thumb |right|300px||US Special warfare combatant-craft crewmen use a Gatling gun to lay down suppressing fire during a practice "hot" extraction of forces on a beach.
Special forces (
SF) and
special operations forces (
SOF) are
generic terms for
elite 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 can refer to a specific unit, the
United States Army Special Forces, commonly called the
"Green Berets". It also refers to units classified as SOF units such as Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations which are separate from Special Forces.
Special forces units are typically composed of relatively small groups of personnel operating under principles of self-sufficiency, stealth, speed, and close
teamwork, 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.
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.”
thumb|right|200px| Colombian army special forces doing a demonstration drill at Tolemaida Air Base.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 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.
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 conventional army combat using large formations of troops and motorized armor groups. 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. In
Tang Dynasty ancient China and later
feudal Japan, members of a class of
mercenary Special Operations operators, called
Ninjas, were highly trained in the various forms of
martial arts (i.e. Ninjutsu) 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 or territories.
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.
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.
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), in jeeps with mounted heavy machine guns
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.
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 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
thumb|right|Polish GROM during sea ops. training
[[NORSOF Task Group|thumb|right]]
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.
thumb|American Special Forces at the Fall of Mazar i Sharif, November 2001The
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, the Netherlands
Korps Commandotroepen 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,
Operation Orchard,
2006 Lebanon War,
Japanese Embassy hostage crisis (
Lima) and in
Sri Lanka against the
LTTE.
Special forces units
Many countries have military organizations which describe themselves as being special forces.
See also
