5 Special Forces Groups of World War II

World War II spawned innovations in all aspects of warfare. From jets to rudimentary guided rockets and missiles, this conflict forever changed the face of war. The rise of special forces units within the militaries of the participants was also a significant development within the doctrine and operational capabilities of the various militaries. These forces provided leaders with specialized troops capable of undertaking a variety of missions, from air insertion to demolition and interdiction. This article will analyze five of these specialized units and illustrate some of their greatest exploits during the conflict.

The First Special Force Service, better known by their moniker, the Black Devils, was a joint US-Canadian special operations unit created in 1942. The unit specialized in winter and mountain warfare and was trained and equipped to undertake arduous missions in tough environments. The Black Devils were distinguished by their specialized training and equipment, including the V-42 fighting knife and the M1941 Johnson Light Machine Gun.

The unit took part in several operations during the war, notably fighting in Italy, where they engaged in various battles. The first Italian combat operation took place at the Battle of Monte La Difensa, where the unit was tasked with dislodging fortified German positions atop high mountains in the Italian Alps. The battle to reach the peak was intense and required troops to climb imposing cliffs using ropes through a freezing rainstorm. The specialized mountain and winter warfare training the unit received prepared them for these conditions.

Through willpower and combat prowess, they were able to take the position from the German troops stationed there through an unexpected flanking maneuver from the rear of the garrison. At the onset of battle, commanders estimated that it would take four to five days, but the Black Devils, due to their unconventional approach, were able to overcome the defenses in a matter of hours.

The battle of Monte La Difensa proved the concept of the force and illustrated the utility of the specialized unit. The Black Devils continued operations throughout the rest of the war, fighting in the Italian Alps at Monte Majo, then on to Anzio, and eventually making its way to France. The legacy of the FSSF lives on in their modern-day descendants of the US Army Special Forces, the “Green Berets,” and the Canadian Special Operations Regiment (CSOR).

The Marine Raiders were the special operations arm of the USMC during WWII. These units were specially trained and equipped, carrying their trademark fighting knife, the Marine Raider Stiletto. The Raiders took on unique missions in the Pacific during the US Pacific Campaign to stem the flow of Japanese conquest, recapture islands from the Japanese, and to establish a foothold in the region.

The most notable units were the 1st Raider Battalion, better known as Edson’s Raiders, and the 2nd Raider Battalion, known as Carlson’s Raiders. The Raiders fought in numerous battles throughout the Pacific campaign between 1942 and 1944. The Battle of Guadalcanal was the unit’s baptism of fire, where they were among the first Marines to attack the Japanese-held island. They initiated a night raid on the island outpost of Tulagi, which would serve as a stepping stone to the main island of Guadalcanal.

Once on the main island, the Raiders were tasked with defending Henderson Field, which served as the primary airfield on the island and was integral to Allied operations. During this time, the 1st Marine Raiders would join the halls of legend as they engaged in vicious fighting at the Battle of Edson’s Ridge. The Raiders defended against a continuous onslaught of Japanese attacks that almost succeeded in capturing the airfield. Despite the nightly waves of suicidal Banzai charges and unrelenting attacks, the Raiders held firm and managed to inflict a significant defeat against the attacking Japanese forces.

Meanwhile, Carlson’s Raiders served as an integral light infantry guerilla force during the Guadalcanal campaign. The troops undertook a series of treacherous actions, fighting a long campaign dubbed “Carlson’s Patrol.” During this month-long action, the Raiders of Carlson’s battalion inserted behind enemy lines, joined up with native islander scouts, and patrolled dense jungles for an entire month, eventually defeating a Japanese garrison and routing its forces, thus pressuring them to retreat further inland. The actions of both Raider Battalions proved the concept of a light, agile recon force for the Marines, paving the way for future forces. Despite the disbandment of the Raiders towards the end of the war, the concept was eventually revived and continues its legacy today in the modern Marine Raiders.

