Operation Hydra (Yugoslavia)

Operation Hydra was a failed British attempt during World War II at the Yugoslav Front to develop contact with Yugoslav partisans in the Podgorica area, led by Josip Broz Tito. In February, 1942, two British Special Operations Executive agents and an officer of the former Yugoslavian royal air force were put ashore at Perazića Do, just north of Petrovac (now in Montenegro).

On February 4, the three agents went ashore from the British submarine HMS Thorn. They were Major Terence Atherton (a former journalist and agent in Belgrade), Lieutenant Radoje Nedeljković of the Yugoslav Royal Air Force and Sergeant Patrick O'Donovan, wireless operator.

The operation failed completely. The presence of the Yugoslav officer implied links to the royalist Chetniks and it is suggested that this caused Tito to suspect the British of being spies. Nothing beneficial arose, therefore, and the British agents left Tito. They vanished soon thereafter, as did the large amount of gold and Italian money that they carried.