Special Forces

A branch of the U.S. Army composed of soldiers specially trained in guerrilla fighting.

Special forces exist to conduct special operations, irregular and guerrilla warfare, counter-insurgency, and counter-terrorist operations. They were first conceived in the modern context just prior to WW II by the Germans who had studied the Allied use of irregular forces during WW I. In October 1939 a unit was formed by the Wehrmacht at the city of Brandenburg under the aegis of the Abwehr. Initially given the cover name of 800th Special Purpose Construction Training Company, it soon became better known as the ‘Brandenburgers’. Expanded to battalion strength and redesignated the 800th Special Purpose Training Battalion Brandenburg, it eventually became a regiment and ultimately a division.

The Brandenburger concept, of highly trained men capable of carrying out long-range deep-penetration missions, can be considered the blueprint for today's special forces. Training, conducted at two training schools at Brandenburg and Düren, included fieldcraft, tactics, combat survival, training on German and foreign weapons, marksmanship, silent killing, close-quarter combat, small-boat handling, demolition and sabotage, radio communications, intelligence gathering, foreign languages, and the study of foreign armed forces, their equipment, and orders of battle. Parachute training was carried out at the Luftwaffe parachute school at Spandau. Brandenburger units saw action in Poland, France, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Yugoslavia, North Africa, Persia, the Aegean, and on the eastern front.

In April 1943, the Waffen- SS formed its own special forces unit. Located just north of Berlin at Friedenthal, it was designated the Friedenthal Special Duties Battalion (later the 502nd SS Special Service Battalion) and was commanded by Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny. At first volunteers were recruited only from the Waffen-SS but subsequently it included Brandenburgers, the 500th SS Parachute Rifle Battalion, and other specialist units. Training was similar to that of the Brandenburgers and elements of the battalion also qualified as combat swimmers. Air support came from Kampfgeschwader 200, the Luftwaffe special operations squadron.

In September 1943 502nd SS Special Service Battalion, reinforced by Luftwaffe paratroopers, carried out its first mission successfully, rescuing the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from imprisonment on the Gran Sasso in Italy's Abruzzi mountain range. Subsequently expanded to a training centre and four battalions, the SS special forces saw service in many places, most notably behind US lines in the battle of the Bulge.

At the end of 1943, the German navy also formed its own special forces in the form of the Klein Kampf Verbände, better known as ‘K’ units. This formation comprised a headquarters, three naval assault detachments, and a training school. Each detachment consisted of one officer and 22 other ranks, all highly trained combat swimmers expert in the use of small craft, explosive motor boats, midget submarines, human torpedoes, explosives, and mines against naval targets. In addition, each man underwent intensive military training similar to that of the Brandenburgers and 502nd SS Special Service Battalion as well as instruction in naval engineering, seamanship, navigation, and foreign languages. ‘K’ units first saw action in July 1944 on the coast of Normandy and thereafter in southern France, Italy, Holland, Denmark, Norway, and northern Germany.

The Italian navy pioneered underwater special warfare with its Decima Flottiglia Mas (10th Light Flotilla), a combat-swimmer unit specializing in the use of explosive motor boats, human torpedoes, and limpet mines. This unit carried out a number of successful attacks against Allied naval vessels in the harbours of Gibraltar, Algeciras, Algiers, and Alexandria, severely damaging two battleships in the latter operation and, had they known it, giving the Italian navy local superiority. But the warships sank on an even keel, and aerial photography did not detect that they were disabled.

The British entry into the world of special warfare commenced in 1940 with the formation of the SOE which was tasked with organizing and supporting resistance in enemy-occupied countries. Special Training Schools (STS) were established throughout Britain, each specializing in instruction in the different skills in which SOE agents were trained. Similar establishments were also set up overseas, some as far afield as India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Australia, and Singapore. SOE operated in different countries under various cover names such as Force 133, Force 136, and the Inter Services Research Department. One of its offshoots was the Small Scale Raiding Force which devoted itself to raiding operations along the French coast and on the Channel Islands.