One of the Second World War’s most famous special operations units was the British Special Air Service, simply known as the SAS. The exploits of this shadowy unit range from long-distance interdiction patrols against Rommel’s North Afrika Korps to daring raids throughout the Mediterranean against Axis troops and bases.

The SAS was formed in 1941 as a special commando unit that offered commanders a flexible airmobile force that could conduct intelligence gathering and forward raiding operations against Axis interests in various operational theaters. The SAS was distinguishable by its unconventional weapons and tactics, including “Lewis bombs” (specially formed incendiary explosives) and the dagger-like Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife used for silencing sentries.

For operations in the desert, SAS troops often wore nontraditional uniform items such as traditional Arab headdresses and shemaghs, channeling the spirit of T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and his Middle Eastern guerilla operations against Ottoman forces in the First World War.

The units of the SAS initially began conducting operations in the North African theater, conducting several actions to hinder Axis operations by raiding airfields, collecting intelligence, and disrupting enemy lines of communications and logistics. The actions of the units soon earned them infamy among Axis troops as they dashed through the desert in their heavily armed jeeps, wreaking havoc against German and Italian forces, further disrupting their daily operational tempo.

Some of the most daring and successful missions by the SAS in its early days were covert operations where the unit raided Axis airfields and destroyed enemy aircraft during the missions. The operations proved to be some of the first major successes for the unit in North Africa, with them destroying over 300 enemy aircraft. This success was followed by further operations in later campaigns throughout Europe once Montgomery’s forces defeated Rommel and won the battle for North Africa for the Allies. The legacy of the SAS is carried on today by its modern counterpart, which continues to execute special missions worldwide.

The US Army Rangers served as a specialized light infantry force for the Allies during the Second World War. The unit was trained to undertake special operations, including demolition, infiltration, night warfare, and long-range patrols. As the program developed and the possibilities for operations expanded, the US Army sought to increase the number of Ranger Battalions that were available for deployment on combat operations. This led to the formation of further Ranger units that took part in operations in North Africa, Asia, and Europe.

In one of the most notable actions of the Rangers in the Second World War, the 2nd Ranger Battalion was tasked with assaulting and securing the formidable Pointe du Hoc fortification in support of the D-Day landings in Operation Overlord. The training in the leadup to this operation was undertaken on the Isle of Wight in conjunction with British military commandos. The Rangers practiced scaling sheer cliffs in preparation for the 90-foot near-vertical approach that stood imposingly at Pointe du Hoc.

This training proved to be essential on the day of the operation. As D-Day commenced, the 2nd Ranger Battalion mounted their landing crafts and made their way through a hailstorm of German fire to the beach below the cliff face. Upon reaching the beach, the attackers needed to deploy their rocket-powered grapnel hooks and 100-foot rope ladders to scale the precipice.

This challenge was soon overcome thanks to the training the Rangers had received and the practice they completed on the Isle of Wight. The successful assault at the top of Pointe du Hoc then quickly silenced the German garrison guarding the position, but in a near devastating blow to the morale of the Rangers, they discovered that the German forces had moved the artillery pieces that they were tasked with destroying. Undeterred, the Rangers secured the position and immediately started offensive patrols in an effort to locate the weapons. In a stroke of luck, the Rangers managed to find the guns in a nearby grove and finally silenced them by destroying the firing breach of the weapons using incendiary thermite grenades.

The battle of Pointe du Hoc remains one of the greatest in the unit’s history. The operation’s success allowed other Rangers and Allied troops to eliminate the German Defenses on Omaha Beach, leading to the establishment of an Allied foothold in Europe.

Today, the Army Rangers remain one of the most active special operations units in the US Army. The enduring legacy of their predecessors lives on in the Ranger motto, “Rangers lead the Way!,” a reference to their actions fighting on the Normandy beaches and leading the Allied assault on to the successful Liberation of Europe.

