.....Operation
Colossus, the first British airborne operation,
was carried out by seven officers and 31 men from
X Troop, 11th Special Air Service Battalion on
the night of 10 February 1941. The objective was
the demolition of the Tragino Aqueduct in
southern Italy, which carried the water pipeline
that supplied the ports of Taranto, Brindisi and
Bari. The force, in Whitley bombers, flew across
occupied France to Malta from where the
operation was mounted. After blowing part of the
aqueduct, the men made their way to the coast to be
picked up by submarine. Unfortunately they were all
captured.