In June 1940 the Long Range Desert Group was formed with the role of carrying out deep-penetration reconnaissance operations in the Western Desert, and July 1941 saw the formation of the SAS. Other wartime British special forces included the Special Boat Sections who pioneered the use of canoes and other small craft for special operations; the Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment whose swimmer/canoeists carried out the successful ‘Cockleshell Heroes’ raid against German shipping in Bordeaux harbour in December 1942; the Special Boat Squadron which carried out raiding operations in the Aegean and the Adriatic; Popski's Private Army whose jeep-mounted patrols raided enemy lines of communication in North Africa and Italy; and the Combined Operations Pilotage Parties which conducted clandestine reconnaissances of enemy-held coastlines.

The principal American wartime special forces organization was the OSS, which performed a similar role and was initially trained by the SOE. The Special Operations division deployed missions and detachments in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Burma, Siam (now Thailand), and China. OSS personnel also provided the American element in Jedburgh groups: Allied three-man teams, comprising two officers and a radio operator, which were dropped into German-occupied territories prior to D-Day in Normandy.

In the Pacific, Australian coast watcher teams monitored the movement of Japanese shipping and troops while Australian independent companies and the British/Australian ‘Z’ Special Unit carried out guerrilla operations in Borneo, Balikpapan, New Guinea, the Celebes, Portuguese Timor, and Indonesia. Meanwhile SOE's Far Eastern arm, Force 136, dropped agents into Burma, Malaya, Sumatra, Siam, and French Indochina to organize resistance and conduct guerrilla warfare. Other units which operated in Burma included ‘V’ Force, formed for the conduct of fighting patrols and collection of intelligence behind enemy lines, and the Sea Reconnaissance Unit which carried out coastal and riverine intelligence tasks prior to landings by the British Fourteenth Army.

The period immediately after the war saw reductions and disbandments of special forces but post-war conflicts soon saw their return and since then they have been retained in the orders of battle of most armed forces. Britain's 22nd SAS Regiment (22 SAS) and Royal Marines Special Boat Service (SBS) have seen action in almost all of the post-war conflicts in which the country has been involved. During the last twenty years, considerable expertise has been developed by British special forces in the areas of counter-terrorist operations and covert surveillance with one unit, 14 Intelligence Company, being formed for the latter role.

During the Vietnam war special forces played an important role. Among their number were the US army's 5th Special Forces Group, Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) units, the Military Assistance Command—Vietnam—Studies & Observation Group (MAC-V-SOG), US navy Sea Air Land (SEAL) teams, US Marine Force Reconnaissance units and USAF Air Commandos, special operations squadrons, and combat control teams of forward air controllers. Elements of the Australian SAS Regiment and New Zealand SAS Squadron also saw service in South Vietnam, along with special forces units of the Republic of Korea.

The 1980s saw a major expansion of American special forces and the formation in 1987 of the US Special Operations Command which incorporates the US army Special Forces, Rangers, civil affairs and psychological operations units, US navy SEALs and support elements, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, and USAF special operations units. Within that formation exists the Joint Special Operations Command which incorporates the US army's DELTA Force, the navy's SEAL Team 6, a specialist Ranger unit, an intelligence unit, and a helicopter force. The years 1983 and 1989 saw US special forces deployed in action in Grenada and Panama respectively and in Iraq during the Gulf war of 1991, along with British and French units. Two years later they saw action again in Somalia.

The USSR placed great emphasis in the use of special forces and, with other members of the Warsaw Pact, created a large number of Spetsnaz formations which would have spearheaded any assault on the West. Many have since disappeared since the collapse of the eastern bloc but Russia's Spetsnaz forces still comprise eight brigades, each specializing in operations in specific areas of the world.

Other countries which maintain sizeable special forces include France with its 13^ème Régiment de Dragons Parachutiste, 1er Régiment de Parachutistes d'Infanterie de Marine, and the Commando Hubert naval combat swimmer unit. In the Middle East, Israel has its Sayeret Matkal General Staff Reconnaissance Unit, Sayeret Shaldag LRRP unit, Sayeret Hadruzim Druze Muslim reconnaissance unit, and Flotilla 13 naval special operations unit. In South-East Asia, Thailand maintains a special forces division comprising four regiments, a psychological operations battalion, long-range reconnaissance company, and special warfare training centre, while the Republic of Korea maintains seven complete special forces brigades.

