutenant Tom Oliver, who's B24was shot down over the town of
Bohr, described those first hours on the ground.
I landed in a small clearing andquickly buried my parachute.

(08:43):
I could hear German vehicles on a road nearby.
I had an escape map, a compass, and a small phrase book, but
they seemed woefully inadequate.I was hundreds of miles from
friendly territory in a country whose language I couldn't speak.
With Nazis actively hunting for downed airmen like me, my

(09:03):
chances seemed pretty damn slim.The airmen had been briefed on
escape procedures and given evasion kits before their
missions. These typically contained a silk
map, a compass, a few gold coinsor local currency, a phrase card
with basic questions in various European languages, and
sometimes a small supply of concentrated food.

(09:25):
For most, these provisions wouldlast only a few days at best.
After that, survival would depend on their wits and the
goodwill of the local population.
What Oliver and hundreds of other airmen didn't know was
that they had landed in an area where the local Serbian
population, though living under brutal Nazi occupation, was

(09:46):
overwhelmingly sympathetic to the Allied cause.
Many Serbs harbored a deep hatred for the German forces
that had invaded their country and were engaged in ongoing
reprisals against the civilian population.
Serbian civilians risk everything.
When Serbian villagers found downed American airmen, they
faced an agonizing choice. Helping the Allies carried a

(10:10):
terrible risk. The Nazi occupation forces had a
policy of executing anyone caught assisting enemy
personnel, often along with their entire families.
In some cases, the Germans wouldburn whole villages as a
punitive measure. Despite these horrific threats,
Serbian civilians predominantly supporting the Chetnik

(10:31):
resistance movement led by General Drasa Mihailovic, chose
to help. The German policy of collective
punishment was no empty threat. Throughout occupied Yugoslavia,
the Nazi forces had demonstratedtheir willingness to commit
atrocities against civilians as a means of suppressing
resistance. In the village of Khrgyevak in

(10:52):
October 1941, for example, German troops had executed
approximately 2800 civilians, including school children, in
reprisal for a partisan attack that had killed 10 German
soldiers. The massacre at Khrgyoujevak was
just one of many such incidents that had terrorized the Serbian
population. Miroslav Ivanovich, a farmer

(11:16):
from the village of Pranjani whosheltered 4 American airmen in
his home, explained his decisiondecades later.
What else could we do? These were young boys, far from
home, fighting against the same enemy who had brought such
suffering to our country. Yes, hiding them put my family
in danger, but to turn them awaywould have been unthinkable.

(11:38):
We are Serbs, hospitality is sacred to us even in the darkest
times. This cultural commitment to
hospitality coupled with anti German sentiment created an
underground network of support for downed allied airmen across
the Serbian countryside. From the moment an airmen
parachuted into Serbian territory, word would spread

(11:59):
rapidly through local communities.
Villagers would search for the airmen before German patrols
could find them, bringing them to safety and providing
immediate necessities, food, clean water, medical attention
for injuries, and civilian clothes to replace their
conspicuous uniforms. Melika Petrovich, who was just

(12:20):
16 when her family sheltered 2 American airmen in their farm
near Kakaak, recalled. My father and brother found them
hiding in our apple orchard. One was injured, his leg badly
cut during the parachute landing.
We brought them to our home undercover of darkness.
I remember how frightened they looked, how they flinched at

(12:40):
every sound. They had been told that the
local people might be hostile, that we might turn them over to
the Germans for a reward. It took days before they truly
believed we were trying to help them.
The hospitality Ivanovich in thePetrovich family described often
came at tremendous personal cost.
Families who barely had enough food for themselves shared their

(13:03):
meter supplies with the airmen. People slept on floors so the
Americans could use their beds. Lookouts were posted to warn of
approaching German patrols. The entire community became
complicit in a conspiracy of compassion that could have
resulted in mass executions if discovered.
Technical Sergeant Curtis Stiles, a gunner whose bomber

(13:26):
was shot down in July 1944, describe the extraordinary
generosity he encountered. These people had nothing, yet
they gave us everything. They fed us, clothed us, treated
our injuries, and protected us from German patrols.
When we tried to thank them, they would just shake their
heads and say Sevesnasai allies.They risked death every day we

(13:50):
stayed with them, yet not once did they complain or ask us to
leave. The language barrier presented
significant challenges. Few Serbs spoke English, and
almost none of the Americans spoke Serbian.
Communication often relied on improvised sign language, simple
drawings, and the few phrases the airmen picked up over time.

(14:13):
Despite these limitations, strong bonds formed between the
airmen and their protectors. Staff Sergeant Edward Shondell
recalled one such connection. The old grandmother in the house
where I stayed couldn't speak a word of English and I couldn't
speak Serbian. But every morning she would wake
me with a small cup of precious coffee, a luxury they could

(14:34):
barely afford, and pat my hand as if to reassure me that
everything would be all right. When I finally had to leave to
join the other airmen for evacuation, she pressed a small
Orthodox cross into my hand and made the sign of the crossover
me. No words were needed to
understand what she was saying. God protect you.

