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| Author | : Andrew L. Hargreaves |
| Publisher | : University of Oklahoma Press |
| Total Pages | : 433 |
| Release | : 2013-10-28 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 0806151250 |
Download Special Operations in World War II Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
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.
| Author | : David W. Hogan |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 172 |
| Release | : 2004-10-01 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 9781410216908 |
Download U. S. Army Special Operations in World War II Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Special operations - in this context, commando or guerilla activities - conducted by the U.S. Army in World War II have been the subject of a good many thrilling adventure stories but little sober, historical analysis. Only a handful of works have examined the critical issues underlying special operations, and the Army's historical series on World War II treats the subject only in passing. Yet special operations had a significant role that should not be ignored. Ranger units captured positions critical to the success of amphibious landings in the Mediterranean, France, and the Philippines. Partisans advised by American military personnel provided essential intelligence to American forces and harassed enemy troops in support of American operations in Italy, France, the Philippines, and Burma. As special operations forces grow in importance within the U.S. Army, we need to look at our experience with such activities in World War II. I recommend this study as an overview for Army leaders and other interested parties of an important, but often misunderstood subject. It fills a gap in the Army's history of World War II and honors individuals whose efforts, frequently unsung, nevertheless made a major contribution to the American and Allied victory in that war. Harold W. Nelson Brigadier General, United States Army Chief of Military History
| Author | : James Stejskal |
| Publisher | : Casemate |
| Total Pages | : 161 |
| Release | : 2020-04-30 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1612007724 |
Download Special Operations in WWII Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
A brief history of secret British and American World War II organizations, their training, tools, successes, and their legacy. Winston Churchill famously instructed the head of the Special Operations Executive to “Set Europe ablaze!” Agents of both the British Special Operations Executive and the American Office of Strategic Services underwent rigorous training before making their way, undetected, into occupied Europe to do just that. Working alone or in small cells, often cooperating with local resistance groups, agents undertook missions behind enemy lines involving sabotage, subversion, organizing resistance groups and intelligence-gathering. SOE’s first notable success was the destruction of a power station in France, stopping work at a vital U-boat base. Later operations included the assassination of Himmler’s deputy Reinhard Heyrich and ending the Nazi atomic bomb program by destroying the heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway. OSS operatives established anti-Nazi resistance groups across Europe, and managed to smuggle operatives into Nazi Germany, including running one of the war’s most important spies, German diplomat Fritz Kolbe. All missions were incredibly dangerous and many agents were captured, tortured, and ultimately killed—the life expectancy of an SOE wireless operator in occupied France was just six weeks. 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.
| Author | : David W. Hogan Jr. |
| Publisher | : Pickle Partners Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 117 |
| Release | : 2014-08-15 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1782894535 |
Download U.S. Army Special Operations In World War II [Illustrated Edition] Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Illustrated with 11 maps and 35 Illustrations From the plains of Europe to the jungles of the Pacific, the U.S. Army in World War II employed a variety of commando and guerrilla operations to harass the Axis armies, gather intelligence, and support the more conventional Allied military efforts. During the Allied invasion of northern France on D-day, elite American infantry scaled the sheer cliffs of the Normandy coast, while smaller combat teams and partisans struck deep behind German lines, attacking enemy troop concentrations and disrupting their communications. On the other side of the globe, U.S. soldiers led guerrillas against Japanese patrols in the jungles of the Philippines and pushed through uncharted paths in the rugged mountains of northern Burma to strike at the enemy rear. Special operations such as these provided some of the most stirring adventure stories of the war, with innumerable legends growing from the exploits of Darby’s and Rudder’s Rangers, Merrill’s Marauders, the Jedburghs, the guerrillas of the Philippines, and the Kachins of northern Burma. Despite the public and historical attention paid to the exploits of American special operations forces in World War II, their significance remains a matter of dispute. Both during and after the conflict, many officers argued that such endeavors contributed little in a war won primarily by conventional combat units. They perceived little, if any, place for such units in official Army doctrine. Yet others have contended that a broader, more intelligent use of special operations would have hastened the triumph of Allied arms during World War II. In their eyes, the experience gained by the U.S. Army in the field during the war was important and foreshadowed the shape of future military operations.
| Author | : David W. Hogan |
| Publisher | : |
| Total Pages | : 172 |
| Release | : 1992 |
| Genre | : Government publications |
| ISBN | : |
Download U.S. Army Special Operations in World War II Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
| Author | : |
| Publisher | : Frontline Books |
| Total Pages | : 208 |
| Release | : 2021-09-30 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1399015079 |
Download SOE in Denmark Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
From a small number of clandestine activities against the German occupation of Denmark in 1940, a sophisticated resistance movement developed which by 1944, with the support of Special Operations Executive, had become a highly effective intelligence gathering and sabotage organisation. Denmark is composed of a mainland and more than 500 islands, a fifth of which are inhabited, and the countryside is devoid of any inaccessible or mountainous region. Together this made communication between resistance cells difficult and meant that there were no natural bases from which guerrilla operations could be mounted. Nevertheless, thanks to supply drops of explosives, weapons and ammunition arranged by SOE, the Danes harassed the Germans and raised the moral of the Danish people in the latter, and most brutal, stages of the war. This largely forgotten story of SOE and its agents in Denmark, the latter facing extremely hazardous conditions, was written immediately after the war by a SOE staff member and read and validated by the Director of SOE, Major General Colin Gubbins. A very large number of documents were burned at SOE’s London headquarters in Baker Street when the organisation was wound down in 1946 making this history of the Danish Section an invaluable and irreplaceable study. SOE in Denmark was written at a time when SOE was still largely unknown to the general public and its operations a closely guarded secret. It was expected that its activities would never be officially acknowledged and the study of its actions in Denmark was compiled with the aim of provide a lasting record of its achievement. Within its pages we read of the dangers the agents faced, the logistical mountains they had to overcome, and the successes achieved in the face of a ruthless enemy. Completed with unique photographs from the Danish archives, SOE in Denmark is an essential addition to the SOE literature.
