Battleplan.18.Special.Operationsup
March 2003.
US Special Forces lead Peshmurga guerrillas
to open a crucial second front in Gulf War ll.
1943
British agents parachute into Occupied France,
to prepare for the D-Day invasion.
Two critical and highly-dangerous operations, 60 years apart.
Both involving the most secretive type of warfare - special operations. Special operations call for a special type of warrior.
lndependent, smart, ultra-fit and ruthless,
trained for military and intelligence operations,
often clandestine, deep behind enemy lines.
Highly capable and always on a knife-edge.
The battleplan is special operations.
Europe, June 1942.
Nazi forces dominate the continent.
With both the Soviet Union and the United States now in the war,
the Western Allies start preparing to invade north-west France.
For the first crucial days, their forces will be perilously outnumbered, particularly by Hitler's elite Panzer divisions.
How can they prevent the Germans concentrating their armour against the planned beachhead in Normandy?
The Middle East, 2003.
As the United States and its allies finally prepare
to oust Saddam Hussein from lraq,
their initial plan is thrown into disarray
when a NATO ally decides to bar Coalition troops from its territory. How can the situation be saved?
The answer, in France in World War Two and lraq in Gulf War ll, is the same -
special operations.
Special operations are those operations
that are carried out by specially trained troops
to identify, destroy or disrupt enemy positions,
and perhaps also human assets that usually have a strategic implication.
Special operations forces can operate as an integral part of a larger battleplan,
gathering intelligence, raiding, or seizing key objectives.
But sometimes they can be so strategically vital,
the special operation becomes a battleplan in itself,
particularly today in the global war against terror.
ln all cases,
commanders must take special care to fulfil certain highly-specific factors.
Objective.
There should be no other feasible way of achieving the particular goal. lf conventional military means are an option,
they will usually be less hazardous.
The decision to use special operations
must also take into account the need for secrecy.
Special operations are conducted under the great veil of secrecy because what you don't want to do is to give away
what your standard operating procedures are,
your tactics, your techniques,
because this is a gift to the enemy.
Build-up.
The right type of people must be trained and put in place
often far behind enemy lines
and sometimes over a long time, and they must have the right equipment.
lnsertion.
Special operations are so secret,
planners must ensure the arrival of their forces does not give the game away.
Execution.
Since the build-up phase of a special operation can take years,
this can overlap with execution.
But when the moment comes to strike, the execution must be faultless. ln most armed forces,
special operations are all those undertaken
by elite and secretive organisations
such as Britain's Special Air Service.
ln the United States, the Special Operations Group
includes a whole range of units
from every branch of the military,
like the army Delta Force and navy Seals.
Within the Special Operations Group,
the term special forces has a very precise meaning.
They are the army's Green Berets,
trained specifically to work with indigenous forces.
Special forces soldiers are assigned to a specific part of the world
and they spend their entire career studying the language
and the culture of that region.
Then, when they're needed, they can go in,
raise and train an indigenous force to fight there.
The American terminology comes from a specific historical development.
1952, 10th Special Forces Group is born at Fort Bragg.
Emphasis is on recruiting and training men who will parachute behind the lines
to set up Resistance in countries overrun if the Soviet Union attacks Europe.
The 1960s, Vietnam.
Special Forces, now known as Green Berets, train indigenous troops, particularly local tribesmen.
But Special Operations Group units, some recruited from special forces,
also conduct secret missions in Laos and Cambodia.
The 1970s, special forces training of indigenous groups is forgotten. The emphasis switches to commando-style long-range strikes
against the Soviet Union.
But in 1980, Operation Eagle Claw,
America's attempt to spring its hostages from Tehran ends in disaster. This debacle leads to the establishment
of a permanent US special operations capability,
including special forces training units
and surgical strike units such as Delta Force and the Seals.
Out of this come a lot of positive things.
New units are formed, new aircraft are bought,
new equipment is designed, developed and procured, new tactics are created.
Consequently, what you see today being used in the global war on terror
in lraq and Afghanistan and other places is all a direct result of this one incident.
London, 1941.
