Lot 212

O.S.S. FILE OF CAPT. JAMES GOODWIN

Previous image preload Next image preload

O.S.S. FILE OF CAPT. JAMES GOODWIN

Estimate: $600 - $800

Starting Bid: $300

(0 Bids)

by Alexander Historical Auctions LLC
July 30, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Live Auction
106 East Main Street, Suite 103
Elkton, MD, US 21921

O.S.S. FILE OF CAPT. JAMES GOODWIN
JAMES S. GOODWIN (1918-1988) American Army colonel and member of the O.S.S., operated behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia rescuing Allied flyers and organizing actions with partisans against German occupiers including a fortified castle in Zagreb during which Goodwin was wounded at least once. He also served as American liaison to both the partisans and the Russian mission. Goodwin was later assigned to the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and fought in Korea before organizing the nucleus of what would become the Green Berets. Important grouping of war-date documents, foremost being Goodwin's 12pp. 4to. 'Report of Flotsam Mission' [n.p., n.d. but ca. 1942], all pages stamped 'SECRET'. This original typed manuscript reads in small part: '...One of my functions as Liaison Officer was to encourage the Partisans to keep the important railway line Trieste-Ljubljan Zagreb cut sufficiently so that the enemy could not use it to transport material and troops to the Italian front. There are four main bridges on this line, one of which is the Litija bridge. I suggested to the Partisans...that they destroy this bridge as soon as possible to continue our disruption of traffic on the railway line mentioned, which had been out of use for the Germans for three weeks due to Partisan activities. The Slovene Staff agreed...but that it was not a practical target because it was overlooked by a large castle that was used as a fortress to guard the bridge and this castle was heavily garrisoned by the Germans. I proposed that if I could acquire air support would they undertake it. They agreed...During the night of the 19th we moved into a position about one mile from the bridge and waited for the aircraft to arrive. At 4:30 P.M., six Mustangs arrived and attempted to knock out the castle but because of the intensity of anti-aircraft and tracer fire they would not come in low enough to be accurate...The unit to storm the castle consisted of about 100 men commanded by Capt. Vodor. Immediately after the bombing we made our way towards the castle and after a considerable exchange of rifle and machine gun fire were forced to hold about 150 yards from the castle because of a clear terrace remaining between us and the castle that was guarded by three well fortified bunkers. After about one-half hour of fighting tanks were heard coming up on our right. The Partisan Captain in charge took fifty men and started out to meet them. I did not see him again but heard that he and his men knocked out two tanks with a Russian anti-tank rifle. This left the remaining fifty men to storm the castle in the command of one sergeant and one commissar. The sergeant and I crawled to a position where we could see the entire situation and plan an attack on the castle. It was in this position that he was hit in the shoulder by an explosive bullet and was killed...After about an hour of firing into the bunkers, I noticed a lull ...I had him set up a protective fire...I started through a barbwire fence with a group of the men to knock out the first bunker. As soon as we reached open ground, a Partisan mortar opened up on us from across the other side of the valley and forced us to retreat. I then had the commissar send a messenger to the mortar crew and order them to stop firing...We again headed towards the bunkers and knocked the three of them out in short order, but we lost 15 out of 40 men. We reached the castle...we were now in view of both Partisan and Germans who could not distinguish us from their enemy...Our only alternative was to attack... very close range with hand grenades. Upon knocking out the bunker we were able to get inside of a protective arch that permitted us to be out of rifle fire. The Partisans yelled to the Germans to surrender and five of them came to us at once. We pushed four of them outside with two guards to take them back to our lines...a German threw a hand-grenade into our enclosure which landed at my feet and went off at the same time. The hand-grenade wounded one man seriously and another man and myself with only slight wounds...' The typescript continues, offering a fairly complete description of Operation Flotsam, an effort which requested supplies for the guerrillas, persuaded them to attack the Germans, and assisted in the rescue of more than three hundred downed American airmen. Also present is a 1p. 4to. carbon copy of the German order of battle in Slovenia and adjoining territories as of June 22, 1944; two 1p. 4to. carbon copies of July, 1945 documents concerning massive amounts of TNT used for underwater detonations to destroy enemy vessels, all stamped 'SECRET' (Operation Javaman); a simple hand-drawn map, 13 x 11 in. showing routes between various towns almost directly on the German and Dutch border, the map labeled 'O.P. Screwball'; two 8 x 10 in. photographs of Goodwin; a list of supplies issued to Goodwin, vouchers, etc. Overall very good, an excellent lot for research from this O.S.S. and Green Beret pioneer.

Accepted Forms of Payment:

Money Order / Cashiers Check, Personal Check, Wire Transfer

Shipping

Shipping, handling and insurance charges will be added to all invoices. Shipments are sent via FEDEX, USPS Express, USPS International Priority, and DHL (for most overseas shipments) or FedEx Ground at the auctioneer's option. Shipments will only be sent to the registered bidder address, re-routing shipments is not permitted. All shipments require a direct signature, no exceptions. Shipping to certain countries is extremely expensive and will be invoiced according to dimensional weight as required! By law the full value is required by customs for international shipments. Please inquire before bidding! International shipments are invoiced by DIMENSIONAL weight, not the item weight. Please contact us for an estimate before bidding. Customers who supply their own courier account number will still be charged a handling fee. Please allow 2-3 weeks for shipments after receipt of payment due to the high volume of packages being shipped.

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

You agree to pay a buyer's premium of 25% and any applicable taxes and shipping.

View full terms and conditions

Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $499 $20
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 + $10,000