“Special Forces” was a fairly new concept in World War II. There were some who thought outside the military box and saw that another war like World War I would probably destroy Europe, if not the rest of the world, both economically and from population loss. The generals in the military establishment were far from enthusiastic about the idea that a few soldiers with skill and cunning could do what whole battalions couldn’t.

This is the story of twelve of those guys who thought that hitting the enemy in unconventional ways could do more damage for far less cost than huge armies sitting in trenches throwing high explosives at each other.

The twelve chosen as representative for this book are:

• Anders Lassen – Danish, British Special Boat Squadron
• David Sterling – British Special Air Service
• Edson Raff – US 82nd Airborne
• Evans Carlson – US Marine Raiders
• Robert Frederick – British 1st Special Service Force
• Paddy Mayne – British Special Raiding Squadron
• Ralph Bagnold – British Long Range Desert Group
• Junio Valerio Borghese – Italian 10th Light Flotilla
• Baron von der Heydt – German Fallschirmjäger
• Adrian von Fölkersam – German Brandenburgers
• Orde Wingate – British Chindits
• Charles Hunter – USA 5307th Composite Unit

I was entertained by the thinking that went into the raids put together by David Sterling of the SAS. The first concept was for the raiders to parachute into the area of German airfields in North Africa, infiltrate the airdromes, destroy the aircraft, and then make their escape. They were picked up by vehicles from the Long Range Desert Group. The first raid was successful, but after some thinking they came up with a different concept. Why fly the infiltrators out and have them parachute in, to be picked up by LRDG? Why not just have the LRDG take them to the vicinity of the airfield and drop them off, then pick them up as the smoke rises? Parachuting was dangerous and scattered the group. This also allowed the machine gun-armed jeeps of the LRDG to attack the airfields. This was featured on the cover of the IPMS Quarterly, Vol 4 #1.

Evaluation:

Recommended. This book isn’t a modeling reference, as the only photos are of the men involved. But the history is right on, and it’s a look into areas of combat where the individual still makes a difference. When they made a movie about the 5307th Composite Unit, Hollywood got a lot wrong. They called the unit “Merrill’s Marauders”, which was cool, but Merrill had had a series of heart attacks and wasn’t even there. And they never mentioned Charles Hunter, who led the unit in its most punishing combat.

Thanks to Osprey Publishing and IPMS USA for the chance to review this book.