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I kept that cross for the rest of my life.
As the number of downed airmen grew, they were gathered
together in remote areas under Chetnik protection.
By mid 1944, hundreds of Allied airmen were hidden in the
Serbian countryside, primarily around the village of Pranjani
in central Serbia. This growing concentration of

(15:16):
personnel created both opportunities and dangers.
While it would be easier to rescue a large group from a
single location, the presence ofso many foreigners increase the
risk of discovery. Something had to be done, and
quickly. The OSS takes action.
In July 1944, the Office of Strategic Services OSS, the

(15:40):
precursor to both the CIA and U.S. special Operations Forces,
developed plans for a rescue operation.
The mission, codenamed Halliard,would be one of the most daring
behind enemy lines operations ofthe war.
The OSS, created in 1942 under the leadership of William Wild
Bill Donovan, specialized in unconventional warfare,

(16:04):
intelligence gathering, and special operations in enemy
territory. By 1944, OSS operatives were
active throughout occupied Europe, working with resistance
movements, gathering intelligence, and conducting
sabotage operations. The proposed rescue mission in
Serbia, however, would be one oftheir most ambitious

(16:26):
undertakings. Captain George Vudjnovich, an
American of Serbian descent working at the OSS base in Bari,
Italy, played a crucial role in developing the Halliard plan.
Born to Serbian immigrant parents in Pittsburgh,
Vudjnovich was uniquely qualified for the mission.
He spoke fluent Serbian, understood the cultural and

(16:48):
political landscape of Yugoslavia, and had the
technical expertise to plan sucha complex operation.
Most importantly, he recognized the potential for cooperation
with Myhalovic S Chetnik forces,who controlled significant
portions of the Serbian countryside despite German
occupation. Vajnovich later explained his

(17:09):
thinking. We had two critical advantages
in planning this operation. 1st,we knew from intelligence
reports that Mihailovic S forcescontrolled much of the rural
territory in central Serbia, even though the Germans held the
cities and major transportation routes.
Second, we had confirmation thathundreds of our airmen were

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already under Chetnik protection.
These factors gave us a foundation to work from, but the
challenges remained enormous. How to extract hundreds of men
from deep inside enemy territorywithout starting a major
confrontation that would endanger everyone involved?
The OSS assembled A specialized 3 man team for this dangerous

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mission. Lieutenant George Musil and his
commander, Master Sergeant Michael Rajasic as interpreter,
and Specialist Arthur Jabilian as radio operator.
Musilin, an American of Serbian descent who had played football
at the University of Pittsburgh,was physically imposing at six
feet 4 inches in 250 lbs, a sizethat would make hiding difficult

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but certainly intimidated anyonewho might consider betraying the
mission. Rajasic, born in Yugoslavia but
raised in Detroit, provided crucial linguistic and cultural
expertise. Jibilian, an experienced radio
operator of Armenian descent, would be responsible for
maintaining contact with OSS headquarters in Bari.

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All three men understood the extreme danger of the mission.
If captured, they would face torture and execution as spice.
The team underwent intensive preparation for the mission,
studying maps of the region, memorizing code words and
emergency protocols, and receiving briefings on the
political situation in Yugoslavia.

(18:57):
They knew that beyond the obvious German threat, they
would be operating in an area complicated by civil conflict
between Mihailovic S Chetniks and Tito's Partisans, rival
resistance movements with different political ideologies
and foreign sponsors. On August 2nd, 1944, the teen
parachuted into Nazi occupied Serbia, landing near Pranjani,

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Arthur Jubilion later described.That night we jumped into
absolute darkness. It was a moonless night, and
from the air the Serbian countryside looked like a black
void. The jump itself was terrifying,
not knowing what was below us, whether we'd land in trees or
rocks or an open field. As I floated down, I could just

(19:43):
make out a few pinpoints of light on the ground, which I
later learned were lanterns heldby Chetnik Reception Committee.
When I landed, I was immediatelysurrounded by bearded men in a
mixture of uniforms and civilianclothes, all armed with an
assortment of weapons. My heart was racing until one
step forward gave the recognition signal we'd arranged

(20:05):
and said in heavily accented English.
Welcome to Serbia, American friends.
Their initial assessment confirmed what they had feared.
Evacuating hundreds of airmen from behind enemy lines would
require an operation of unprecedented scale and daring.
After consulting with local Chetnik leaders in American
evaders, a plan began to take shape.

(20:28):
Building an airfield under Nazi noses.
The only viable evacuation method would be by air.
But that presented A seemingly insurmountable problem.
There was no airfield. The mountainous terrain around
Prin Johnny offered few level areas large enough for aircraft
to land and take off. The team identified Galavica

(20:49):
Meadow near the village is theirbest option.
While relatively flat, the site required substantial work before
it could accommodate C47 transport aircraft.
Lieutenant George Musilin surveyed the proposed airfield
site with skepticism. It was a cow pasture, uneven,
dotted with rocks and shrubs, with a slope that made it far

(21:11):
from ideal for aircraft operations.
One end dropped off into a ravine, the other was blocked by
a small forest. On either side were mountains.
If we were going to land aircraft here, we needed a
miracle of engineering, and we needed it fast.
What followed was one of the most remarkable feats of

(21:31):
improvised engineering in military history.
Without modern equipment or resources, American airmen and
Serbian villagers work tirelessly to transform the
rugged terrain into a functioning airstrip.
Using hand tools, oxen, pulled plows and sheer determination,
they began to level the field and clear obstacles.

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The work had to be conducted with extreme caution.
To avoid detection, German reconnaissance aircraft
regularly flew over the area andthe construction of an airfield
would immediately alert them to Allied activity.
Much of the work was therefore done at night under the cover of
darkness, with lookouts posted to warn of approaching aircraft

(22:14):
or patrols. Captain Nick Lalick, who later
joined the OSS team on the ground, described the scene.
Using ox wagons, the peasants would go to the nearby stream
bed, get rock and sand, and bring the stuff up the hill to
the runway site. In this never ending Daisy
chain, men, women, even childrenparticipated.

