Special forces

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(Redirected from Special Operations Forces)

For the Battlefield 2 expansion pack, see Battlefield 2.

For the .38 Special album, see Special Forces (album).

For the Alice Cooper album, see Special Forces (Alice Cooper album).

Special forces or special operations forces are relatively small military units raised and trained for special operations missions such as Special Reconnaissance (SR), Unconventional Warfare (UW), Direct Action (DA), Terrorism (T), Counter-Terrorism (CT), and Foreign Internal Defense (FID). These highly-trained, often self-sufficient units rely on stealth, speed, close teamwork, and specialized equipment.

Candidates who hope to join the ranks of a special operations force are volunteers for extremely rigorous selection processes. Often, basic training exceeds two years, and certain missions may necessitate additional training.

The work of special operations forces is usually classified, and hence candidates are put through extensive trials prior to acceptance. These trials have an extremely high "washout" rate. Candidates must also have at least a Secret clearance. Not infrequently, there are ties between intelligence agencies and special operations forces units, acting rapidly on current intelligence.

Special forces soldiers may also be used to train foreign local forces when military aid is given to other countries, thus much of their specialized training includes language and cultural skills. Because of the secrecy surrounding much of their training, and the typically covert nature of their work, special operations forces have an aura of mystery surrounding them and are frequently the topic of military fiction. Coincidentially, those in a special operations unit often refer to themselves as "Quiet Professionals".

1 Special forces or special operations forces?
2 History of special forces
3 World War I
4 World War II
5 Late 20th and early 21st century
6 See also
7 External links

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Special forces or special operations forces?

In the U.S. military, the term special operations forces is preferred: special forces refers exclusively to the United States Army Special Forces, commonly known as the Green Berets.

Elsewhere, the phrases "special forces" and "special operations forces" are generally regarded as synonymous, and are treated as such for the purposes of this article.

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History of special forces

Special operations forces have played an important role throughout the history of warfare when 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.

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 specialized roles in reconnaissance and skirmishing. The formation of the Bushveldt Carbineers in the Second Boer War may also be seen as an early manifestation of a unit for unconventional warfare.

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World War I

During World War I Colonel Bassi of the Italian Army formed "Reparti d'assalto" (Assault Units) called Arditi. They were assigned the tactical role of shock troops, breaching enemy defences 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. Thus they are some of the modern world's first true Special Forces. Also considered Special Forces were the Canadian Corps. British officers utilized the Canadians as front-line shock troopers. This was first demonstrated during the Battle of the Somme in which the Canadians fought outstandingly. The Canadians fufilled this role time and again, leading up the Battle of Vimy Ridge. A German stronghold that couldn't be taken by 250,000 British and French, was taken by 30,000 Canadians.

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World War II

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.

Image:SkorzenyBW.jpg In mid-1942, the United States formed the Rangers who were based on and trained by the Commandos. The US and Canada also formed a sabotage ski brigade for operations in Norway who became known as the Devil's Brigade during their eventual service in Italy. Merrill's Marauders were modelled on the Chindits and took part in similar operations in Burma.

The German army had the Brandenburger Regiment who became a special forces unit used by the Abwehr in the 1939 Fall Weiss, 1940 Fall Gelb and Barbarossa campaigns for long range reconnaissance as well as raids behind enemy lines. Later during the war the SS- Jagdverbände within the Waffen SS commanded by Otto Skorzeny also conducted many special operations.

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.

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Late 20th and early 21st century

During a visit to Fort Bragg, North Carolina on October 12, 1961, then Brigadier General William P. Yarborough approached President John F. Kennedy to raise the issue of the importance of the Special Forces within the US Army. Kennedy was impressed with the significance that such troops would bring to future military actions.

The results were shown in Vietnam War: the Green Berets played a major role in that conflict.

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 coordinate 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.

Invariably, special forces were used in key military operations such as the Falklands War, Northern Ireland, the first and second Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Bosnia, the Iranian Embassy siege (London) and the Moscow Theatre siege.

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