Bibliography

• Beaumont, Roger, Special Operations & Élite Units 1939-1988: A Research Guide (Westport, Conn., 1988).
• Foot, Michael, SOE: The Special Operations Executive 1940-1946 (London, 1984).
• Moon, Tom, This Grim and Savage Game: OSS & the Beginning of US Covert Operations in WW II (Los Angeles, 1991).
• Seymour, William, British Special Forces (London, 1985).
• Skorzeny, Otto, My Commando Operations (Atglen, Pa., 1995).
• Waller, Douglas C., Commandos: The Inside Story of America's Secret Soldiers (New York, 1994)

— Peter Harclerode

Combat personnel of the U.S. Army who have been trained and equipped to carry out special operations, such forces have five major responsibilities: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, special reconnaissance, and counterterrorism.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

As elite, specialized military units, Special Operations Forces (SOF) of each military service have participated in most U.S. conflicts since World War II. Exploiting their unique operational capabilities, SOF units can execute a variety of missions, many entailing the clandestine insertion of SOF by land, air, or sea. SOF most frequently conduct activities such as direct action (raids, ambushes, hostage rescues, and "surgical" strikes); strategic reconnaissance, usually in hostile territory; unconventional warfare, including advising and supporting indigenous insurgent and resistance groups; foreign internal defense (assisting a host nation to defeat insurgency); civil affairs and psychological operations; counter terrorism; humanitarian assistance; and search and rescue operations. The strength of SOF in the active and reserve components of the Army, Navy, and Air Force as of October 2001 was about 43,000, or nearly 2 percent of total U.S. military strength. In recognition of the growing importance of special operations, Congress established a new unified command, the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), in 1986 to oversee the doctrine, training, and equipping of all U.S. SOF. Each armed service also has established its own special operations command, which serve as component commands of USSOCOM.

With a strength of about 26,000 in 2001, U.S. Army SOF consist of Special Forces, Rangers, special operations aviation units, civil affairs and psychological operations units, and special operations support units allocated among the Active Army, the Army Reserve, and the Army National Guard. The U.S. Special Forces (USSF) was organized 20 June 1952 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as the first permanent unconventional warfare unit in the Army since World War II. Signifying its elite status, USSF was authorized in September 1961 to wear a distinctive green beret, the term "Green Beret" henceforth being synonymous with the USSF.

Under President John F. Kennedy, the USSF's role in counterinsurgency operations, particularly in Southeast Asia, expanded—initially under the auspices of the Central Intelligence Agency and later under U.S. military control. The USSF mobilized Montagnard tribesmen in support of South Vietnam's struggle against the Viet Cong as part of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group program, organizing village defenses and mobile strike forces. Other USSF teams conducted covert cross-border operations as part of the highly secret U.S. Studies and Observation Group. At their peak strength in 1968, more than 3,500 Green Berets were in Vietnam. Green Berets also served in Latin America during the 1960s and, for example, helped Bolivian forces to track down and execute Che Guevara, the Cuban revolutionary, in 1967.

Since the Vietnam War, USSF teams have carried out foreign internal defense training, counter drug, and humanitarian missions mainly in Latin America and Africa. Together with Rangers and other Army SOF, Special Forces have participated in U.S. operations in Grenada, Panama, Kuwait and Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, and the Balkans. From October 2001 through 2002, Army SOF, joined by Navy and Air Force SOF, have played a significant role in counter terrorist operations in Afghanistan, conducting clandestine reconnaissance missions, advising and assisting anti-Taliban forces, and executing raids and "snatch-and-grab" operations. The First Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta, or Delta Force, has traditionally conducted highly secret and dangerous counter terrorist, hostage rescue, and other classified operations, often assisted by Rangers and other SOF. The Delta Force took part in the aborted U.S. hostage rescue attempt in Iran in 1980 and in the failed attempt to capture a Somali warlord in Mogadishu in 1993. Civil affairs and psychological operations units are among the most often deployed Army SOF components.

Numbering about 10,000 active and reserve Air Force personnel in 2001, Air Force SOF consist of fixed and rotary wing aircraft units and supporting units whose missions include insertion and extraction, resupply, aerial fire support, air interdiction, force protection, aerial refueling, combat search and rescue, psychological operations, operation and defense of expeditionary airfields, and other specialized missions. Air Force SOF missions often are carried out at night and in adverse weather conditions. During the Cold War, Air Force special operations were conducted in Korea, Tibet, Libya, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Iran, Grenada and elsewhere. During the Korean War, Air Force SOF dropped agents behind enemy lines, performed search and rescue missions for downed pilots, conducted psychological warfare and intelligence collection operations, supported partisan warfare, and flew resupply over flights to agents in China and Siberia. Later Air Force SOF were prominent in support of operations in Panama, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, in U.S. efforts following the Persian Gulf War to contain Iraq, and in support of U.S. interventions in Somalia, the Balkans, and Afghanistan.

