training was conducted by no 38 Group RAF. Because the time available for training was limited, the personnel in each team were usually of the same nationality. Although the female personnel had established enviable records of bravery and daring in their previous assignments, it was decided early-on they would not be used in an airborne role. However, they were present on the unit's establishment for other non-airborne duties. POW Camps In March 1945, the Allies crossed the Rhine and the collapse of Germany proceeded more rapidly than anticipated. On 21 April, in response to a request from the Belgian government, eight of the ten Belgian teams were dispatched to Brussels to be employed, in a ground role, by the various Army Groups to obtain early information regarding conditions in some POW camps. A few days thereafter, SAARF was restructured: the 60 teams that had completed their training were retained in an airborne role while the remaining teams were re-designated air-transportable and were to use ground transportation, usually jeeps, in conducting their missions. Conditions in the POW camps were believed to be poor and there was great uncertainty regarding Hitler's plan for a final stand. There were many scenarios for what the Germans might do with the POWs, and none was pleasant to contemplate. If the Germans abandoned the camps before the arrival of the Allied armies, the POWs would be threatened by starvation and disease and, perhaps, by random violence at the hands of the populace or the military. Any effort to force march the POW population deeper into Germany and use them as hostages would result in the deaths of many. The willingness of the Germans to ignore the provisions of the Geneva Convention suggested even worse scenarios. It was envisioned that the SAARF teams would drop near the POW camps, reconnoitre the situation, and report on conditions. Although it was thought unlikely that the teams could directly influence the movement of POW's, they could direct drops of food and medical supplies into the camps if conditions warranted. Altengrabow (Operation: VIOLET) VIOLET proved to be SAARF's only airborne operation: the balance of the units were air-transported to their assignments. SAARF teams were spread across northern Europe to assist local military governments in establishing radio links, in translation and interrogation, in monitoring the movement of German forces back to Germany, in screening the inmate populations of German prisons to determine