Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Category: Special Forces & Missions  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'US Army Rangers', 'Kamikaze Pilots', 'Hitler Jugend', 'OSS', 'WW2 Paratroopers', 'SAS'.

Bloodstained Edelweiss by historian Hermann Frank Meyer
Adolf Hitler's elite mountain troops decorated their green uniforms and helmets with an edelweiss emblem. But Hermann Frank Meyer argues in "Bloodstained Edelweiss" that the 1st Mountain Division of the Wehrmacht defiled the symbol's purity with war crimes - and the edelweiss blossoms that decorate the uniforms of the German Bundeswehr are bloodstained. "During the Russian campaign, they got used to killing," said Meyer, who says that the 1st Mountain Division killed up to 60,000 people in Russia. By the time the elite force was relocated to the Balkans, after losing 80% of its men, it was brutalized.     [ dw-world :: 2008-05-07 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

British troops rescued Germans from the rampaging Russians
Harry Henshaw is the only living member of A Company 5th King's Regiment - the task force given the job of evacuating the residents of Schloss Stolberg. In 1945 Germany was split into occupation zones, and the region of Stolberg-Stolberg, which houses Stolberg Castle, came under Russian occupation. Prince Jos Christian wanted to evacuate the 44 people living there because of concerns for their future and their art collection. So the prince contacted the Duke of Brunswick, who had connections with the British royal family, for assistance. The duke then handed the mission to Harry's regiment.     [ manchestereveningnews :: 2008-03-29 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Former Devil's Brigade member gets Bronze Star Medal
Bert Hopkins, and the rest of the Canadians who served with the First Special Service Force in Italy, got a Bronze Star Medal from the U.S. Government. It's the fifth highest medal awarded by the Americans, and the 4th highest bravery medal. The "Black Devil Brigade" - nicknamed by military officials as a suicide brigade - was an elite group of commandos organized out of a need for soldiers who could do the impossible. The First Special Service Force trained for a task in Norway, which had to be abandoned, but they were unknowingly prepared for one of the greatest challenges facing troops in Italy.     [ wiartonecho :: 2008-03-26 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Operation Halyard - Secret airlift of 500 caught behind enemy lines
For 5 weeks Anthony Orsini's family believed he was dead, killed in action fighting the Nazis. He was one of over 500 U.S. airmen shot down behind enemy lines in 1944 while bombing Ploesti oil fields. Watched over by Serbian Chetnik guerrillas who hid them, the group was saved by Allied forces in a secret airlift mission. "Operation Halyard," thought by some military historians to be the single largest evacuation from Axis-occupied Europe, would have made headlines, but the U.S. State Department put a gag order on it all. Orsini told his WWII tale to Gregory Freeman, who wrote "The Forgotten 500."     [ nj :: 2008-02-29 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

The Special Forces: A History - David Stirling, founder of SAS
The Special Forces are often seen as glamorous soldiers in the headlines but in reality they really are not. Special Forces are troops that are trained in unconventional warfare, carrying out operations that normal soldiers are not thought ready for. David Stirling, an officer served with a commando unit behind enemy lines in the early years of World War II, and saw the potential of a small, highly trained group of people. He set up the Special Air Service (SAS) in 1941. Alongside the SAS, another group was made, the Special Boat Service (SBS) which was a branch of the Royal Marines.     [ americanchronicle :: 2008-02-09 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Carpetbaggers - Dropping spies and ammunition to resistance fighters
Hewitt Gomez couldn't reveal to friends where he was placed during World War II - all they knew he was with the Army Air Corps. He was a navigator on black-painted B-24 bombers that made cloak-and-dagger flights to drop spies and ammo to resistance fighters. The group was known as the Carpetbaggers, serving as the air arm of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS, precursor to CIA), and anything they did was secret. I ran into a classmate, and told I flew B-24s in the First Division. He said there are no B-24s in the First Division. "That's because we were secretly based." The Carpetbaggers dropped 536 agents and 4511 tons of supplies, losing 208 crewmen in 3000 missions.     [ theadvertiser :: 2008-02-07 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Greek-Americans also earned respect in World War II
Every WWII minority group had to overcome discrimination, also the Greek-American commandos in the OSS, who parachuted behind enemy lines to direct the resistance movements. "We had something to prove. Before the war, we were second-class citizens. People called us greasers" said Andy Mousalimas. The commandos created so much havoc, they pinned down 31 German divisions that otherwise would have been sent to stop the Allied invasion on D-Day. And resulted the Fuhrer Order No. 003830: "From now on, all enemies on so-called Commando missions, even if they are soldiers in uniform, whether armed or unarmed, in battle or in flight, are to be slaughtered to the last man."     [ contracostatimes :: 2007-11-10 ]