(22:37):
They worked primarily at night to avoid German aircraft
spotting them. It was an engineering miracle
accomplished with technology from the Middle Ages.
The runway design itself was a compromise between what was
ideal and what was possible. A proper airfield for C47
transports would ideally be at least 3000 feet long.

(22:59):
The Pranjani field, constrained by terrain, could only be
stretched to about 2100 feet, the absolute minimum needed for
a skilled pilot to land and takeoff with a full load.
The width was similarly constrained to approximately 150
feet, leaving very little marginfor error During landing

(23:19):
operations. Rocks had to be removed by hand,
holes filled, and the entire surface leveled as much as
possible without heavy equipment.
This meant back breaking labor using primitive tools.
Trees at one end of the runway had to be cut down and their
stumps removed. The slope of the field was

(23:39):
partially corrected by building up the lower end with soil and
rocks transported by ox cart from nearby areas.
One of the downed airmen, Staff Sergeant Karl Wall Pusk,
recalled his participation in the airfield construction.
We worked alongside Serbian farmers who couldn't speak a
word of English, communicating through gestures and shared

(24:00):
purpose. These people had calluses on
their hands from a lifetime of hard labor, while most of us
were city boys who'd never held a shovel before the war.
They showed us what to do, and we gave it everything we had.
Our lives depended on that stripof land.
During the construction, severalclose calls with German patrols

(24:22):
added to the tension. On one occasion, a German
reconnaissance plane flew so lowover the field that workers had
to dive into the surrounding forest for cover.
On another, the German motorizedpatrol approached within a mile
of the site before being diverted by Chetnik forces who
created a distraction by attacking a different location.

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After 9 days of backbreaking labor, the makeshift airstrip
was complete. It measured approximately 150
feet wide and 2100 feet long, barely sufficient for C47
transports. One end bordered a forest while
the other faced A sheer drop offwith mountain peaks just two

(25:04):
miles ahead. These conditions made landings
and take offs extraordinarily challenging, requiring
exceptional pilot skill, communication and planning.
The next challenge was communication.
Using a radio set that had been parachuted in with them, the OSS
team established contact with Allied headquarters in Bari,

(25:26):
Italy. They transmitted the coordinates
of the airstrip and requested anevacuation mission.
The response was cautiously optimistic.
If weather conditions permitted in fighter escort could be
arranged, C47 transports would attempt to land.
Arthur Jabilian, the radio operator, described the tense

(25:47):
communication process. We operated the radio only at
scheduled times and kept transmissions brief to minimize
the risk of German direction finding equipment locating us.
Each night I would set up the radio in a different location,
usually a farmhouse or barn thatoffered some concealment.
The power came from a hand cranked generator that two

(26:08):
Serbian volunteers would take turns operating grueling work
that they did without complaint.Our messages had to be encoded,
transmitted, and then we'd wait for the acknowledgement from
Bari. That could mean the difference
between rescue and abandonment. The planning on the Italian side
was equally complex. The C 47 pilots selected for the

(26:31):
mission faced daunting challenges.
They would be flying deep into enemy territory with no
navigational aids beyond maps and compasses.
They would be landing on an improvised airstrip with no
runway lights, no control tower and no crash crews.
And they would be doing all thiswhile potentially under enemy

(26:51):
fire. Colonel George Crayer, an
experienced pilot of Yugoslav descent who helped coordinate
the air evacuation from Bari, insisted on detailed briefings
for all flight crews. Maps were studied, approach
paths calculated, and contingency plans developed.
The timing was critical. Aircraft needed to arrive over

(27:13):
Pranjani with enough daylight tolocate the field, but late
enough in the day to return to Italy undercover of darkness.
The OSS team on the ground worked with the American
invaders to prepare them for evacuation.
The airmen were organized into groups, each with a designated
leader responsible for maintaining order and ensuring

(27:33):
rapid boarding. When aircraft arrived, each man
was allowed to bring only what he could carry, typically just
the clothes on his back and perhaps a small souvenir from
his time in Serbia. Many had formed deep bonds with
their Serbian hosts and found these partings emotionally
difficult, Lieutenant Richard Feldman recalled.

(27:54):
The family that had protected mefor weeks brought food for a
farewell dinner the night beforeevacuation.
The grandmother actually killed their last chicken, a valuable
source of eggs they could I'll afford to lose to make a special
meal. When I tried to refuse, knowing
how precious food was for them, the father said something in

(28:14):
Serbian that was translated for me.
For our American friends, we give our best, even if it is our
last. I've never forgotten those words
or the lesson in generosity theytaught me.
Security was a constant concern throughout the planning phase.
German garrisons were located just 20 miles away in several

(28:35):
directions, including one with fighter aircraft at Kakaak.
The Chetniks established a protective perimeter around
Pranjani, with approximately 7500 Serbian soldiers positioned
to detect and delay any German approach.
They blocked roads with bouldersand felled trees and placed
heavy machine guns at strategic points.