| Author | : Saul David |
| Publisher | : Hachette Books |
| Total Pages | : 388 |
| Release | : 2019-09-03 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 0316414514 |
Download The Force Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
Hailed as "masterly" (Wall Street Journal) and a "monumental achievement" (Douglas Brinkley), this book tells the riveting, true story of the group of elite US and Canadian soldiers who sacrificed everything to accomplish a crucial but nearly impossible WWII mission. In December of 1943, as Nazi forces sprawled around the world and the future of civilization hung in the balance, a group of highly trained U.S. and Canadian soldiers from humble backgrounds was asked to do the impossible: capture a crucial Nazi stronghold perched atop stunningly steep cliffs. The men were a rough-and-ready group, assembled from towns nested in North America's most unforgiving terrain, where many of them had struggled through the Great Depression relying on canny survival skills and the fearlessness of youth. Brought together by the promise to take part in the military's most elite missions, they formed a unique brotherhood tested first by the crucible of state-of-the-art training—including skiing, rock climbing, and parachuting—and then tragically by the vicious fighting they would face. The early battle in the Italian theatre for the strategic fort cost the heroic U.S.-Canadian commando unit—their first special forces unit ever assembled—enormous casualties. Yet the victory put them in position to continue their drive into Italy, setting the stage for the Allies' resurgence toward victory in WWII. The unit, with its vast range of capabilities and mission-specific exercises, became a model for the "Green Berets" and other special forces groups that would go on to accomplish America's most challenging undertakings behind enemy lines. Knitting first-hand accounts seamlessly into the narrative-drawing on interviews with surviving members and their families; the memoirs, letters, and diaries of Forcemen; and declassified documents in the American, Canadian, British, and German archives—The Force tells a story that is as deeply personal as it is inspiring.
| Author | : Center of Military History United States |
| Publisher | : Createspace Independent Pub |
| Total Pages | : 168 |
| Release | : 2015-02-28 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 9781508649687 |
Download U. S. Army Special Operations in World War II Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
U.S. Army Special Operations in World War II fills a gap in the Army's record of its overseas activities. As David W. Hogan so clearly states, a variety of commando and guerrilla operations were conducted on the plains of Europe and in the jungles of the Pacific to harass the Axis armies, to gather intelligence, and to support the more conventional Allied military efforts, yet their significance was a matter of dispute. Hogan examines the critical issues underlying special operations and shows how American leaders employed commandos-rangers in Army parlance-and guerrillas extensively, if not systematically, during the war. An important overview of the Army's past experience, the study contains useful lessons at a time of keen interest in the critical role being played by special operation forces in meeting today's contingencies.
| Author | : Leroy Thompson |
| Publisher | : Frontline Books |
| Total Pages | : 73 |
| Release | : 2001-02-11 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1853674583 |
Download America's Commandos Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
America deployed a diverse group of special operations forces (SOF) throught World War II and in Korea. These elite units quickly earned a redoubtable reputation and proved themselves adept at hit-and-run raids, gathering intelligence in long range patrols, rescuing PoWs and living and fighting in hostile environments. This valuable study includes more than 100 rare and unusual photographs of the men, uniforms, special equipment and insignia of these elite troops. Units covered include the Marine Raider regiments and Paramarines; Ranger battalions; 'Merill's Marauders'; the Special Service Force, OSS teams; Naval CDUs; and ski and mountain troops. America's Commandos is a key addition to the G.I. Series and examines some of America's most feared and capable elite forces.
| Author | : Gordon L. Rottman |
| Publisher | : Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 178 |
| Release | : 2013-08-20 |
| Genre | : History |
| ISBN | : 1472805240 |
Download US Special Warfare Units in the Pacific Theater 1941–45 Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle
The bitter fighting in the Pacific Theater required new forms of warfare, and the gathering of detailed intelligence information on the remote and varied islands and their determined defenders. As a result, new scout, raider and reconnaissance units were formed – the pioneers of today's special forces. Some units were small, while others comprised thousands of men. All contributed significantly to the war effort. This book examines a wide range of PTO special-warfare units, including the Alaskan and Alamo scouts, 5217th/1st Recon Battalion, Marine Amphibious Recon and Raider units, Amphibious Scouts, and 6th Ranger Battalion.
