Crackerjacks in the OSS
Official caption: “OSS Field Station, London, England, Looking over guns in guard room, 1944.” Note a dixie-cup clad bluejacket maintains the armory, while the rack is filled with Springfield M1903s sans slings and M1 helmets sans covers.
You can also see that this image, taken at the OSS’s “Area H” in England, is inside a Q-hut by the roof. National Archives Identifier 540070
While most think the OSS was primarily an Army operation, the Navy provided key intelligence and logistics support for the secret squirrel organization behind the scenes in European and Pacific theatres. This included providing supplies, equipment, and transportation for agents and resistance groups to operate behind enemy lines.
The OSS’s Special Operations Branch included a dedicated Maritime Unit, which, logically, had a lot of Navy personnel.
An OSS MU swimmer– complete with “Navy” tattoo– uses a Lambertsen Rebreathing Unit and negotiates anti-submarine concertina wire nets during underwater training.
Going well beyond that, the sea service also formed Naval Combat Demolition Units (NCDUs) and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) who often served in conjunction and on loan with the OSS’s in-house Scouts and Raiders (S&Rs).
A monument to the NCDUs and S&Rs was erected last year overlooking the old “Dog Red” sector of Omaha Beach in the town of Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer in Normandy.