The 1st Special Service Force veteran - The Black Devils
World War II veteran Aubrey Spidle says until recently, he didn't talk about the 99 days straight he spent fighting with a secret unit in the trenches of Italy. But now he speaks freely of his experience with the 1st Special Service Force, the elite U.S-Canadian joint unit that the Germans called the Black Devils for their fearsome track record, and habit of using shoe polish to camouflage their faces. Spidle recalled being one of the first troops through the gates of Rome in June 1944. "There was 5 tanks and about 25 of us, and I was one of them ... and we hit the Germans on the run; we run them right out of Rome."     [ hfxnews :: 2007-11-01 ]

Tehran 1943: Wrecking the plan to kill Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill
The significance of the Big Three conference in Tehran in 1943 was enormous. Aware of this the Nazi regime instructed the Abwehr to assassinate Joseph Stalin, Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Otto Skorzeny planned an operation called Long Jump. Nazis learnt about the conference after cracking the American naval code. Moscow learned about the plot from Dmitry Medvedev's guerrillas. Soviet intelligence officer Nikolai Kuznetsov - posing as a German Oberleutnant Paul Siebert - became friendly with SS Sturmbannfuehrer Ulrich von Ortel, who, when drunk, boasted that: "We will repeat the Abruzzi jump... People are already being trained in a special school."     [ rian :: 2007-10-17 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Resistance fighter who helped Cockleshell Heroes escape Gestapo
The French Resistance fighter Jean Mariuad, who guided the two Cockleshell Heroes to safety after one of the most daring commando raids of WWII, has spoken about the operation for the first time. In Dec 1942 10 Royal Marines paddled up the Gironde River on Cockle Mark II canoes to plant limpet mines on German merchant ships preparing to carry war materials from Bordeaux to Japan. They sunk one ship, severely damaged 4 and did enough damage to disrupt the harbour for months. But 2 men drowned and 6 were captured. The only two who survived - Major "Blondie" Hasler (founder of the Special Boat Service) and Royal Marine Bill Sparks - owed their lives to Mariuad.     [ timesonline :: 2007-09-29 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

The Japanese-American Purple Heart Division during World War II
As we commemorate Memorial Day, it is fitting that we recognize the heroism of Japanese-American World War II soldiers. Like African-American veterans, Japanese-Americans veterans fought two foes: the external enemies of the U.S. and racial injustice within America itself. The 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team is the most decorated unit in U.S. military history. With more than 700 men killed in action and more than 9,500 purple hearts awarded, unit suffered a higher casualty rate than any other American military unit ever. Because of the great sacrifices the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team came to be called the "Purple Heart Battalion".     [ newsmax :: 2007-05-28 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

