'Barker' was a British special forces operation by the French 2ème Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes (3^rd Special Air Service) to harass elements of Generalfeldmarschall Günther von Kluge’s (from 15 August SS-Oberstgruppenführer und Generaloberst Paul Hausser’s) Heeresgruppe 'B' as they retreated through northern France in the region of Salornaye, and thus protect the right flank of Lieutenant General George S. Patton’s US 3^rd Army as it advanced to the Rhine river (13 August/19 September 1944).

Under the command of Lieutenant Albert Rouan, the 27 men paradropped into the Saône et Loire region of the Massif Central and during the following five weeks operated in the Germans' rear with the support of the local French resistance forces, in the process inflicting on the Germans some 3,000 casualties, including 500 men taken prisoner.