British General Frederick Morgan
is ordered to begin planning the invasion of Europe.
He and his team know German forces in France
will make this the most perilous operation of the war.
Somehow, they must even the odds.
The Middle East, 2003, 11years after Gulf War l.
Coalition commander US General Tommy Franks' plan
to oust Saddam Hussein
has hit a major problem.
ln both cases, the planners decide
the solution requires non-conventional means.
Now they must consider the first requirement
in the battleplan for special operations.
Objective.
What is the reason for involving special forces,
and are they really the best way of achieving these specific goals?
On D-Day, Allied commanders plan to land
six seaborne and three airborne divisions in Normandy on a single day, and then pour in reinforcements and resupplies.
But facing them will be the formidable defences of Hitler's Atlantic Wall
and German Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel
leading 30 infantry and six elite Panzer divisions.
lf these can be concentrated against the Allied beachhead,
in the first few days,
they might easily annihilate it.
So the Allied planners adopt a dual approach.
A massive deception campaign
to keep the Germans guessing where the invasion will come
and the use of special operations to disrupt German reinforcements
trying to get to the battlefield.
But France is occupied.
No organisation exists to do this.
So Allied commanders decide to use special operations to set one up.
ln 2003, it would be called insurgency.
ln 1942, they called it the Resistance.
This special operations campaign was unprecedented both for its size and for the variety of things it was being asked to do.
Normandy is the moment where you see special operations
go off and finally be appreciated
as a recognisable and respectable form of warfare.
The role of Resistance is not random sabotage.
From the start, its efforts are totally focused on D-Day,
especially intelligence gathering about the strength of the German Atlantic Wall
and the location of German units.
But the ultimate objective of the Resistance,
and the special operations forces working with it,
is the interruption of German reinforcements by any means possible. Various teams were given different targets -
transportation networks, command and control centres, etc.
The objective was to stop the German reinforcements
from defeating the landings.
The Allied plan has three stages.
Years before the invasion date is fixed,
they send in leaders, radio operators, and sabotage and explosives experts
to set up, train and equip Resistance networks throughout France. They also parachute in supplies, weapons and explosives,
and arrange to conceal them until D-Day arrives.
This initial special operation campaign is conducted by the British SOE,
the Special Operations Executive,
and the American OSS, the Office of Strategic Services,
the forerunner of today's ClA.
lt is a clandestine war of secret hiding places,
furtive meetings and constant vigilance.
One slip can mean capture, torture and almost certain death.
The second phase is the night before D-Day.
As the massive Allied invasion fleet slips across the English Channel, special forces teams parachute in to co-ordinate Resistance activities and also conduct their own operations.
The third stage continues disruption and sabotage
during the weeks after the landings.
ln Europe from 1942 to 1944,
planners have met the first requirement in the battleplan for special operations.
Clear long-term objectives which can only be met by using special forces.
60 years later, as he prepares to oust Saddam Hussein,
US General Tommy Franks
is suddenly forced to completely rethink his use of special operations. lnstead of just supporting Franks' overall battleplan,
special operations will be thrust into a leading role,
responsible for the entire second front against lraq's formidable army. lraq, 2003.
US General Tommy Franks' battleplan to oust Saddam Hussein
is a two-front war.
One arm of his forces, four US and one British division,
will invade from Kuwait, driving toward Baghdad from the south.
A second arm, the US 4th lnfantry will transit through Turkey
and advance on Baghdad from the north.
Special operations units are assigned integral and vital tasks in both theatres,
carrying out their classic raiding and reconnaissance roles.
ln the north, there is another element of special operations.
Co-ordination with the fiercely anti-Saddam forces of the Kurds. Since Gulf War l, western powers have been helping protect the Kurds. Now, America will send ClA and special forces advisors
to help organise the Peshmurga.
But the key element of Franks' battleplan in the north
is the US 4th lnfantry Division.
Special forces would only be setting the stage.
Then, on March 1st, just three weeks before the projected D-Day,
with the 4th lnfantry already at sea,
Turkey withdraws permission for the US troops to land.
Suddenly, the entire battleplan is in jeopardy.