The Second Objective - The story of World War II's Operation Griffin
"The Second Objective" by Mark Frost tells the story of World War II's Operation Griffin, declassified a decade ago, in which a small number of German soldiers sneaked behind enemy lines impersonating American GIs. Their goal, in U.S. Army uniforms and in Bronx-inspired English, was first to sow confusion and then to execute a "second objective" meant to bring the Allies to their knees. The charismatic SS officer Otto Skorzeny, who masterminded Operation Griffin and freed Mussolini in 1943, lurks in the background. "This is the man who would go on to form ODESSA after the war."     [ calendarlive :: 2007-05-23 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Book: WWII bound men together - The First Special Service Force
Like many World War II veterans, Tom Hope has not forgotten how the war changed the world as it shaped the man he and so many others would become. This spring he hopes to finish a book that looks at the ways the war helped the men who served in it bond for life. The book examines how the men of the First Special Service Force (the only unit to include American and Canadian troops under the same command in the same uniform) have continued to stay close for more than 60 years. It contains photos and accounts, memorials and tributes - many of which bring tears to Tom Hope's eyes.     [ democratandchronicle :: 2007-03-26 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Special forces role model: Nazi-era elite unit Brandenburg division
"Secret Warriors" - co-written by two former German commando leaders - hails a Nazi-era elite unit as a role model for the modern German special forces. Former general Reinhard Günzel, head of Germany's KSK elite forces (comparable to the US Delta Force or Britain's SAS) until 2003, wrote: "The commando soldiers know exactly where their roots lie." The missions of the Wehrmacht's Brandenburg division had been "legendary" among his troops. The Brandenburg commando unit was formed in 1939 as an arm of the intelligence service within the Wehrmacht. It was tasked with covert operations behind enemy lines.     [ spiegel :: 2007-02-27 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

One of just six Royal Navy commandos to survive a bloody battle
A hero who was among just 6 Royal Navy commandos to survive a bloody World War II battle has died. Ken Hatton risked his life during the invasion of Elba in June, 1944. The commandos' motto was First In, Last Out, because they were first onto the beaches in battle and the last to leave. His best friend was killed next to him during fighting which raged on the Italian island as Allied troops battled for control of the German stronghold. The commandos seized a Nazi gun-boat protecting Elba's beaches. But back-up forces failed to arrive on time and scores of commandos and POWs were killed in an explosion as the Germans fought back.     [ icbirmingham :: 2007-01-02 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

The First Special Service Force - The Devils Brigade
Raymond W. Buchholz was a member of the First Special Service Force, a Canadian-American unit known as "The Devil's Brigade" that became the forerunner of the Green Berets. He served with the force in North Africa, at the invasion of Italy at Anzio in January 1944, in southern France and Germany. He earned 5 bronze battle stars for his service and the Purple Heart for combat wounds. He was originally being assigned to a motorized unit, driving battle tanks and heavy trucks. At Anzio, the force was up against Hitler's crack Waffen-SS units and the Hermann Goering Division. Buchholz had one close call during that landing...     [ wcfcourier :: 2006-11-12 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Marines and World War II
Before WWII, Marines served as attaches. However, that role changed with the outbreak of hostilities between the US and the Axis powers in 1941. The first Marine unit of combat troops to serve on land was the 1st Marine Provisional Brigade. In July 1941 More than 4,000 Marines commanded by Brigadier General John Marston arrived in Iceland, which was strategically located. Masters of amphibious warfare tactics, Marines served as planners for the North African and Normandy invasions. The brief and violent raid by a 6,000-man Canadian and British commando force on Dieppe on Aug. 19, 1942, was planned in part by Marine Brigadier General Harold D. Campbell.     [ --- :: 2006-09-14 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Ritchie Boys - Espionage and psychological warfare in WWII
In 1943, US military officials classified Werner Gans as an enemy alien. Within 18 months they changed their mind and trained the German Jew to be a spy. Gans learned the espionage and psychological warfare at the elite Camp Ritchie. He became one of the Ritchie Boys, refugees from the Nazis offered a chance to turn the tables on their persecutors. "We had Army officer uniforms and medallions, so the prisoners thought we had real authority." The prisoners ranged from ordinary soldiers forced to don the swastika to die hard Nazis who felt honor bound not to talk.     [ boston :: 2006-09-03 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

