SF > WW2

[GI_Rutger]

Hey,
I'm looking for some info/a link about the Special Forces in WW2 (SOE/SAS/OSS/Jedbrughs, the allied spelcial forces who fought in west europe). I tried Google, but I couldn't find anything about the operations in France.
I'm not looking for info about commando raids (Raid on St. Nazaire, Dieppe, etc. ), i'm looking for info about the teams which inflitrated in France, to train the resistance.
ps. Sorry for my bad English, I'm Dutch...

[Ratamacue]

You could probably find some information on the US Army Rangers at Pointe du Hoc, though I don't know how much of a special operation that was.

[USMarine3521]

Marine Raiders imo were the most SOFish in WWII, you should check them out.

[11F5S]

Marine Raiders imo were the most SOFish in WWII, you should check them out.

USMC Raiders were a conventional fighting force as were the US Army Rangers and the First Special Service Force. It was the OSS that conducted what truly were special operations during WWII.

[GI_Rutger]

I'm looking for this kind of stuff:
For easier actions of the Resistance Movement, it was decided by allies to drop SAS detachments, equipment and armament (by example, 6 SAS detachments were dropped in Brittany and had one chief, Commandant Bourgouin, dropped by a 299 Squadron Stirling, at Saint-Marcel, Base Dingson SAS, in the night of 10/11 June 1944).
To help Guerilla actions of the members of the Resistance Movement and to improve communications with London, Jedburghs teams were dropped to complete SAS detachments (by example, 14 Jedburghs teams were created in Brittany).
Nearly all the SAS and SOE teams, their reinforcement (soldiers, equipment, armament) and drops for the members of the Resistance Movement were flown by the 38 Group Squadrons.

I now found some stuff about the organisation and history of the Jedburghs, but i'd like to have info about the sabotage actions...

[Haiw]

11F5S is right; USMC raiders, Rangers, Merills Marauders, etc. etc. all aint SOF. only units that were really sof by my knowledge were the SAS, the SOE (tho they might also be more like secret service) and OSS (same, they might be more like an intelligence service)

[GI_Rutger]

11F5S is right; USMC raiders, Rangers, Merills Marauders, etc. etc. all aint SOF. only units that were really sof by my knowledge were the SAS, the SOE (tho they might also be more like secret service) and OSS (same, they might be more like an intelligence service)

The OSS/SOE agents hadn't a rank, the others (SAS, Jedburghs) did have. I'm looking for info about organisations like the SAS, SOE, OSS, Jedburghs, which fought on the western front. I'm NOT looking for Special Forces like the USMC Raiders/Rangers etc.

[Gordon]

here's a few links to a few sites with photos and a little detail, but not to all that much:

http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/sas.htm

http://www.silent-ops.com/operations/worldwar2/paddy_hero.htm

http://www.nlc.net.au/~bernie/special_air_service_brigade.htm

I just did a quick search on google and there's a few of the sites i came up with.

A good book i'd reccomend to you is "Rogue Warrior of the SAS:Paddy Mayne" by Roy Bradford it's a real good read and full of facts, there's a few other good books too.

I'm surprised you couldn't find anything on google, here's some examples of the phrases / words i used to search:

-David Stirling
-Paddy Mayne
-Operation Bulbasket

try those in google and you should come up with loadsa info. and links to other sites.

P.S. thats about the SAS, don't know much about the others though i'm afraid.

[FuturePara]

Not the ETO I know, but how about the Alamo Scouts? I wouldn't really consider them conventional. I've heard that some of their operations are classified to this very day, although I doubt that. There were also units like the Kachin Commandos and the Filippino Guerrillas in the Pacific. Oh yeah, and the Surveillance and Reconnassiance squads, although I believe they tied in to the OSS in some way or another.

[11F5S]

Why do you not consider the Alamo Scouts to be a conventional Army unit?

Their primay function was deep recon. The isn't anything unconventional about recon. Just because you go deep into indian territory doesn't make the mission unconventional.

[Haiw]

yea but (assuming that deep recon is the same as strategic recon, if that's not the case, correct me and prove i'm a fool again ;)) isnt that kind of recon a SOF mission?

[NcDeuce]

Special Forces

Gee wiz, get it right.

Special Forces are not Rangers. Rangers are not Special Forces.

Special Forces & Rangers are both Special Operations.

