SpecForce
JSOC Gets Its Feet Wet
The peaceful resolution of the hostage drama gave Scholtes and JSOC time to draw breath and consider their role in the Reagan-era national security structure. A February 1981 memo from Caspar Weinberger, the new administration’s defense secretary, directing each service to “maintain and continue to develop its own capabilities,” not only helped solidify the position of JSOC and its constituent…
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Operation Kingpin: The U.S. Army Raid on Son Tay, 21 November 1970 Part IV
Upon landing, the headquarters element cleared the southwest guard tower, broadcast messages to the POWs, blew a four-foot-by-four-foot hole in the west wall with a twenty-pound satchel charge, and established radio contact with the ground force commander (Sydnor) and all the action elements. Action Element 1 moved to building 5A…
U.S. Ranger Raid on Cabanatuan, 30 January 1945 Part I
BACKGROUND On 9 April 1942, Maj. Gen. Edward P. King Jr., commander of the American and Filipino forces on Bataan, surrendered to the Japanese. This marked the end of four months of fighting by the 90,000 Allied troops holding the Philippine island of Luzon. The Japanese rounded up 72,000 prisoners…
U.S. Ranger Raid on Cabanatuan, 30 January 1945 Part II
LIEUTENANT COLONEL HENRY A. MUCCI—6TH RANGER BATTALION Lieutenant Colonel Henry A. Mucci had just turned thirty-three when he reported to New Guinea as the new commander of the 6th Ranger Battalion. A 1936 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he had been assigned as a company commander at Fort Warren,…
U.S. Ranger Raid on Cabanatuan, 30 January 1945 Part III
When all the POWs were clear of the camp, Captain Prince would initiate the Rangers’ withdrawal by firing a red signal flare. The guerrillas were to remain at their roadblocks until the entire column of Rangers and POWs were a mile from the camp. At that time Captain Prince would…
Tanker stowaways: Seven men arrested over ship’s ‘hijacking’
Seven people have been arrested on suspicion of seizing control of an oil tanker, police have said. The men were detained when military forces stormed the Nave Andromeda which was thought to have been hijacked off the Isle of Wight on Sunday night. Sixteen members of the Special Boat Service…
Operation Source: Midget Submarine Attack on the Tirpitz, 22 September 1943 Part I
BACKGROUND On 27 March 1942, British commandos attacked and destroyed the Normandie dry dock at the French port of Saint-Nazaire. This action was undertaken to prevent the German battleship Tirpitz from sailing from her anchorage in Norway into the Atlantic and then seeking refuge at Saint-Nazaire. The Normandie dry dock…