The First Special Service Force member's escape from Nazis
Mark Radcliffe shipped out to North Africa with the legendary WWII joint U.S./Canadian fighting unit - The First Special Service Force, Devil's Brigade - as commander of the 3rd Company, 3rd Regiment. He was involved in the conquests of Mount La Difensa and Mount Majo in Italy, and then the force was assigned to Anzio. While on patrol on the Anzio beachhead he was captured by the Nazis. His German interrogator struck him across the throat with a rubber truncheon. About then American artillery started shelling the area. Radcliffe's captors scattered for shelter, leaving only one Nazi to guard 3 soldiers.     [ helenair :: 2006-08-17 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

One of the most highly decorated american combat teams
Story of Japanese-American soldiers of the joint 100th Battalion and the 442nd Combat Regimental Team is now captured in film "Only the Brave", which he wrote and directed. It is about the combat teams' rescue of the Texas "Lost Battalion" in the Vosages Mountains in France during the WWII. The 141st Infantry's 1st Battalion were separated from their unit and surrounded by German forces. The 100th/442nd combat team, made up mostly of Nisei, second-generation Japanese-American soldiers, fought for five days and suffered more than 800 casualties to rescue 211 members of the Lost Battalion.     [ dallasnews :: 2006-08-04 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Army camouflage battalion during World War II
Louis Dalton Porter was a "ghost soldier" with an Army camouflage battalion during WWII. Required to have an IQ of at least 119, they used their talent to mislead Wehrmacht. They were dispatched to Europe shortly after the D-Day Normandy invasion. A contingent of only 1,100 men, the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops pretended to be a much larger, more heavily armed unit. The formidable fighting force the Germans thought they were engaging was actually a group equipped with inflatable tanks and artillery, fake aircraft, cast-iron paratroopers and giant speakers mounted on half-tracks that broadcast the sounds of men, tanks and artillery.     [ washingtonpost :: 2006-07-09 :: Camouflage during World War II ]

Commando group -- The 326th First Air Command Airdrome
Lee Lowery was shipped overseas with an air commando group to fight the Japanese. "We went in by glider hocked up to an airplane and were dropped in by parachutes. When we went to get the first spot for our ammunition, we got ambushed by a Japanese squad. We got all of them without firing a rifle or gun, with our bayonets, because we didn't want to give our whereabouts away." "I had 25 GIs under my command, and 25 Gurhka soldiers under my command. The Gurkhas didn't like rifles. They would take the rifles and throw them away. They used their handmade swords, which they also used to sacrifice goats, which was part of their religion."     [ suburbanchicagonews :: 2006-07-07 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Ove Pederson served in a special Army unit - Viking Battalion
During World War II, Ove Pederson served in a special battalion, the 99th Infantry Battalion (Separate) or Viking Battalion, made up mostly of Norwegian-Americans. After victory was secured in Europe, they entered Norway to move German soldiers and their Russian prisoners of war out of Norway. During the war he saw a lot of combat, in the hedgerows of France and during the Battle of the Bulge. Once a sniper ignored his Red Cross armband, which he held up in the air while helping a wounded G.I. The sniper shot right through the armband.     [ startribune :: 2006-07-06 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Silent Wings - Film of Glider pilots: do-or-die WWII missions
According to one General, glider pilots were "the most uninhibited individuals ever to wear an American uniform," they had no motors, no parachutes, and no second chances. Once they released from the C-47 tow plane, the glider pilot had one chance to guide the unarmed glider safely behind enemy lines. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, 6,000 daring men volunteered as pilots in the U.S. Glider Corps. Documentary will include interviews with journalists Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, who flew into Holland with the 101st Airborne Division. "Silent Wings" reveals the critical role gliders played in WWII offensives through rare archival footage and photographs.     [ historynetshop :: 2006-06-06 :: WWII Movies & Films ]