(28:58):
Voji Ivanovich, a Chetnik fighter who participated in
these security operations, described their tactics.
We knew we couldn't defeat a determined German attack with
armor, but we could slow them down long enough for an
evacuation. Most of the time, the Germans
would turn around and retreat when they met resistance, but
sometimes the expedition would include tanks and armored

(29:20):
vehicles. Then the only thing we could do
was to keep them under fire until we received the signal
that the American crew had been evacuated.
The Germans were not oblivious to Allied activity in the
region. They had intelligence suggesting
that downed airmen were being sheltered by the local
population, and their patrols frequently searched villages for

(29:42):
evidence of such assistance. However, the scale of the
gathering at Pranjani, hundreds of airmen concentrated in a
small area, remained unknown to them, a testament to the
discipline and secrecy maintained by the Chetnik forces
and local civilians. The first evacuation flights On
the night of August 9th, 1944, the first evacuation attempt was

(30:07):
launched. As darkness fell, the assembled
airmen and Serbian helpers lit bonfires and flares to outline
the improvised runway. The airmen were organized into
groups, ready to board as quickly as possible.
Once aircraft landed at precisely 10:00 PM, the
distinctive drone of C47 enginesechoed through the mountain

(30:29):
valley. The tension on the ground was
palpable. For many of the airmen, this
represented their first real hope of returning home after
weeks or months behind enemy lines.
For the Serbian villagers in Chetnik fighters, it was the
culmination of an extraordinary effort that had put all their
lives at risk. For the OSS team, it was the

(30:51):
moment of truth. Would their daring plan succeed,
or would it end in disaster? The first C 47 transport
approached but aborted its landing after touching down too
far along the strip. Hearts sank among the waiting
men. Then a second aircraft appeared
and successfully landed. Despite the treacherous

(31:12):
conditions. The pilot, clearly displaying
extraordinary skill, brought theC47 to a stop with little room
to spare. Lieutenant Richard Feldman
described the moment when that C47 touched down and rolled to a
stop. There wasn't a dry eye among us.
Here was this beautiful Americanaircraft with the White Star on

(31:33):
its fuselage, sitting in a Meadow in Nazi occupied
territory. The crew chief opened the door
and waved us on board. We ran like hell, knowing every
second on the ground increased the danger.
The loading process had been carefully planned to maximize
efficiency and minimize the aircraft's time on the ground.

(31:54):
The most severely wounded went first, carried by their comrades
if necessary. Then came those who had been
evading the longest, followed bythe rest and predetermined
groups. The aircraft seats had been
removed to create more space, allowing them to pack in more
men than the C47's normal capacity.

(32:14):
Within minutes the first group of airmen was aboard and the C47
began its take off roll, straining to gain enough speed
on the rough field. As it lifted off and disappeared
into the night sky, shears erupted from those still waiting
their turn. That night a total of 6C47's
landed at Pranjani, evacuating the 1st 70 airmen to safety.

(32:39):
The pilots who flew these missions faced extraordinary
challenges. Captain Thomas Oliver, who
piloted one of the C40 sevens onthat first night, later
described the experience. Taking off from that field was
like trying to fly out of a bowl.
We had mountains on three sides and a drop off at the end of the
runway. We had to get airborne before

(33:01):
reaching that ravine or we'd go right into it.
The field itself was rough as hell, like landing on a
washboard. The plane shook so badly during
the landing roll that I thought it might come apart.
And all this while knowing that German night fighters could be
scrambled at any moment. But seeing the faces of those
airmen as they climbed aboard, men who'd been behind enemy

(33:24):
lines for weeks or months, men who thought they might never get
home, made every risk worthwhile.
The return flight to Bari was equally tense, flying without
navigation aids, maintaining radio silence and avoiding known
anti aircraft positions. The C40 Sevens had to cross the
Adriatic in darkness before reaching the safety of Allied

(33:47):
controlled Italy. For the rescued airmen, that
flight represented the final legof an incredible journey from
the depths of enemy territory back to friendly lines.
Technical Sergeant William Brooks, one of the airmen
evacuated on that first night, recalled his emotions.
I sat on the floor of that C47, crammed in with the others,

(34:09):
hardly able to believe we were actually getting out.
For seven weeks, I've been living on borrowed time and
enemy territory, depending on the kindness and courage of
strangers who risk everything tokeep me alive.
As we crossed the coast and headed out over the Adriatic, I
could finally allow myself to believe I might survive this war

(34:29):
after all. The relief was so overwhelming
that I found myself sobbing uncontrollably.
I wasn't the only one. Upon landing in Bari, the
rescued airmen were greeted by medical personnel, intelligence
officers and senior military officials eager to hear their
stories. After medical examinations and

(34:51):
debriefings, they were given fresh uniforms, hot meals and
real beds, luxuries that seemed almost unimaginable after their
time behind enemy lines. Back in Prin Johnny, the OSS
team and their Serbian allies assess the results of the first
evacuation and prepared for more.
The successful operation had proven that the concept was

(35:14):
viable, but hundreds of airmen still remain to be evacuated.
The greatest concern was that the Germans would learn of the
operation and move forces into the area to stop it.
Daylight operations An audaciouschange After initial night
operations, the team determined that attempting landings in
mountainous terrain during darkness posed excessive risks.

(35:38):
Several near accidents during those first evacuations
convinced mission planners that the danger of crash outweighed
the Security benefits of night operations.
A controversial decision was made.
Subsequent evacuations would occur during daylight hours.
Despite the proximity of German forces and the increased
vulnerability to enemy air interception.

(36:00):
This decision was not taken lightly.
Major Richard Feldman, one of the senior American officers on
the ground, described the debate.
We had a heated discussion aboutswitching to daylight
operations. On one hand, it would make the
flying safer. Pilots could see the field,
judge their approaches better, avoid obstacles.

