SpecForce
Special Forces Post-WWII
On the other side of the world, France and then the United States were fighting a war of attrition in Indochina. The French wanted to restore their pre-war colonial rule. The U.S. was persuaded by George Kennan and John Foster Dulles to adopt a policy of containment to rein in international communism. The locals wanted self-determination and were willing to…
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MTM: the Italian Navy’s Explosive Motorboat I
The true pioneers of manned EMBs, as distinct from remote-controlled craft, were the men of the Royal Italian Navy. Some accounts of Italian operations suggest that the country’s interest in EMBs also began with a World War I craft, the Grillo (“Cricket”). In fact, the Grillo was called a barchino…
MTM: the Italian Navy’s Explosive Motorboat II
Date: 26 July 1941 Place: Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta Attack by: Italian MTM boats and Maiali torpedoes Target: Allied warships and transports at anchor The MTM pilots who had made the hazardous and successful attack at Suda Bay had all survived, but the last major operation in which MTMs were…
SAS at Sidi Hanesih
In Cairo Colonel David Stirling, SAS CO, was busy appropriating more trucks and jeeps (20 of the latter in total), as well as rations, rum, equipment and men, one of whom was Mike Sadler. Sadler was a 22-year-old Englishman with a benign face and a keen brain. Having emigrated to…
Bristol Bombay
Although the twin-engine Bristol Bombay was designed as a troop transport carrier in 1931, the economic conditions of the Great Depression delayed production until early 1939. While only 51 were produced, the Bristol Bombay, which was capable of carrying up to 24 troops or a payload of 7,200 lb, saw…
Marine Special Ops Take California
Lancers at La Mesa Artist: Colonel Charles H. Waterhouse, USMCR 1st Lt. Archibald Gillespie, First U.S.M.C. Special Ops Officer Mexico had achieved independence from Spain in 1821, but during the 12 years prior to 1846, four revolutions took place in the province of California. By the eve of the war…
LRDG: UNTIL THE BITTERÂ END
These two photographs, believed to be somewhere in the Balkans in the winter of 1944/45, show some LRDG men loading an aircraft with one of their jeeps prior to their return to Italy. The LRDG withdrew from Athens at the end of 1944 and returned to their base in Italy.…