Naval SOF include about 5,000 active and 1,200 reserve personnel organized into SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) Teams, Special Boat Units, and SEAL Delivery Vehicle teams. The SEALs evolved from the Navy's World War II Combat Swimmer Reconnaissance Units, which reconnoitered and cleared beach obstacles to assist amphibious landings, and Navy Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), or "frogmen," which were organized in 1947 as underwater strike units. In response to President Kennedy's mandate to strengthen American counterinsurgency forces, the Navy formed its first SEAL teams in January 1962, using members of the UDTs. Two SEAL teams, each with a strength of about 200 were activated, one team each assigned to the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. Approximately 20 SEAL units participated in the Vietnam War, serving as advisers, conducting counter guerrilla operations in the Mekong Delta, and executing covert maritime incursions in North Vietnam to gather intelligence and rescue American prisoners of war. SEALs have taken part in nearly all major Cold War and post–Cold War U.S. military operations through 2002, including the invasion of Grenada, the intervention in Panama (in which four SEALS were killed in action), and the Persian Gulf War, in which SEALs conducted pilot rescue operations, located and disabled mines, carried out sea patrols and deception operations, and executed small raids. Their versatility was again demonstrated in Afghanistan where SEALS, inserted by ship-launched helicopters, were among the first American units to enter that landlocked country in the initial stages of counter terrorist operations.

The Marine Corps has no dedicated SOF units, although a Marine Expeditionary Unit of an infantry battalion and a small air detachment can be trained for special operations as required by circumstances.

Bibliography

Haas, Michael E. Apollo's Warriors: United States Air Force Special Operations during the Cold War. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1997.

Hoyt, Edwin P. Seals at War. New York: Dell, 1993.

Marquis, Susan L. Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U.S. Special Operations Forces. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institute, 1997.

Paddock, Alfred H., Jr. U.S. Army Special Warfare: Its Origins, Psychological and Unconventional Warfare 1941–1952. Washington, D.C.: National Defense University Press, 1982.

Stanton, Shelby L. Green Berets at War: U.S. Army Special Forces in Southeast Asia, 1956–1975. Novato, Calif.: Presidio Press, 1985.

(DOD) US Army forces organized, trained, and equipped specifically to conduct special operations. Special forces have five primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, special reconnaissance, and counterterrorism. Counterterrorism is a special mission for specially organized, trained, and equipped special forces units designated in theater contingency plans. Also called SF.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009)

For other uses, see Special forces (disambiguation).

Special forces (SF) and special operations forces (SOF) are generic terms for highly-trained military teams/units that conduct specialized operations such as reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, direct action and counter-terrorism actions.

In the United States, the term special operations forces (SOF) is used instead of special forces as special forces refers to a specific unit, the United States Army Special Forces, commonly called the "Green Berets".

Contents 1 Nature of operations 2 History 2.1 World War I 2.2 World War II 2.3 Late 20th and early 21st century 3 Special forces units 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

Nature of operations

By the terms of their definition, special forces are small-scale, clandestine, covert or overt military operations of an unorthodox and frequently high risk nature, undertaken to achieve significant political or military objectives in support of foreign policy.”^[1]

Some special forces operations, such as counter-terrorism actions, may be carried out domestically under certain circumstances. Special forces units are typically composed of relatively small groups of highly-trained personnel equipped with specialist equipment and armament, operating under principles of self-sufficiency, stealth, speed, and close teamwork, often transported by helicopter, small boats or submarines, parachuting from aircraft, or stealthy infiltration by land. Special forces are sometimes considered a force multiplier, as when they train indigenous forces to fight guerrilla warfare.^[2]

History

Special forces have played an important role throughout the history of warfare whenever the aim has been to achieve disruption by "hit and run" and sabotage, rather than more traditional face-to-face combat. Other significant roles lay in reconnaissance, providing essential intelligence from close to or among the enemy, and increasingly in combating terrorists, their infrastructure and activities.