(36:22):
On the other hand, it meant potentially exposing ourselves
to German aircraft based just 20minutes flying time away.
In the end, the argument that convinced us was simple.
A crashed C47 helped no one. Better to risk interception and
fight if necessary, than to loseaircraft and cruise to accidents

(36:43):
that were avoidable. To mitigate the danger of German
air interception, Allied fighterescorts were arranged to
accompany the transport planes. P38 Lightning and P51 Mustang
fighters, including the distinctive Red Tails of the
Tuskegee Airmen, provided protection against potential
German interception. The sight of these fighters

(37:05):
circling overhead gave tremendous reassurance to both
the airmen awaiting evacuation and the vulnerable transport
crews. The fighter escort missions were
themselves demanding operations.Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin O
Davis, junior, commander of the 332nd Fighter Group, the
Tuskegee Airmen, explained the challenges.

(37:27):
Our pilots had to fly deep into enemy territory, conserving
enough fuel to escort the transports and still make it
back to base. The P50 ones had the range, but
it was always a careful calculation.
We'd rendezvous with the transports near the Yugoslav
coast and stay with them all theway to Pranjani, circling

(37:47):
overhead during loading operations, and then cover their
withdrawal. It was demanding, flying, but
knowing we were protecting a mission that was saving hundreds
of lives made every moment worthwhile.
The first daylight evacuation onAugust 10th was a tense affair.
As the transports approached Pranjani escorted by fighters,

(38:09):
all eyes scan the skies for any sign of German aircraft.
The landing zone had been markedwith panels visible from the
air, and a smoke signal indicated wind direction 1 by 1.
The C40 Sevens landed, loaded their precious human cargo and
took off again, each aircraft spending no more than 20 minutes

(38:29):
on the ground. Major Richard Feldman later
recalled one of the daylight evacuation operations.
It was the most surreal experience, standing in this
Meadow in occupied territory, watching American transport
planes land one after another while fighters patrolled
overhead. Serbian villagers came out to
watch, bringing food and Rikija plum Brandy to celebrate with

(38:54):
us. Children were running around,
excited by the spectacle. It was like a County Fair,
except we were surrounded by Nazis who would have executed
everyone there if they discovered what was happening.
The site of American aircraft operating so boldly in daylight,
deep in occupied territory, had a profound impact on the local

(39:15):
population. For years they had lived under
German occupation, with Allied power something distant and
abstract. Now they were witnessing that
power first hand, American planes landing in their fields,
American soldiers walking among them openly.
It was a tangible demonstration that the tide of war had turned,

(39:36):
that liberation might actually be possible.
Milo van Petrovich, who was 14 years old during the operation,
remembered. For us children, it was the most
exciting thing we had ever seen.American planes, American
soldiers with their strange uniforms and equipment.
It was like something from another world.

(39:57):
My friends and I would run alongside the airstrip, waving
at the aircraft as they took off.
The adults were more cautious, always watching for danger, but
even they couldn't hide their excitement.
After years of oppression, it felt like suddenly the
impossible was happening right before our eyes.
Daily operations A race against Discovery.

(40:21):
The evacuations continued throughout August and into the
autumn of 1944, with C47's landing whenever weather
permitted in the security situation allowed.
Each mission followed a similar pattern.
Aircraft would approach from Italy, land quickly on the rough
airstrip, load as many airmen ascould safely fit, and take off

(40:41):
again, all while fighter aircraft circled protectively
overhead and Serbian Chetniks maintained a security perimeter
against German patrols. As the operation progressed,
improvements were made to the airfield.
A crude windsock was installed to help pilots judge wind
direction. The runway surface was

(41:02):
continuously maintained, with teams filling holes and removing
new obstacles after each landing.
A basic control system was developed using colored panels
to signal to incoming aircraft whether it was safe to land or
if they should abort due to security concerns.
The evacuation process became more efficient with experience.

(41:23):
Loading times decreased as the ground crews developed better
techniques for getting men aboard quickly.
The most seriously ill or injured were prioritized for
evacuation, along with those whohad been evading capture the
longest. Each successful flight boosted
morale among those still waitingtheir turn.
Not all aspects of the operationwent smoothly.

(41:46):
On August 26th, IC 47 suffered significant damage during
landing when it hit a pothole inthe runway.
The impact damaged the landing gear in one engine.
Unable to take off again, the aircraft became a potential
liability. If German reconnaissance spotted
it on the ground, the entire operation would be compromised.

(42:09):
Using incredible ingenuity, the flight crew, assisted by
mechanics among the evaders and local Serbians with metalworking
skills, managed to repair the aircraft sufficiently for a
risky take off 2 days later. Staff Sergeant Joseph Jenkins, a
flight engineer on the damaged C47, described the improvised

(42:29):
repairs. We had to manufacture parts
using whatever materials we could find locally.
Serbian blacksmiths helped forgemetal components for the landing
gear. We drained oil from other
mechanical devices to replace what had leaked from the damaged
engine. We worked around the clock for
two days, knowing that every hour the aircraft sat on that

(42:51):
field increased the danger to everyone involved.
When we finally got it airborne again with a full load of
evacuees, it was nothing short of a miracle.
The plane shook like it was coming apart, but it flew.
Security became increasingly challenging as the operation
continued. German forces in the region were

(43:13):
aware that something unusual washappening, though they never
seem to grasp the full scale of the evacuation.
Several times, German patrols approached within a few miles of
Pranjani, only to be engaged by Chetnik forces who led them away
from the airfield area. Colonel Robert McDowell, an OSS
officer who joined the team in Serbia during the later phases

