The target chosen for the operation was a fresh-water aqueduct near Calitri in southern Italy, which supplied water to a large portion of the Italian population as well as several ports used by the Italian armed forces; it was also hoped that its destruction would hamper Italian military efforts in North Africa and Albania. The airborne troops were delivered by converted Armstrong Whitworth Whitley medium bombers to the target on 10 February but equipment failures and navigational errors meant that a significant portion of the troop's explosives and a team of Royal Engineer sappers, landed in the wrong area. Despite this setback the remaining members of the troop destroyed the aqueduct and withdrew from the area. All were captured by the Italian authorities within a short time; an Italian translator was tortured and executed and one paratrooper managed to escape but the rest remained as prisoners of war. The aqueduct was rapidly repaired before local water reserves ran out, ensuring that the local population and the ports were not deprived of water and the Italian war effort was not hampered. The operation served as a morale boost for the fledgling airborne establishment and the technical and operational lessons learnt from the operation helped the development of later airborne operations.