Infantry division combat engineers: tank traps, pill boxes, bombs
As a staff sergeant with the 320th Combat Engineers of the 95th Infantry Division, William Creviston's tasks included surveying enemy territory while US troops were advancing and gathering info on bridges, tank traps and "pill box" gun emplacements. When the army was retreating, he would place charges on bridges to make them impassible. The Army honored him with a Bronze Medal and Purple Heart for ferrying supplies and wounded soldiers across river in motorboat while negotiating German artillery and mortar fire and a raging current. A mortar round struck his boat, sending shrapnel into his face and chest, wounds the soldier described as superficial.     [ thestarpress :: 2006-05-28 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

One of New Zealand's most highly decorated intelligence officers
Members of New Zealand's military intelligence unit have made a rare appearance at the funeral of a top undercover soldier. Bert Cowan commanded undercover operations against the Japanese in World War Two. He was one of our most highly decorated intelligence officers. The current generation of secret warriors came out of the shadows to say goodbye to one of their own. As a sergeant in 1943 he commanded a small force of Kiwis on Mono Island, reporting on enemy positions. They returned a second time to cut telephone lines, to help the allied invasion. His courage earned him the Distinguished Conduct Medal - second only to the Victoria Cross.     [ tvnz :: 2006-05-15 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Tribute to heroes of a top-secret cowboy-style rescue mission
For 45 years, nobody visited this small village where 2nd Cavalry Regiment soldier Pfc. Raymond Manz was killed in action during a top-secret mission. The mission, Operation Cowboy, was designed to rescue 600 Allied POWs and save the famed Lipizzaner horses in April 1945. Operation Cowboy began after a German veterinarian contacted advancing U.S. soldiers under Gen. George S. Patton and asked them to rescue the Lipizzans. The horses were being held with Allied POWs who cared for them. A task force was organized to break through a line of German SS troops, rescue the horses and drive them back to U.S. lines cowboy-style.     [ estripes :: 2006-04-09 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

SBS team raid on the Italian-occupied island of Rhodes
Lieutenant David Sutherland and Royal Marine John Duggan were the only two to return from Operation "Anglo", a raid on the Italian-occupied island of Rhodes by the Special Boat Service in Sept 1942. The SBS team was pursued relentlessly; it had attacked two airfields and destroyed aircraft positioned to support Rommel's threatened advance on Cairo and to bomb supply convoys to beleaguered Malta.     [ timesonline :: 2006-03-16 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

The German Kamikazes
The Nazi suicidists were laying their plans long before Japanese conceived the idea of Kamikaze pilots. Only bureaucratic inefficiency, and disinterest in official circles forstalled the appearance of Nazi Kamikazes. Hitler objected to the philosophy of suicide, and pointed out that there was no precedent in German history like it. After D-day Goering remembered that in his Luftwaffe there were pilots who had volunteered for a suicide mission. Plans to use a Focke Wulf 190, carrying a 4,000-pound bomb, to crash into selected targets were made, but Hitler heard about it and ordered the project abandoned.     [ lonesentry :: 2006-03-10 :: Wehrmacht: German Armed Forces ]

Pilot asked me if I would go on a secret mission with him
"The major asked me if I would go on a secret mission with him," Sgt. Pete Chisholm recalls. When we were airborne, the major told we were flying into Burma to pick up Merrill's Marauders. We landed our C-47 on a "awfully short" bamboo runway. The minute we landed the major said, "Pete, get those Marauders in here! They're out there in the bushes." I hollered for them to come out. Nothing! Finally I called them every name I could think of, and they came out of the tall grass and climbed aboard. We weren't off the ground when we reached the end of the bamboo runway - but the major kept right on flying through the bamboo until we were off the ground. "That was when my trouble really began..."     [ sun-herald :: 2006-03-09 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Kamikaze pilot - We were ready to die for Japan
The story of a kamikaze pilot: He was 21 and preparing for what was supposed to be his valedictory contribution to the Japanese war effort as a member of the elite Tokkotai Special Attack Squadron - the kamikaze. Late 1944 he was in the Philippines preparing for a suicidal attack on a British cruiser. But for the first time in his flying career, his beloved Zero fighter let him down. When the aircraft developed engine trouble, Mr Hamazono was forced to return to another base in Taiwan. By the time he returned to Japan, doubts were surfacing about the value of the men of the Tokkotai: the 2,000 kamikaze aircraft dispatched had managed to sink only 34 ships.     [ guardian :: 2006-03-03 :: Japanese Kamikaze pilots ]

