ABSTRACT
BALACLAVA had been sent forward to Corsica by SOE’s MASSINGHAM mission in Algiers even before the island was completely free, so as to be able to exploit its geographical advantages for clandestine sea operations both to south-eastern France and north-western Italy. In practice, as we have seen, the greater part of the 52 missions in which it was involved from Bastia were to Italian destinations or to the islands. SOE’s MARYLAND mission was at the outset also seen by SOE as an operational outstation to take advantage of southern Italy as a jumping-off base for irregular naval operations to Greece, Albania and Yugoslavia as well as the Adriatic coast of Italy, though the three Balkan countries were the concern of Force 133, SOE’s headquarters in Cairo, rather than MASSINGHAM.