(43:36):
of Operation Halliard, documented several close calls.
On September 5th, a German mechanized column approached
within 3 miles of the airfield. During an evacuation, Chetnik
forces ambushed them at a narrowpoint in the road, destroying
the lead vehicle and blocking the path.
The resulting firefight could beheard clearly at the airfield,

(43:58):
where loading operations continued with increased
urgency. The aircraft departed safely,
while the Chetniks delayed the Germans for nearly three hours
before melting away into the forests.
The Human Element Stories of Courage and Sacrifice Behind the
operational details of Halliard Like countless stories of

(44:19):
individual courage and sacrifice, both the American
airmen and their Serbian protectors face dangers and made
choices that reveal the depth ofhuman capacity for bravery and
compassion, even amid the horrors of war.
Technical Sergeant Paul Maddow, a radio operator whose B24 was
shot down in May 1944, spent nearly three months evading

(44:41):
capture before reaching Prin Johnny.
During that time, he was sheltered by more than a dozen
different Serbian families. He recalled one particularly
harrowing experience. I was staying with a family near
Kakaak when German troops began searching the village house by
house. The father quickly hid me in a
cavity beneath the floor of their pig pen, covering it with

(45:04):
straw and manure. I lay there for nearly six
hours, scarcely daring to breathe as German soldiers walk
directly overhead. The family's young daughter, who
couldn't have been more than eight years old, stood by the
pen the entire time, playing innocently with the pigs to
distract attention from my hiding place.

(45:25):
If I had been discovered, that entire family, including that
little girl, would have been executed on the spot.
The Serbian villagers who protected airmen like Maddow did
so knowing the terrible consequences of discovery.
Dragon Nickelec, whose family sheltered 3 American airmen for
over a month, explained the Germans had made examples in

(45:47):
other villages. In Dempsey, they had shot an
entire family and burned their farm for giving bread to a
British agent. In Sitanj, they executed 20
hostages after a downed Americanpilot was helped by locals.
We knew exactly what we were risking, but how could we not
help? These young men had come

(46:09):
thousands of miles to fight against those who had invaded
our country. Their cause was our cause.
For many airmen, the relationships formed with their
Serbian protectors left lifelongimpressions.
Lieutenant Michael Hill, a navigator rescued during
Operation Halliard, maintained contact with the family who had

(46:29):
sheltered him for decades after the war.
In 1972, he sponsored their son to come to America for
university education. They saved my life at risk of
their own, he'll explained at a reunion in 1985.
There is no way to repay that kind of debt, but I've tried to
honor it by keeping them in my life and helping their family

(46:51):
when I could. The bond between us transcends
nationality, language, everything.
The OSS operatives who ran the mission on the ground also
demonstrated extraordinary courage.
Living behind enemy lines for months, they were in constant
danger of capture. Arthur Jibilian, the radio

(47:12):
operator, had perhaps the most dangerous job of all.
His use of the radio could be detected by German direction
finding equipment, potentially compromising the entire
operation. Jibilian developed an elaborate
system of changing locations, using short transmission bursts
and operating at unpredictable times to minimize this risk.

(47:34):
Even the pilots who flew the evacuation missions showed
remarkable bravery, landing large aircraft on a crude
airstrip in enemy territory, often under threat of
interception. Captain Richard Feldman, who
flew multiple evacuation missions, described the approach
to Pranjani. Coming in over those mountains,
seeing that tiny strip carved out of the hillside, knowing

(47:57):
that if anything went wrong, there were no crash trucks, no
phone on the runway, no emergency services of any kind,
just the certainty of being captured if you survive the
crash. That took a special kind of
focus. Every landing was a controlled
emergency, every take off a calculated risk.
The margin for error was 0. The closing phase.

(48:20):
Mission accomplished. The final evacuation flight took
place on December 27th, 1944. By then, the strategic situation
in Yugoslavia had changed dramatically.
Soviet forces had entered the country from the east, while the
Germans were withdrawing to moredefensible positions.

(48:42):
The need for the secret airfieldat Pranjani had diminished as
conventional military operationsincreasingly secured the region.
The OSS team, which had grown toinclude additional personnel
like Captain Nick Lalik, who hadparachuted and to assist with
the later phases of the operation, prepared for their
own extraction. Unlike the airmen they had

(49:04):
rescued, they could not simply board a plane and fly home.
Their mission required them to remain with Myhalovicus forces,
continuing to gather intelligence and support Allied
objectives in the region. For General Mihailovic and his
Chetnik fighters, the successfulconclusion of Operation Halliard
was a bittersweet triumph. They had demonstrated their

(49:27):
commitment to the Allied caused through extraordinary sacrifice
and courage. Yet politically, they found
themselves increasingly marginalized as Allied support
shifted decisively to Tito's partisan forces, who are seen as
more actively engaged against the Germans.
When the final numbers were tallied, the results of
Operation Halliard were staggering. 512 Allied airmen

(49:51):
had been safely evacuated to Italy without losing a single
man or aircraft. During the evacuation operations
themselves, different sources site slightly varying numbers of
rescued personnel. According to historian Professor
Joso Thomasevic, 417 Allied airmen were rescued by Mihalovic

(50:11):
S Chetniks. Lieutenant Commander Richard M
Kelly of the OSS reported that 432 US and 80 Allied personnel
were evacuated. Regardless of the precise
figure, Operation Halliard remains the largest rescue of
American airmen from behind enemy lines in history.
What makes these figures even more remarkable is the context

(50:35):
in which they were achieved. This wasn't a carefully planned
evacuation from a secure air base.
This was an improvised rescue operation conducted in territory
crawling with enemy forces, using an airstrip built by hand,
relying on the courage and sacrifice of local civilians who
risked genocide to help strangers from a distant land.