In antiquity, Hamilcar Barca in Sicily had specialized troops trained to launch several offensives per day. Later, during the Crusade wars, small, highly trained units of Knights Templar attacked individual Muslim units attempting to forage or seize booty. Muslim armies had several naval special operations units, including one which used camouflaged ships to gather intelligence and launch raids, and another which consisted of soldiers who could pass for Crusaders who would use ruses to board enemy ships and then capture and destroy them.^[3] In ancient China and later Feudal Japan, members of a class of mercenary operators, called Ninjas, were trained in the various forms of martial arts and special tactics for both guerrilla warfare and unconventional warfare. They were usually hired by rival leaders for covert operations such as espionage, assassination, sabotage, and destabilizing the social, economic, political, and military infrastructure of a rival enemy country.

During the Napoleonic wars, rifle and sapper units existed who were not committed to the formal lines that made up most battles of the day. They instead held more specialised roles in reconnaissance and skirmishing.

British Army scouts in Africa (1893): Frederick Russell Burnham (middle); Hon. Maurice Gifford (right)

For the British Army, it was during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) that the need for more specialised units became most apparent. Scouting units such as Lovat Scouts, a Scottish Highland regiment made up of phenomenal woodsmen outfitted in ghillie suits and well practiced in the arts of marksmanship, field craft, and military tactics, best filled this role. This unit was formed in 1900 by Lord Lovat and early on reported to an American, Major Frederick Russell Burnham, the Chief of Scouts under Lord Roberts. After the war, Lovat's Scouts went on to formally become the British Army's first sniper unit.^[4] Additionally, the formation of the Bushveldt Carbineers in 1901 may also be seen as an early manifestation of a unit for unconventional warfare.

World War I

During World War I Colonel Bassi of the Italian Army formed 27 battalion-sized "Reparti d'assalto" (Assault Units) called Arditi. They were assigned the tactical role of shock troops, breaching enemy defenses in order to prepare the way for a broad infantry advance. The Reparti d'assalto were successful in bringing a degree of movement to what had previously been a war of entrenched positions. The Arditi were not considered infantry troops, but were seen and organized as a separate combat arm and therefore received extended tactical training, the best and newest weapons and a distinct new uniform. Thus they are some of the modern world's first special forces. On the German side, the success of the Spring Offensive reflected on their successful employment of specially trained stormtrooper or Sturmtruppen units, whose unconventional infiltration tactics made them de facto special forces.

World War II

British SAS in North Africa (1943)

During World War II in 1940 the British Commandos were formed following Winston Churchill's call for "specially trained troops of the hunter class, who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast." The Commandos were selected from volunteers among existing servicemen and went on to spawn a number of other specialist units including the Long Range Desert Group, the Special Air Service, the Special Boat Service and the Small Scale Raiding Force of the Special Operations Executive.

In the Burma Campaign, the Chindits, whose long range penetration groups were trained to operate from bases deep behind Japanese lines, contained commandos (King's Regiment (Liverpool), 142 Commando Company) and Gurkhas. Their jungle expertise, which would play an important part in many British special forces operations post war, was learnt, at a great cost in lives, in the jungles of Burma fighting the Japanese.

The United States formed the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during World War II under the Medal of Honor recipient William J. Donovan. This organization was the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and was responsible for both intelligence and Special Forces missions. The CIA's elite Special Activities Division is the direct descendant of the OSS. ^[5]

In mid-1942, the United States formed the Rangers. The United States and Canada also formed a sabotage ski brigade for operations in Norway who became known as the Devil's Brigade, officially known as the First Special Service Force, during their eventual service in Italy. Merrill's Marauders were modelled on the Chindits and took part in similar operations in Burma. The foundation date of No 2 Dutch Troop, 22 March 1942, is considered to be the foundation date of the Korps Commandotroepen (Dutch special forces)

In late November 1943, the Alamo Scouts were formed to conduct reconnaissance and raider work in the Southwest Pacific Theater under the personal command of then Lt. General Walter Krueger, Commanding General, Sixth U.S. Army. Krueger envisioned that the Alamo Scouts, consisting of small teams of highly trained volunteers, would operate deep behind enemy lines to provide intelligence-gathering and tactical reconnaissance in advance of Sixth U.S. Army landing operations. In 1988, the Alamo Scouts were individually awarded the Special Forces Tab^{[citation needed]} for their services in World War II and included in the lineage of today's U.S. Army Special Forces.

