The 82d Airborne Division operations in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) created a need for replacements for the Division, attached units such as the 463d Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and later the First Special Services Force, the joint US/Canadian popularized in the movie "The Devil's Brigade."

The Fifth Army Airborne Training Center was first established in 1943 at Les Angades Aerodrome near Oujda, Morocco to provide parachute training in the MTO. In addition to training replacements for American airborne units, the facility provided training for the OSS and for French airborne units based in the MTO.

 As the Germans were pushed north, out of Africa and into Italy, the Training Center relocated in January 1944 to Trapani, Sicily, where it became Camp Kurtz, named in honor of Lt. Charles W. Kurtz, a member of the staff who died in an air accident; then, in June 1944, to its final location near Rome. While at Rome, in preparation for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France, the Training Center added glider training to its course of instruction. After Operation Dragoon, the Training Center was disbanded and the staff reassigned to various units in the MTO.

This ragged declassified Operations Report details airborne operations and establishment of the Training Center, supplemented by information originally written by Les Hughes.

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