Without the northern assault, Saddam could shift many divisions based there
to boost his defences against the Coalition attack from the south. Franks rethinks quickly,
and changes the objective of the whole special forces operation in Northern lraq.
lnstead of co-ordinating the Kurdish Peshmurga
to support the main attack by 4th lnfantry division, they become the main force.
What Franks is relying on
is the vital spin-off effect of special forces operations,
force multiplication.
Special forces allow a tremendous economy of force.
With 12 men, they raise a battalion.
So you invest 12 men and you get back between 500 and 1,000.
The classic example is special operations' use
of local tribesmen in Vietnam.
As the United States became involved in the Vietnam War,
it became clear it must seal off the borders of South Vietnam.
The ClA started recruiting local militias and turned to US special forces to provide the actual training and leadership.
Units raised from the Montagnard tribesmen
transformed a small number of US Special Forces operatives
into a major fighting force,
able to provide early warning of North Vietnamese infiltration.
ln 2003, Franks is confident
that US special operations leadership and organisation,
plus the latest in hi-tech weapons,
would enable the Peshmurga to tie down the lraqi divisions in the north.
Paradoxically, the Turkish decision
not to allow the passage of the 4th lnfantry division
was a great boon for the American special operations forces.
lt allowed that community to show its full range of capabilities.
ln effect, it broadened the American understanding
of what special operations forces could do.
Over 60 years earlier,
the Normandy invasion planners had less experience to go on. Winston Churchill had set up SOE and the Commandos in 1940
to ''set Europe ablaze''.
Now, General Morgan and his planners
will use them to multiply the force through the French Resistance. They reason that well-targeted attacks by small groups
will cause enormous disruption,
and tie down disproportionate numbers of German troops.
But for the special operations battleplans to succeed in 1944 or 2003, the planners must ensure that they have solved the second crucial factor.
Build-up. The right people and equipment must be put in place.
ln Europe in 1942, Allied planners face a problem.
To stand any chance of even surviving,
let alone setting up a Resistance network,
the agents they send into France must speak French fluently.
This rules out the military, but the agents must have military skills. The British Special Operations Executive recruits civilians
and trains them for the dirty war of a Resistance agent.
Self-defence, radio communication,
sabotage, assassination, parachute jumping.
ln Europe in 1942, the Allies have no choice.
They send an army of civilian special ops agents,
men and women, into Occupied France.
But they do have the time needed to build up the necessary forces.
ln lraq in 2003,
Franks has very little time, but he does have one enormous advantage. ClA and special forces teams have been working with the Kurds for years.
So a pool of some of the best special ops units in the world is already in place.
The US Special Operations Group,
the British SAS and SBS, and other Coalition forces
have been honing their skills for years.
ln both cases, in World War Two and Gulf War Two,
it's time for the next stage in the battleplan for special operations. lnsertion.
Special operations are so secret,
planners must ensure that insertion does not give the game away. From their inception,
British and American special forces share the same philosophy on insertion.
They must be able to approach their target by any means necessary.
By land.
When the British SAS was founded in the deserts of North Africa in 1941,
their first technique was to be taken
to a suitable distance from their targets by jeep,
then, they walked in.
Later, they also used heavily-armed jeeps
to raid airfields and shoot up enemy planes.
ln Gulf War l,
British and US special operations units also inserted behind the lines by land,
using specially designed jeeps.
By sea, using inflatables or special canoes from submarines.
By air.
Part of the initial concept behind the British SAS
was insertion by parachute.
Modern special forces have developed a range of methods
from ultra-high to ultra-low levels.
Special force insertion is also increasingly by helicopter.
England, 1943.
An unmarked car slips quietly onto a secret airfield.
lnside is a woman agent about to be inserted into Occupied France. Some agents parachute in.
Others are taken in by light plane or boat.
lraq, 2003.
Coalition special operations personnel move in by land and air.
Other squads practise seaborne assaults on oil terminals in the south.
lt's classic special operations.
France, 1941.
The civilian special ops agents have three years
to organise, arm and train the French Resistance,
if they can stay alive that long.
ln lraq, time is the one luxury
Coalition commander, US General Tommy Franks, does not have.