Japanese Bomb the West Coast
Most Americans probably believe that continental United States has never been bombed. A floatplane launched from an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine dropped its bombs in September 1942--the first time the continental United States was bombed from the air. The IJN began experimenting with aircraft-carrying submarines in 1925. By the time of Pearl Harbor, 11 of its submarines were equipped to carry, launch, and recover one specially configured floatplane. Most of those early boats were classified as scouting submarines, B1 Type, of the I-15 class.     [ about :: 2006-02-14 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

No proof of soviet teenage suicide bombers' WWII camp - FSB
Article no longer available from the original source.
The Federal Security Service's archives contain no documents suggesting that orphaned children were trained as suicide bombers at a Russian secret police special camp in the Alatau Mountains outside Almaty during WWII. Veterans' organizations inquired about this after a film with the same name was released in Russia. However, "The FSB has materials describing a German school which trained teenage saboteurs, organized by Abwehrkommand-203 in Hemfurth near Kassel, Germany, in July 1943. The children were taken from orphanages in Orsh and Smolensk, in occupied Russian territory."     [ interfax :: 2006-02-02 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Rarest of the Rare - First US special forces served with distinction
The force was a rare partnership, consisting of 1,600 specially trained Canadian and U.S. volunteers. Hill was one of the originals, a member of 'the Devil's Brigade.' They came by the nickname in a brutally honest way. The soldiers were trained extensively in hand-to-hand combat. It was the paper sticker they left behind on the bodies of their victims that really earned them the sobriquet. The cards read ' Das Dicke Ende Kommt Noch' meaning 'the worst is yet to come.' An entry from a diary found on the body of a German officer read, 'The Black Devils are all around us every time we come into line, and we never hear them.'     [ LockHaven :: 2005-11-12 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

MIS - Secret WWII Army Intelligence Unit
It's time to revisit the exploits, knowledge, experiences and intelligence of the World War Two veterans of the U.S. Army's Military Intelligence Service (MIS). The missions of the MIS were highly classified and still are not widely known. Information about MIS activities was not made public until over 30 years after the war. The MIS consisted of Americans of Japanese ancestry who performed a very wide range of important and often dangerous activities.     [ American Chronicle :: 2005-10-29 ]

1945 nazis staged an espionage mission in Greece using Greek-speaking Vlachs
In the last year of Second World War months after withdrawing from Greece, the Nazis staged a desperate espionage and sabotage mission in 1945 using Greek-speaking Vlachs drawn from those who had migrated from Greece to Romania after World War I. A number of these newly arrived Vlach migrants had been attracted by the mystical, religiously based Romanian variant of fascism known as the "Iron Guard."     [ ekathimerini :: 2005-10-08 :: Special Forces & Missions ]

Rudolf Krzak: Man who planned assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
Major-General Rudolf Krzak, who has died aged 90, was the last survivor from the group that planned Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich was wounded on May 27 1942 by two members of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile's secret service Special Group D, working with the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). He died a week later from blood poisoning. After his death, the Nazis razed the village of Lidice and the hamlet of Lezaky, and murdered their male inhabitants.     [ guardian :: 2004-06-12 :: Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich ]

See also

'US Army Rangers'

'Kamikaze Pilots'

'Hitler Jugend'

'OSS'

'WW2 Paratroopers'

'SAS'.

What's new - recent & interesting categories.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2008. All rights reserved.