In the war against the Japanese in the Indian and Burmese theaters, the Long-Range Penetration Groups, better known as the Chindits, served as a multinational special operations force that comprised units from the British, Indian, and African forces serving under the British flag. The group was formed after the British Raj’s difficult experience combatting Japanese tactics in the region and was created by Orde Wingate to take the fight to the enemy through the use of guerilla tactics and unconventional warfare.

The Imperial Japanese Army had succeeded in pushing British forces out of Burma and occupied much of the former colonial holdings of the British empire, threatening their already tenuous positions in mainland India. The theater of operations was viewed as having secondary importance to that of Europe by London, and therefore, troops were often short of supplies, and a series of defeats had driven morale to an all-time low. Further complicated by the challenges of jungle warfare—including tumultuous weather and rampant disease, primarily the scourge of malaria—British offensive operations ground to a halt as Japanese forces pressed their advantage with continuous attacks against British lines and strongholds.

The formation of the Chindits was seen as a way for British forces to strike against Japanese lines of communication and disrupt their offensive operations through raids, interdiction, and ambushes. The Chindits served as a specialized force trained and equipped to carry out long-range patrols through the thick jungles of Burma and India. Their leader and founder, Orde Wingate, stressed vigorous training to prepare the troops for the difficult environments in which the soldiers were to fight.

Native Gurkhas of Northern India, now modern-day Nepal, also served as an integral force to the Chindit formations. They gained a reputation as strong and vicious fighters, as symbolized by their fighting knife, the curved-edged Kukri.

The first major operation that the Chindits carried out was codenamed Operation Longcloth. Longcloth served as a proof-of-concept operation for Wingate’s force. Despite some success behind enemy lines, the mission proved arduous and chaotic, with high casualties for the Chindits. However, it provided some offensive action for the British and illustrated the capabilities of the Long-Range Penetration concept.

After the mixed results of Longcloth, Wingate was able to reorganize his forces and prepare another expedition into the Japanese-held jungles codenamed Operation Thursday. Thursday was a much more refined operation and involved troops from British, Indian, and African units. During Operation Thursday, Chindit troops were inserted into forward positions in the jungle by gliders, and they even experienced some of the first wartime helicopter operations in the Burmese jungles during rescue missions. The long-range nature of the Chindit operation meant that they were reliant on air-dropped supplies to maintain mission readiness in the jungle.

During Operation Thursday, the Chindits held Allied airfields against unrelenting Japanese assaults. They also provided roadblocks against Japanese forces, with major hand-to-hand fighting occurring at the Chindit base known as White City. The jungle environment provided no reprieve to the combatants and made it incredibly difficult to sustain combat operations. The unit suffered a devastating blow when their leader, Orde Wingate, was killed in a plane crash.

Upon Wingate’s death, the Chindits were assigned new leadership and continued operations in Burma, culminating in their final action as a unit, supported by Nationalist Chinese forces, at the Battle of Mogaung. Mogaung proved to be an instrumental battle, serving as the first liberation of a Burmese town from Japanese occupation in the greater Burma Campaign.

By this point, the tide of war had shifted, with the Indian, African, and British conventional forces under the leadership of General Bill Slim defeating the Japanese in a series of battles and pushing their forces out of India and back into Burma. Japanese losses continued rapidly from that point, resulting in their defeat in Burma.

The fate of the Chindits after Mogaung was uncertain; the tide of war had changed and the need for unconventional forces had greatly diminished as the main army was now reconstituted and steadily defeating the Japanese in major battles. The unit was disbanded in 1945 as it became clear that the pace of operations and significant casualties had greatly reduced their fighting effectiveness, and the need for specialized troops waned as conventional forces had dealt mortal blows to the Japanese army.

The legacy of the Chindits remains one of legend today. The concept of long-range special forces is now commonplace in many militaries around the world. Currently, the sacrifice and the memory of the Chindits is honored by their memorial in London.