He's just completely revised his entire battleplan.
The moment when he'll have to push the go button
and send his forces into action is closing...fast.
ln Europe from 1941, agents are being secretly inserted into Occupied France
to pave the way for the D-Day invasion.
ln lraq in 2003, US General Tommy Franks is finalising his plans
to oust Saddam Hussein from power.
Whether it comes in weeks or years,
the next factor in the battleplan for special operations will be critical. Execution.
When the moment for action arrives, it must be carried out faultlessly. ln France, the Allied agents preparing the Resistance
have no idea when the invasion will come,
or how long they'll be living underground,
just one step ahead of the Gestapo that's hunting them down.
The Germans use tracking devices
to detect radios transmitting back to London.
Networks are penetrated, loyalties betrayed.
Danger came not only from the Gestapo
and the other German occupation authorities,
but from the competition that existed
between the various factions of the French Resistance.
Betrayal was a constant danger, and the consequences could be dire. Agents disappear into Gestapo headquarters in Paris and Lyons. Then, if they survive, into concentration camps.
They were facing one of the most ruthless forces on record,
and they knew the consequences of being captured
were to either be tortured to death or shot on sight.
But gradually the networks are built up.
Gradually the Resistance is armed and equipped...and waiting.
2003, special operations teams begin to infiltrate across lraq's borders to send back intelligence or identify targets.
ln the Kurdish areas, the teams already working there are reinforced. They come with dazzling new technology.
Brand new ground mobility vehicles, GMVs,
oversized and modified Humvees, with massive firepower and mobility.
War Pigs, to resupply them in the middle of battle.
Javelin missiles, lethal against vehicles and, crucially, Saddam's armour.
And they can call in precision strikes from formidable air power.
Most Coalition warplanes now carry weapons guided by laser
or the global positioning system, GPS.
Even so-called dumb bombs can be guided within a few feet of their target.
As a result, we get a devastating combined effect.
By itself, the airplane can't find the target.
By itself, the team is too small to attack the target.
Put them together, with the ground person lasing for the aircraft,
and you get a devastating impact on the target.
But there's something else, which marks this as a crossroads
and breakthrough in special operations.
The role of special operations in north lraq
developed the role of the special forces.
No longer were they just supporting troops.
They were a vanguard, striking a blow at the enemy,
trailblazing a new string to their bow.
This is the crucial factor
that allows Tommy Franks to rewrite
his special operations battleplan so swiftly.
March, 2003.
The 4th lnfantry division, which Franks wanted to use in northern lraq before Turkey closed the door, is still en route to its new position in the south.
Military experts all say that in order to hit the start button for war, Franks must wait until it is in position.
Franks hopes the lraqis are listening,
because it's not true.
The 2nd and 3rd Battalions from 10th Special Forces
leave their holding base in Europe
and begin their insertion into northern lraq.
They would be loaded onto a C-17
or C-130 cargo aircraft with their vehicles and equipment,
flown down through the western Mediterranean,
up through Jordan and western lraq,
to land at an airfield in northern lraq.
Then they would roll off,
meet up with their Peshmurga counterparts and roll into battle.
The 3rd Battalion 3rd Special Forces
is poised at an undisclosed holding base in the Mediterranean.
60 years earlier, Europe in June 1944.
As the D-Day clock counts down,
the men and women of the Resistance and Allied special operations, after three dangerous years in Nazi-Occupied France,
also await the signal for action.
Their activities will be co-ordinated by Jedburghs,
two- or three-man teams made up of SOE or OSS personnel.
The British SAS have been pulled back from ltaly
to recruit, train and prepare for D-Day.
June 5th, 1944, the day before D-Day.
And March 19th, 2003, the day before Operation lraqi Freedom. Time to see if the objectives can be achieved.
Time for action.
Europe, June 5th, 1944.
And lraq, March 19th, 2003.
The time has come for the climax of the execution phase
of both special operations battleplans.
The Allied invasion fleet closes in on the beaches of Normandy.
ln the skies above it, the Jedburghs and SAS and OSS raiding teams are already en route to drop sites behind enemy lines.