The German army had the Brandenburger Regiment, which was originally founded as a special forces unit used by the Abwehr for infiltration and long distance reconnaissance in Fall Weiss of 1939 and the Fall Gelb and Barbarossa campaigns of 1940 and 1941. Later during the war the SS- Jagdverbände, a unit within the Waffen SS commanded by Otto Skorzeny, also conducted many special operations.

On October 21, 1944 Adolf Hitler — inspired by an American subterfuge which had put three captured German tanks flying German colours to devastating use at Aachen — summoned Skorzeny to Berlin and assigned him to lead a panzer brigade. As planned by Skorzeny in Operation Greif, about two dozen German soldiers, most of them in captured American army Jeeps and disguised as American Military Police officers, penetrated American lines in the early hours of the Battle of the Bulge and sowed disorder behind the Allied lines by mis-directing convoys away from the front lines. A handful of his men were captured by the Americans and spread a rumour that Skorzeny was leading a raid on Paris to kill or capture General Dwight Eisenhower. Although this was untrue, Eisenhower was confined to his headquarters for weeks and Skorzeny was labelled "the most dangerous man in Europe".

In Italy, the Decima Flottiglia MAS were responsible for the sinking and damage of considerable Allied tonnage in the Mediterranean. After the division of Italy in 1943, those fighting with Germany retained the original name and those fighting with the Allies retitled as the Mariassalto. Also there were other Italian special forces like A.D.R.A. (Arditi Distruttori Regia Aeronautica). This regiment was used in raids on Allied airbases and railways in North Africa in 1943. In one mission they destroyed 25 B-17s.

The Z Special Unit was an Australian commando unit which sunk several Japanese ships in Singapore Harbour as part of Operation Jaywick.

In Finland, Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (Kaukopartio) were used extensively to perform reconnaissance missions deep behind Soviet lines. Occasionally they were also used to destroy strategic targets.

Late 20th and early 21st century

Polish GROM during sea ops. training

NORSOF Task Group

Throughout the later half of the 20th century and into the 21st century, special forces have come to higher prominence, as governments have found objectives can sometimes be better achieved by a small team of anonymous specialists than a larger and much more politically controversial conventional deployment. In both Kosovo and Afghanistan, special forces were used to co-ordinate activities between local guerrilla fighters and air power. Typically, guerrilla fighters would engage enemy soldiers and tanks causing them to move, where they could be seen and attacked from the air.

American Special Forces outside Kunduz in November 2001

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan involved coalition special forces from several nations, who played a major role in removing the Taliban from power in 2001-2002. Coalition special forces have continued to play a role in combating the Taliban in subsequent operations. Special forces involved in these operations, occasionally working together, included US Special Operations Forces, UK Special Forces, the Australian Special Air Service Regiment, the Canadian Joint Task Force 2, the Polish GROM, the German KSK, the New Zealand Special Air Service and the Norwegian Forsvarets Spesialkommando and Marinejegerkommandoen. Special forces from other nations have supported the parallel NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Special Forces have been used in both wartime and peacetime military operations such as the Vietnam War, Falklands War, The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the first and second Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, first Chechen War and second Chechen War, the Iranian Embassy siege (London), Operation Defensive Shield, Moscow theater hostage crisis, Japanese Embassy hostage crisis (Lima) and in Sri Lanka against the LTTE.

Special forces units

Main article: List of special forces units

See also: List of defunct special forces units

Many countries have military organizations which describe themselves as being special forces.

See also

• Commando
• List of guerrillas
• Special Activities Division
• United States special operations forces

References

1. ^ Gray, Colin. (2007). Another Bloody Century: Future Warfare. Page 252. Phoenix. ISBN 0304367346.
2. ^ "Chapter 4: Special Operation Forces in Annual Report to the President and the Congress (1998)". US Government. http://www.dod.mil/execsec/adr98/chap4.html. Retrieved on 2007-06-30. 
3. ^ Christides, Vassilios. "Military Intelligence in Arabo-Byzantine Naval Warfare". Institute for Byzantine Studies, Athens. http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/pdfs/christides.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-03-05. 
4. ^ John Plaster (2006). The Ultimate Sniper: An Advanced Training Manual For Military And Police Snipers. Paladin Press. pp. 5. ISBN 0-87364-704-1. 
5. ^ The Office of Strategic Services: America's First Intelligence Agency, Michael Warner, CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, United States Central Intelligence Agency (2000)

External links

• Professional Soldiers
• ShadowSpear Special Operations

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)