Operation Most III

Operation Most III (Polish for Bridge III) or Operation Wildhorn III (in British documents) was a World War II operation in which Poland's Armia Krajowa provided the Allies with crucial intelligence on the German V-2 rocket.

From November 1943 onwards, the Intelligence Division of the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) obtained parts of the V-2 rocket, which was being tested near Blizna, central Poland. The availability of parts increased from April 1944, when numerous test rockets fell near Sarnaki village, in the vicinity of the Bug River, south of Siemiatycze. Parts of the rocket were secured by the Armia Krajowa, and analyzed at its secret laboratories in Warsaw. The analysis was performed by Professor Janusz Groszkowski (radio and guidance), Marceli Struszyński (fuel), Bogdan Stefanowski (engine), Antoni Kocjan, and others.

On the night of July 25, 1944, just past 10:00 p.m., a slowly lurching American C-47 transport plane, also known as a Dakota to the British, lifted off from Brindisi in southern Italy bound for an abandoned airfield in Poland. This abandoned airfield was code-named Motyl. The transport plane was piloted by a New Zealander known as Flight Lieutenant Stanley G. Culliford and co-piloted by a Polish native, Flight Lieutenant Kazimierz Szrajer. The plan was to land the plane in the center of a territory surrounded with German military units retreating westward under pressure by the Soviet army and obtain the V-2 missile components. At just past midnight, the Dakota circled above the landing location and the partisans (who had been previously informed through encrypted codes over BBC radio) recognized the transport plane. Upon landing, the partisans emerged from the woods nearby pulling carts with key V-2 components. Once the cargo was loaded, the pilots attempted to take off, but the Dakota did not budge.

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