What a better way to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day then by jumping into Normandy? Green Berets assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) conducted static line and free-fall parachute drops on a drop zone in Normandy, France, last week. The Air Force’s 352nd Special Operations Wing and 86th Airlift Wing provided three […]
OSS
Research & Development Branch of OSS, and America’s “Q”
During World War II, the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) was the United States first foray into the intelligence business. Prior to the war, the intelligence services for the US didn’t exist, much to the chagrin of their British allies just as the war began. It had no overall direction, planning or control and was […]
“The Catcher Was a Spy” Moe Berg, OSS, A Swing, and a Miss
Like most Special Forces guys, especially of my generation, I can’t get enough of OSS (Office of Strategic Services) from World War II. OSS was the “Greatest Generation” version of both CIA and the U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Berets) as both sprang forth from the extraordinary organization that General William “Wild Bill” Donovan built […]
Robin Sage Begins June 9th, Time For the SF Students to Step Up
The Special Forces rite of passage is about to begin for the next class of SF candidates. The final training in Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) for prospective SF soldiers is the Unconventional Warfare (UW) exercise “Robin Sage”, which we went over in detail in an earlier post, that you can read here: The prospective Green […]
Grease Gun: Examining the M3/M3A1 Submachine Gun
Compared to most U.S. infantry weapons of World War II, the M3 submachine gun is not especially well known. This is even more remarkable given that it is the longest-serving SMG in U.S. military history, having been used from 1942 to 1992. The M3’s resemblance to the tool used to lubricate automobiles resulted in its nickname, the […]
OSS weapons ingenuity: The secret gear of America’s WWII spies
General Donovan motivated the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) research and development branch to fabricate weapons in-house for officers in the field. These weapons ranged from the amazingly complex to the remarkably fundamental. OSS guns and blades were intended for simple but effective use. American servicemen going into harm’s way had a variety of ingenious places to hide small, even miniature, compasses for […]