(50:57):
Political complications and decades of silence.
Despite its extraordinary success, Operation Halliard
remained classified for over 5 decades, receiving little public
recognition until it's declassification in 1997.
This secrecy stemmed from complex political considerations
in the latter stages of World War Two.

(51:19):
In the early Cold War era, the political context surrounding
Operation Halliard was extraordinarily complicated.
Yugoslavia during World War 2 was not simply a country under
Nazi occupation, it was also thesite of a bitter civil war
between various resistance factions with different
political ideologies and visionsfor post war Yugoslavia.

(51:42):
The two primary resistance movements were General Drasa
Mihailovic S Chetniks, who were generally royalist and
traditionalist in outlook, supporting the return of the
Yugoslav monarchy after the war,and Jasa Bras Tito's Partisans,
who were communist and sought toestablish a socialist Yugoslavia
once the Germans were defeated. Initially, both Britain and the

(52:05):
United States had supported Mihailovic, seeing him as
representing the legitimate Yugoslav government in exile.
However, by 1943, Allied policy had shifted.
Intelligence reports, some of which were later proven to be
flawed or influenced by Soviet sympathizers, suggested that

(52:25):
Myhalovic S forces were not actively fighting the Germans,
and in some cases might even be collaborating with them to focus
on fighting the partisans. In contrast, Tito's partisans
were portrayed as more effectively engaged against
German forces. By 1944, when Operation Halliard
began, official Allied support had been withdrawn from

(52:48):
Mihailovic and redirected to Tito.
This created the awkward situation where American and
British airmen were being rescued by forces that their
governments had officially abandoned.
Major Richard Feldman, one of the rescued airmen who later
became a vocal advocate for recognizing my Halovik as
contribution, described the contradiction here.

(53:09):
We were being saved by people our government had written off
as collaborators. We knew the truth.
We saw with our own eyes the risks they took fighting the
Germans, the sacrifices they made to protect us.
But politics had already decidedtheir fate, and by extension,
the fate of our rescue mission. In the history books.

(53:30):
This political decision had far reaching consequences,
particularly after the war when Tito established communist rule
in Yugoslavia and Mihailovic wascaptured, subjected to a
controversial trial, and executed in 1946.
The successful collaboration between American forces and
Mihailovic S Chetniks during Operation Halliard complicated

(53:53):
the narrative of Allied support for Tito.
Acknowledging the Chetniks role in saving hundreds of American
lives might have undermined postwar diplomatic relationships
with Tito's Yugoslavia, which became strategically important
during the Cold War as a non aligned communist state separate
from the Soviet bloc. As a result, the story of

(54:14):
Operation Halliard was deliberately suppressed.
The airman who had been rescued were instructed not to discuss
the details of their escape. Official histories omitted or
minimized the operation. Medals and commendations that
would normally have been awardedfor such a successful mission
were withheld to avoid drawing attention to Myhalovic S role.

(54:37):
Captain Nick Lalik, one of the OSS officers who coordinated the
evacuation on the ground, later expressed his frustration.
We pulled off one of the most successful rescue operations of
the entire war, saving over 500 airmen without losing a single
man, all while operating deep inenemy territory with minimal
resources. In any other context, this would

(55:00):
have been celebrated as one of the great achievements of
American special operations. Instead it was buried in
classified files because it didn't fit the political
narrative of who our friends andenemies were supposed to be in
that region. For the Serbian civilians who
had risked everything to help the American airmen, this
silence was particularly painful.

(55:22):
Many suffered terribly under thepost war communist government,
with some executed or imprisonedfor their wartime association
with Mihalovic S forces. The Americans they had protected
at such great personal cost seemto have forgotten them entirely.
Maya Drag Stefanovich, whose entire family had participated

(55:42):
in sheltering downed airmen, described the bitter aftermath.
After the war, those of us who had helped the Americans were
branded as traitors and collaborators by Tito's
government. My father was in prison for
three years. Our land was confiscated.
We face discrimination in education and employment.
For decades, in all this time, we kept waiting for some

(56:06):
acknowledgement from America, some recognition of what we had
sacrificed to save their sons. But the silence was complete.
It was as if it had never happened.
A long Campaign for Recognition In the decades following the
war, a small group of rescued airmen formed the Halliard
Mission Association, dedicated to gaining recognition for their

(56:29):
Serbian saviors. They faced an uphill battle
against official secrecy and changing geopolitical
priorities. It wasn't until after the fall
of communism in Yugoslavia and the declassification of
Operation Halliard in 1997 that their efforts began to gain
traction. Technical Sergeant Curtis Diles,

(56:50):
one of the rescued airmen, spentdecades after the war advocating
for recognition of the Serbian rescuers.
These people saved my life and the lives of hundreds of my
fellow airmen. They didn't.
Knowing they could be killed, their families murdered, their
villages burned, and what did they get in return?
Political expediency dictated that their sacrifice be swept

(57:13):
under the rock. It was shameful and I couldn't
let it stand. I owe them better than that.
America owed them better. Dials and other veterans
embarked on a decades long campaign to bring the story of
Operation Halliard to public attention.
They wrote letters to newspapers, contacted

(57:34):
politicians and organized reunions where they shared their
experiences. They collected affidavits and
testimonials from fellow survivors, building a
comprehensive record of what hadoccurred in Serbia during those
crucial months of 1944. Major Richard Feldman was
particularly active in this campaign.

