Operation Jedburgh

The Jedburghs were a Special Forces unit of 300 volunteers recruited from the armed forces of Britain, America and France with a small contingent from the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada. Their task was to parachute into enemy occupied territory in small, mixed nationality teams, to arm and train resistance fighters and co-ordinate their activities with the allied D-Day armies advancing out of Normandy (Overlord) and the South of France (Dragoon). Subsequently a few teams were also dropped in the Netherlands. Some of the Jedburgh teams volunteered to serve in the Far East in a similar role. (Force 136).

The Jedburgh personnel, known as "Jeds", were selected from SOE and its American equivalent OSS (Office of Strategic Services). The Jedburgh missions were made up of teams of three men, normally two British or American officers plus one other from the country of operation. One member of every team was a radio operator. Unlike many SOE operations, the men worked in uniform. 

Selected men were sent for 2 weeks commando training in Scotland, followed by further specific training at Milton Hall, near Peterborough.

The first Jedburgh Team to drop was "Team Hugh" on the night of 5th June 1944. They would operate with the SAS of Operation Bulbasket, which included many former members of Auxilliary Units. In total 101 teams were trained. Once their area of operations were overrun the teams were stood down.

The Special Forces Wings emblem was designed by Somerset and Northumberland Auxiliary Officer Captain Victor Gough and was chosen from a fierce competition held at Milton Hall.

There is a memorial tablet in the Sprite Chapel of Peterborough Cathedral for the 37 who died as part of Jedburgh.