Operation Halyard was an Allied airlift operation behind enemy lines during WWII. According to historian Professor Jozo Tomasevich, a prominent Yugoslav and later Croatian-American who taught at San Francisco State University, a report submitted to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) indicated there were a significant number of Allied airmen who had been downed over occupied Yugoslavia. They had been rescued by Chetniks in Serbia, a part of Yugoslavia during the war. Chetniks were part of the Yugoslav Army in the Homeland who had to collaborate with both the Axis and the Allied forces during the war.

More than 100 diggers and as many ox-drawn carts were used to build an improvised airstrip from which the downed Allied aviators could be evacuated. At night, the digging, leveling and cutting-down of trees proceeded. The rescue airlift operation took place between August and December 1944 from this crudely constructed forest airfield built by Serbian peasants in the nearby village of Pranjani.

The OSS planned an elaborate rescue involving C-47 cargo planes landing in enemy territory without being shot down, or flying out of the same territory. The rescue was a complete success, but received little to no publicity. This was partly due to the timing of the rescue and the world's attention being focused on the conflict in northern France.

A total of 417 Allied airmen were airlifted from Chetnik territory during Operation Halyard, of which 343 were Americans.

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