(57:54):
In 1968, on the 25th anniversaryof his rescue, he wrote an open
letter that was published in several American newspapers.
As one of the American airmen who owes his life to General
Mihailovic and his people, I canonly state that had it not been
for their sacrifices, my name would be on some military
cemetery someplace in Yugoslaviaand not on this newspaper

(58:17):
article. The world must know that these
people protected and saved over 500 American lives while
suffering indescribable hardships themselves from the
Nazi occupation forces. Their efforts faced resistance
from multiple quarters. The Yugoslav government under
Tito actively worked to suppressthe story, viewing it as a

(58:38):
threat to the official narrativeof the war that placed the
Partisans at the center of the resistance against Nazi
occupation. The US State Department,
concerned about maintaining goodrelations with Yugoslavia during
the Cold War, showed little interest in revisiting the
controversial history of Allied support for different Yugoslav
factions. Even after the end of the Cold

(59:00):
War and the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s,
political complications continued to hinder full
recognition of Operation Halliard.
The violent conflicts that engulfed the former Yugoslavia
during that decade made any historical reassessment
politically charged, with Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian

(59:21):
factions all advancing their owninterpretations of World War 2
events to support contemporary political objectives.
It wasn't until 1997, with the declassification of OSS files
related to the operation, that the full story began to emerge
in public. Books like The Forgotten 500 by

(59:41):
Gregory Freeman, published in 2007, brought the remarkable
story to a wider audience. Documentaries and articles
followed, gradually establishingOperation Halliard's place in
the historical record. In recent years, there have been
increasing efforts to recognize the heroism displayed during
Operation Halliard. In 2010, Captain Georgium

(01:00:06):
Vognovich, who played a crucial role in organizing the mission
from Bari, was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his
wartime service, 66 years after the operation he helped
orchestrate. In 2016, US and Serbian
officials gathered in Pranjani for a commemoration event
honoring the operation. 7 markers were unveiled to

(01:00:28):
identify important locations andhelp tell the story of this
remarkable rescue. During the ceremony, dignitaries
placed reads at a monument commemorating the bravery of
both the villagers and organizations involved in the
operation. In 2018, a documentary film
titled The Forgotten 500, not tobe confused with the book of the

(01:00:51):
same name, was released, featuring interviews with some
of the last surviving participants and witnesses of
the operation. The film helped bring the story
to a new generation, emphasizingthe themes of cross cultural
cooperation and shared humanity that made the mission possible.
For Arthur Jebelian, the radio operator who had parachuted into

(01:01:13):
Serbia as part of the original OSS team, the belated
recognition was bittersweet. In one of his last interviews
before his death in 2010, he reflected Operation Halliard
succeeded because ordinary people on both sides, American
airmen and Serbian villagers, rose to extraordinary
challenges. They didn't care about politics

(01:01:36):
or ideology, they cared about each other as human beings.
That's the lesson we should takefrom this story, that even in
the darkest times, our common humanity can triumph over hatred
and fear, legacy and lessons. The story of Operation Halliard
exemplifies what can be achievedthrough international

(01:01:56):
cooperation and shared humanity,even amid the horrors of war.
The successful evacuation of hundreds of Allied airmen
resulted from extraordinary courage shown by multiple
groups. The OSS operatives who
parachuted into enemy territory,the airmen who survived crash
landings in hostile territory, the pilots who flew dangerous

(01:02:17):
extraction missions, and especially the Serbian civilians
who risked execution to protect strangers from another land.
Beyond its operational significance, Operation Halliard
offers timeless lessons about courage, sacrifice, and the
capacity for human connection across cultural and national
boundaries. In a war defined by

(01:02:39):
unprecedented brutality and dehumanization, the people of
Pranjani and surrounding villages chose compassion over
self preservation, demonstratingthat even in the darkest times,
humanity can prevail. For the airmen who were rescued,
the experience left an indeliblemark.
Many maintained lifelong connections with the Serbian

(01:03:00):
families who had sheltered them.They sent packages, letters and
photographs after the war, established scholarship funds
for Serbian students, and in some cases, sponsored family
members to immigrate to the United States.
Staff Sergeant Carl Walpusk, whospent three months in hiding
before being evacuated, expressed a sentiment shared by

(01:03:23):
many of the rescued airmen. I've lived a full life since the
war, married my sweetheart, raised three children, enjoyed a
successful career. I've had over 7 decades that I
wouldn't have had if not for thecourage of those Serbian
villagers. Every day since then has been a
gift from them. How do you repay something like

(01:03:44):
that? You can't, except by telling
their story and making sure the world knows what they did.
The legacy of Operation Halliardextends beyond the lives saved.
It stands as a powerful counter narrative to the dehumanizing
ideology of Nazism that sought to divide humanity into
categories of superior and inferior beings.

(01:04:06):
In the villages around Pranjani,people recognize the common
humanity in the foreign airmen who fell from the sky into their
midst, choosing solidarity over the divisive hate preached by
the occupiers. After decades of obscurity, this
extraordinary rescue mission nowtakes its rightful place among
the most impressive military operations of World War 2.

(01:04:29):
It stands as testament to the fact that even in humanity's
darkest hours, remarkable acts of courage, sacrifice, and
cooperation can prevail against overwhelming odds.
This has been Steve Matthews forWW2 stories.
Until next time, remember that history's most inspiring tales

(01:04:49):
are often found not in the grandstrategies of generals and
statesman, but in the courage and compassion of ordinary
people facing extraordinary circumstances.