French Resistance personnel
hear the coded message they've been waiting for
from the BBC in London, and move to their attack positions. Three years in the making, the co-ordinated campaign
to cut German reinforcement and supply routes
and disrupt command and control systems swings into action.
On June 6th, OSS Operation Percy Red parachutes into the Limousin region.
June 7th, Operation Donald into Brittany.
June 8th, Operations Antagonistic and Percy Pink
into the Haute-Vienne and Dordogne.
Then Operations Patrick, Lindsey, Christopher and Adrian.
Also on June 8th, after a two-day delay due to bad weather,
the first OSS group flies from Algeria to southern France.
lts mission: deny the German army
the use of vital rail links in the Lot region.
June 9th.
Operation Justine jumps in to strengthen the Resistance on the Vercors Plateau.
All these operations have a marked effect
in disrupting the flow of German reinforcements
during the early days of the landing, but at a cost.
D-Day plus one.
The powerful SS 2nd Panzer division, Das Reich,
is ordered to leave its barracks in Montauban, in southern France,
for the Normandy beachhead.
lt should take just three days to reach the battle zone.
lts 15,000 battle-hardened troops
and 209 tanks and assault guns will make a crucial difference,
if they reach Normandy in time.
But Resistance forces intervene,
taking the town of Tulle, close to the German route.
Das Reich must divert to retake it.
lnfuriated by the delay, on 9th June the SS men run amok,
seizing 120 civilians and hanging 99 of them in revenge.
The remainder escape only because the Germans run out of rope
and don't want to waste bullets.
On the same day, while searching for one of their battalion commanders
who has been captured by the Resistance,
other Das Reich troops kill 642 innocent civilians,
almost the entire population of Oradour Sur Glane.
The men are herded into barns and shot,
the women and children murdered in the church.
Das Reich is supposed to reach Normandy on June 10th.
lt doesn't get there until the 20th.
But places like Oradour stand as a stark reminder
of the dangers special operations can bring.
The ruins of the village remain as a memorial to the horrors.
March 19th, Washington, nearly 60 years later.
US President Bush imposes a 48-hour deadline on Saddam Hussein. Two days later at 0400 local time, President Bush's deadline expires. Ninety minutes later, explosions are heard in Baghdad.
On the southern border, the Australian SAS crosses into lraq in strength.
Also in the south, the 2nd Battalion of the US 5th Special Forces Group begins reconnaissance in key locations, including Basra and Karbala.
ln the north, 2nd and 3rd Battalions of 10th Special Forces Group move forward to engage.
3rd Battalion 3rd Special Forces Group flies in secretly to join them.
ln the south, the tanks of the US 3rd Armoured lnfantry division
race up west of the Euphrates.
Meanwhile, US Marines and British troops
assault the oilfields and head for Basra.
These operations were conducted in the full glare
of international publicity.
They were beamed back live to America, they were on everybody's television sets.
The war in the north
and in areas of the desert conducted by special forces was very different.
Special operations are always shrouded in mystery and secrecy, because they often are aimed at sensitive targets.
They are also using usually the latest weaponry and the latest intelligence.
That information falling into enemy hands
could undermine future special operations,
and so secrecy was absolutely crucial.
This photograph is part of that secrecy.
Special clearance was needed to show it.
As US tanks thunder north,
one fear is that they will be held up at what the military call choke points.
One is the Karbala Gap, just south of Baghdad.
Special Forces Team 551is inserted, sets up a hide,
and calls in air strikes to make sure the gap is not closed.
These are photographs of the actual hide, deep behind enemy lines. Team 551remains in place ten days.
The reconnaissance mission that Team 551did was absolutely essential because when 3rd Mechanised lnfantry division
rolled through the Karbala Gap a few days later,
they rolled through, that place was not a choke point or killing ground, it was just another piece of highway.
US Navy Seals and Polish commandos seize the oil platforms.
British Royal Marines and Special Boat Service take the Faw Peninsula.
SAS and US Special Forces
ensure that there are no Scud sites in the western half of lraq.
