On 3 July 1944, a battalion of the 17th Panzergenadier Division attacked he base camp of B Sqdn 1st SAS and took 34 SAS troopers and a USAAF pilot who had joined with them captive. The SAS had been operating in Southern France since D-Day. On 7July all 35 were executed and their bodies hidden in a woods. The SS also captured 7 French Resistance fighters and similarly executed them. On 14 July, Mosquitos took off on a reprisal raid against the SS unit..