[Otsoa]

If you are loking for some special forces might I suggest you look into the Devil's Brigade. They were a mix Canadian and United States special forces outfit that fought in Italy and elsewhere. Now you will have to sift a lot through many of the sites because there was a movie made about the outfit but here is one website that might be able to give you a better idea about the unit. http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/devil.htm

Edit: here is the official name of the unit. This will be of more help in web searches. They were known as The First Special Service Force.

[11F5S]

"The Devil's Brigade" was filmed at Camp Williams, Utah the home of the 19th SFG. They refurbished the place before filming the movie.

Slice it, dice it anyway you choose, but the 1st Special Service Force was a conventional Army unit.

[GLax]

"The Devil's Brigade" was filmed at Camp Williams, Utah the home of the 19th SFG. They refurbished the place before filiming the movie.

Slice it, dice it anyway you choose, but the 1st Special Service Force was a conventional Army unit.

that was a great movie, Peacock was my favorite character...

[fantassin]

For infos on the SOE, contact the Public Record Office in the UK; they have published at least half a dozen books on the subject including the facsimile of the SOE training manual called "lessons in ungentlemanly warfare"

For SAS actions in France, try Free French SAS; by 1944, two of the five SAS regiment were French (2°RCP & 3°RCP) and they operated in France from the 5th of June 1944. The first killed of the D-Day was a French SAS, Caporal Bouétard who was killed just before midnight on the 5th of June; then , the French SAS were used very succesfully but with heavy losses in Holland during Operation Amherst as well as during the Battle of the Bulge with their armed jeeps to plug the holes in the front and on the communication lines.

A good if busy site is the following one:

http://www.souvenirsas.ifrance.com/souvenirsas/

There were also French Jedburgh who were used in Indochina after the end of WW2.

Four books were written in French on the French SAS, complete with all the names of the members of the sticks, location of the DZs and original pics. I can provide the titles if you are interested.

[16 OBr SpN]

Russian SF during and after WWII.

First, there were deep recon groups, in Russian translation “razvedgruppa” (recon group). They were operating on each front, and were controlled by GRU, although officially functioned within regular army and naval detachments. Missions varied from recon to diversions, to assassinations of nazi officers and collaborators. Eventually, those groups became later as what’s now known as Spetsnaz GRU.

Second was SMERSH. It was the military counter-intelligence unit. It’s an acronym for SMERt’ SHpionam, which means “Death to spies”. Their mission was the physical neutralization of German spies and diversionary groups; both on the territories of Russia and liberated areas. Their job also included signal intelligence, counter-espionage. SMERSH was under control of NKVD, but mostly consisted of full-time army officers. The officers of SMERSH were high class professionals. After the end of war, SMERSH’s function was given to 2nd Main directorate of what later became KGB.

Third was – Spetsnaz NKVD. The functions of the group were similar to those of the army recon groups, plus they also created and trained numerous guerilla forces in the occupied territories. The commander of the unit was the famous Pavel Sudoplatov. He was the commander behind the unit which assassinated Trotsky. Sudoplatov later created the department “S” (covert ops), which at that time dealt with nuclear espionage in America. Department “S” was still the part of KGB’s 1st Main Directorate, and was mostly responsible for KGB’s special operations abroad (assassinations, coup d'état’s, diversions on enemy nuclear objects, etc.). Today, most officers of Department “S” are now working at SVR (Russian foreign intelligence), which thankfully didn’t suffer from devastating “reforms” by “democrats”.

Regards,
16 OBr SpN

[GI_Rutger]

I'm actually not looking for info about the Russian SF, but nice article :)
I've got enough info by now, not from the internet but form the books. Between all the (for me useless) info about USMC Raiders/Rangers, I found some nice links.
I begun after a few weeks of research with writting my book (I'm now at page 30). I'm sorry you all can't read it, it's in Dutch.

Thnx for all the info,
Rutger

[Haiw]

gimme :P

[16 OBr SpN]

I'm actually not looking for info about the Russian SF, but nice article :)
I've got enough info by now, not from the internet but form the books. Between all the (for me useless) info about USMC Raiders/Rangers, I found some nice links.
I begun after a few weeks of research with writting my book (I'm now at page 30). I'm sorry you all can't read it, it's in Dutch.

Thnx for all the info,
Rutger

It's not an article. ;)
You're welcome!

Regards,
16 OBr SpN