British and American commanders first used modern special forces in support of conventional military operations during World War II. Since then, although special ops have featured prominently in popular culture and media coverage of wars, the academic study of irregular warfare has remained as elusive as the practitioners of special operations themselves. This book is the first comprehensive study of the development, application, and value of Anglo-American commando and special forces units during the Second World War. Special forces are intensively trained, specially selected military units performing unconventional and often high-risk missions. In this book, Andrew L. Hargreaves not only describes tactics and operations but also outlines the distinctions between commandos and special forces, traces their evolution during the war, explains how the Anglo-American alliance functioned in the creation and use of these units, looks at their command and control arrangements, evaluates their impact, and assesses their cost-effectiveness. The first real impetus for the creation of British specialist formations came in the desperate summer of 1940 when, having been pushed out of Europe following defeat in France and the Low Countries, Britain began to turn to irregular forces in an effort to wrest back the strategic initiative from the enemy. The development of special forces by the United States was also a direct consequence of defeat. After Pearl Harbor, Hargreaves shows, the Americans found themselves in much the same position as Britain had been in 1940: shocked, outnumbered, and conventionally defeated, they were unable to come to grips with the enemy on a large scale. By the end of the war, a variety of these units had overcome a multitude of evolutionary hurdles and made valuable contributions to practically every theater of operation. In describing how Britain and the United States worked independently and cooperatively to invent and put into practice a fundamentally new way of waging war, this book demonstrates the two nations’ flexibility, adaptability, and ability to innovate during World War II.
Arthur D. “ Bull ” : 85 Singapore : 114 Sinlum Hills : 120 Sino - American Cooperative Organization ( SACO ) : 122 , 125 SI . See Special Intelligence . Smith , Capt . Charles M .: 78 , 79 , 80 Smith , Lt. Col. Nicol : 127 SO .
When he emerged Ball found an Oscar just beneath him. the enemy pilot was caught unaware and died for his carelessness when Ball set his plane aflame.33 Second lt. lee “Moon” Mullins damaged an Oscar but came under machine-gun fire ...
... grant permanent status to the 29th Ranger Battalion, but the War Department preferred to form new units in the United States rather than adopt any existing provisional formations. {46} Ronald L. Lane, Rudder's Rangers (Manassas, Va.
This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars with an interest in special forces and of strategic and military studies in general.
This work contains discussions of the employment of various special purpose, special mission organizations during World War II. These units operated in Allied and Axis countries and in various theaters of war including Europe, North Africa, ...
U.S. Army Special Operations in World War II fills a gap in the Army's record of its overseas activities.
Garnett, Secret History of PWE, pp. x–xii. Mackenzie, Secret History of SOE, pp. 6–7; E. Howe, The Black Game: British Subversive Operations against the Germans during the Second World War (London: Michael Joseph, 1982), pp. 36–53.
This volume discusses commando & guerrilla activities & the gathering of intelligence by partisans & special military units in WW II. Chapters: special operations in the Mediterranean; special operations in the European Theater; special ...
The Operational Groups (OGs) are the unsung heroes of the OSS, and this story is about the Norwegian OGs, who operated deep behind enemy lines in France in 1944, and...
In this short history, historian James Stejskal examines why these agencies were established, the training regime and ingenious tools developed to enable agents to undertake their missions, their operational successes, and their legacy.