US 173rd Airborne Brigade parachutes onto lraqi airfield H3 and secures it.
Waiting on the ground are US Special Forces operatives.
ln the north, the unseen war also begins.
The key will be the battles along the Green Line,
separating Kurdish territory from the lraqi forces stationed north of Baghdad.
Special operations teams and Peshmurga must pin them down
and then try to open the way to the city of Kirkuk and the northern oilfields.
One critical battle is fought at the Debecka Pass.
The special operations forces in northern lraq
have a forward operating base, or FOB, which is in overall command. The FOB controls three Special Forces company headquarters,
known as Operational Detachment Bravos, or ODBs.
Each ODB controls four to six teams,
ten- to 12-man detachments
called Operational Detachment Alphas, or ODAs,
the famous A-teams.
On April 4th, 2003, four days after the start of the campaign,
US Special Forces in northern lraq launch Operation Northern Safari. ODB 390 from 3rd Group and four of its A-teams are assigned the mission,
plus ODA 044 from 10th Group.
These teams would soon find themselves
engaged in a bitter, bloody struggle
with some of Saddam's elite armoured divisions.
What happens next will fundamentally redefine the future operational use
of special forces in combat.
Northern lraq, 2003.
US Special Forces A-teams spearhead Peshmurga units
to occupy the western end of a ridge
running along the strategically critical Green Line.
They aim to pin down Saddam's northern forces
while the main Coalition assault in the south races toward Baghdad. More forces will then outflank the Green Line,
move east and strike towards Kirkuk.
A small number of camera crews are with the Peshmurga force.
April 6th. A-teams go ahead, the Peshmurga follow, ready to attack. The 3rd Battalion was originally assigned
to the western desert to hunt Scud missiles.
lt has new and lethal Ground Mobility Vehicles, GMVs.
lt has trained on the new Javelin anti-tank missile.
lt also has its own special supply vehicles, War Pigs,
so the A-teams will not have to leave their positions to be resupplied. Each A-team can also call in air support
from F-14s and FA-18s operating off carriers in the eastern Mediterranean,
and giant B-52s from RAF Fairford in Britain.
This is crucial in what is about to happen.
17:00 hours.
The A-teams call in B-52 air strikes
to begin the demolition of the lraqi defences.
04:01hours the next morning.
Two more B-52s bomb the ridge.
06:00, ODAs 391and 392
link up with their column of 80 Peshmurga fighters.
Liaison Special Forces from ODA 044 are also present.
They move south toward a crossroad protected by a minefield. Peshmurga forces try to breach an earthen berm ahead of the lraqi line. The ODAs give supporting fire.
The ODAs receive intelligence
that an lraqi armoured battalion with tanks and personnel carriers
has moved back from the crossroad.
At the crossroad they find an abandoned T-55 tank.
This tank will prove crucial in what happens later.
The American ODAs breach the berm
and move south again, toward a highway along the ridge line.
The Peshmurga assemble at the crossroad, by the abandoned tank. These stills were taken at the crossroads.
Special high-level clearance
has been necessary to use them for this programme.
09:40, the two A-teams and their GMVs are exposed.
They pull back to a small ridgeline
as lraqi tanks and armoured personnel carriers emerge from a morning mist.
From the ridge nicknamed The Alamo, the A-teams call in an air strike and fire on the advancing tanks and troop carriers with Javelin anti-tank missiles.
The enemy halts.
At the crossroad, ODA 44 is also engaged with the enemy
using Javelin anti-tank missiles.
Shortly before 10:00 hours,
two Navy F-14 Tomcats launch laser-guided bombs
intended for the lraqi tanks.
But tragically, the first Tomcat targets the abandoned tank at the crossroad...
...and the Peshmurga column gathered around it.
lt is devastating.
The ODAs on the ridge face a harsh decision.
They are locked in a gun battle with lraqi tanks,
but their Peshmurga allies are lying dead and wounded.
The accidental bombing of the Peshmurga at the crossroads
could've been a disaster for the battle,
because the special forces might've thought,
'OK, we need to pull back and take care of our own.''
lnstead, the special forces teams divide up.
Some race back to tend the wounded,
the rest continue to take on the lraqi tanks and infantry.
This was a critical point in the battle.
Had the special forces turned their backs,
they could very well have found that the lraqis charged at them. These aggressive, ferocious forces could well have taken the initiative. As it was, they stood their ground, and it was a turning point in the battle.
The Peshmurga column and the press vehicles are burning.
Fuel and ordnance are exploding.
Seventeen Peshmurga and a BBC cameraman are killed.
Forty-five men are wounded, including two special forces soldiers. Troops from ODA 391 tend the wounded.
ln front of them, the battle continues.
The lraqi T-55s are still in position,
close to the crossroads but behind cover.
The rest of the ODAs take out lraqi tanks and vehicles.
They recall the Tomcats back into action, and direct them onto the proper target.
FA-18 Hornets pick up the attack.
10:40 hours. Most of the wounded have been evacuated.
The A-teams are almost out of Javelin missiles.
Fortunately, the War Pigs arrive with resupplies,
just as the lraqis start to close in.
By 16:00 hours the battle is won.
To the west, after a similar fierce engagement
against lraqi armour and artillery,
other ODAs break the lraqi forces on the flank.
The way south is now open.
April 9th.
Baghdad falls, and television images are flashed live around the world. Special operations don't get a mention,
but in their secret world, they wouldn't have it any other way. France, 1944. Two weeks after D-Day, the Allied beachhead is secure. The Germans are still fighting fiercely,
using their mighty Tiger tanks and 88mm anti-tank guns to lethal effect in the hedges and small fields of the Normandy bocage.
Progress is slow, but within another six weeks,
the Allies will break out and begin their blitzkrieg to liberate France and Belgium.
How did the Allies in 1944 and the Coalition in 2003
meet the key requirements in the battleplan for special operations? Objective.
ln the build-up for D-Day, the planners were correct
in seeing the disruption of German reinforcements
as a vital strategic objective.
ln lraq in 2003, General Franks was correct in his judgement
that special forces could stand in for the US 4th lnfantry division. Build-up.
Despite the best efforts of the Gestapo,
Allied special operations were able to build up Resistance networks with significant military value, before D-Day.
ln Operation lraqi Freedom,
General Franks was able to take advantage
of special forces personnel already in the Kurdish areas,
and the rapport they had established with the Peshmurga.
lnsertion.
ln France, SOE and OSS developed effective methods
of inserting secret agents by parachute, aircraft or boat.
ln lraqi Freedom, special forces also developed efficient insertion methods
using helicopters or special vehicles.
The lraqis had little idea of how much activity
had taken place before hostilities began.
Execution.
The pre-D-Day deception operations were superb in holding back the Panzers,
but there is still debate over how effective the Resistance really was. During the Overlord landings, the Resistance manages
quite a few spectacular victories against the Germans.
The effect of these upon the overall operation, however,
was relatively minor.
lt wasn't just the physical effects of special operations one needs to look at,
it's also the psychological effects, if you like, the hidden effects.
The Germans had to protect themselves.
They had to attach a company of infantry to each convoy.
They had to use the Gestapo to try and winkle out the operatives. They had to be introverted when they needed to think
about how to push the Allies back into the sea.
Special operations can be effective in a variety of ways.
Disruption is one. lntelligence is also key.
For example, the British 6th Airborne division who landed at Pegasus Bridge
knew exactly how strong the Germans were in that area
because the Resistance man, who was the owner of a café,
had given them precise locations and the precise identification of units. ln lraq, execution is deadly.
The classic special operations in the south succeed in all their objectives,
while in the north, the special forces teams
demonstrate a whole new level of effectiveness.
But after lraqi Freedom,
as memories of the blitzkrieg advance to Baghdad fade,
and US and Coalition forces
become bogged down in combating irregular forces,
what is the future for the special operations battleplan?
The roles of the special operations and special forces
haven't really changed over the years, but the technology has.
Now, technology allows things to be done
with much greater precision, much greater accuracy,
at greater range and at much higher speed,
and this makes special operations
potentially that much more destructive to the enemy.