From Army Rangers to Green Berets to the U.S. Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden, this book explains what makes Special Forces "special," covering the rich and varied history of elite formations in American military history and describing their recruitment, intense training, and equipment in depth. Most civilians have only a vague idea of what the U.S. Special Forces are all about-who they are, how they differ from our "normal" military forces, what they've accomplished throughout our history, and how they operate today. Fighting Elites: A History of U.S. Special Forces examines the rich and varied history of U.S. Special Forces, identifies their contributions to specific conflicts from colonial times forward, and highlights their present operational excellence. In this first-ever reference guide to U.S. Special Forces, military historian John C. Fredriksen provides a carefully balanced presentation, describing all units in their own detailed section that discusses their origins, recruitment, training, tactics, and equipment, and defining military engagements, if known. The text also contains 20 biographical entries of noted personalities associated with special purpose activities. Initial chapters provide an overview of all American special purpose units A bibliography points to additional reading and sources of information 50 illustrations of famous leaders, uniforms, and troops in the field A highly detailed chronology of all known special forces activities

Little is more dangerous to U.S. forces fighting insurgents in hot spots around the world than improvised explosive devices. It's the weapon of choice for under-funded forces aimed to attack American soldiers with low risk to themselves. This official U.S. manual is the complete guide to using and dismantling boobytraps.
Here you can learn how to assemble, use, detect, and remove boobytraps and demolition items in almost any situation. With intricate and detailed diagrams, you'll discover how army troops can disguise boobytraps in household items such as irons, teapots, and televisions; in structures such as window frames, stairways, and wooden beams; and in outdoor areas, in bushes and underground. Find out how boobytraps work, why they are used in the army, and the tactics behind their set-up. Learn the mechanics of the various types of firing devices, detonators, fuses, cords, adapters, blasting caps, and lighters. Also included are detailed instructions for detecting and removing boobytraps. "The U.S. Army Guide to Boobytraps" explains the responsibilities and safety issues that should be thoroughly understood by anyone using any weapon. Any military enthusiast will appreciate the level of detail this field manual offers.

A New York Times bestsellerA Washington Post bestsellerNamed the top investigative journalism book of 2013 by Nieman Reports Selected as one of Publishers Weekly's Top 10 Books of 2013 [A] courageous and exhaustive examination of the way a number of clandestine campaigns,full of crimes, cover-ups, and assassinations,became the United States' main strategy for combating terrorism." ,Teju Cole, The New Yorker , Best Books of 2013In Dirty Wars , Jeremy Scahill, author of the New York Times best-seller Blackwater , takes us inside America's new covert wars. The foot soldiers in these battles operate globally and inside the United States with orders from the White House to do whatever is necessary to hunt down, capture or kill individuals designated by the president as enemies.Drawn from the ranks of the Navy SEALs, Delta Force, former Blackwater and other private security contractors, the CIA's Special Activities Division and the Joint Special Operations Command ( JSOC), these elite soldiers operate worldwide, with thousands of secret commandos working in more than one hundred countries. Funded through black budgets," Special Operations Forces conduct missions in denied areas, engage in targeted killings, snatch and grab individuals and direct drone, AC-130 and cruise missile strikes. While the Bush administration deployed these ghost militias, President Barack Obama has expanded their operations and given them new scope and legitimacy. Dirty Wars follows the consequences of the declaration that the world is a battlefield," as Scahill uncovers the most important foreign policy story of our time. From Afghanistan to Yemen, Somalia and beyond, Scahill reports from the frontlines in this high-stakes investigation and explores the depths of America's global killing machine. He goes beneath the surface of these covert wars, conducted in the shadows, outside the range of the press, without effective congressional oversight or public debate. And, based on unprecedented access, Scahill tells the chilling story of an American citizen marked for assassination by his own government.As US leaders draw the country deeper into conflicts across the globe, setting the world stage for enormous destabilization and blowback, Americans are not only at greater risk,we are changing as a nation. Scahill unmasks the shadow warriors who prosecute these secret wars and puts a human face on the casualties of unaccountable violence that is now official policy: victims of night raids, secret prisons, cruise missile attacks and drone strikes, and whole classes of people branded as suspected militants." Through his brave reporting, Scahill exposes the true nature of the dirty wars the United States government struggles to keep hidden.

Part two of the defining work on Hitler's elite fanatical boy soldiers continues with the survivors of the bloody fighting in France regrouping to make a final stand in the Ardennes and Hungary before Germany was overcome by the Allies. A detailed and gripping account of the most famous, and infamous, division to fight in World War II for any side.

In July 1940, a desperately weakened Britain licks her wounds after the humiliating retreat from Dunkirk. How can the fight be taken to the enemy? New Prime Minister Winston Churchill orders the creation of the Special Operations Executive, to 'set Europe ablaze' through subversion and sabotage. But this most secret of agencies must be kept secure. Guardians of Churchill's Secret Army tells the mostly unknown human stories of the men who were brought into SOE, straight from Intelligence Corps training, to do just that. They were junior in rank, but far from ordinary people. They were Australian, Anglo-French, Canadian, Scandinavian, East European and British. They had been schoolteachers, journalists, artists, ship brokers, racehorse trainers and international businessmen. Each spoke several languages. These men stood alongside courageous agents in training: encouraged them, assessed their character, and tried to teach them the caution and suspicion that might just keep them alive, deep in enemy territory. But they did much more. Many became agents themselves and displayed great bravery. All played a crucial role in the global effort to undermine the enemy. We find them not only in the Baker Street Headquarters of SOE, but also in night parachute drops, in paramilitary training in the remotest depths of Scotland and in undercover agent training in isolated English country houses. We follow them to occupied France, to Malaya and Thailand under threat of Japanese invasion, to Italy and Germany as they play their part in the collapse of the Axis regimes. As we do so, we find a world of heroism and commitment so different from our own experience that it is scarcely believable.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT BBC SERIES SAS: ROGUE HEROES, STARRING CONNOR SWINDELLS, JACK O'CONNELL, ALFIE ALLEN AND DOMINIC WEST From the secret SAS archives and bestselling author Ben Macintyre: The first ever authorized history of the SAS. 'A master at setting the pulse racing' Daily Mail ________________ In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, has a vision for a new kind of war: attacking the enemy where they least expect it - from behind their own lines. Despite the intense opposition of many in British High Command, Winston Churchill personally gives Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he can find. And so begins the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS. With unprecedented access to the SAS secret files, unseen footage and exclusive interviews with its founder members, SAS: Rogue Heroes tells the remarkable story behind an extraordinary fighting force, and the immense cost of making it a reality. ________________ 'Thorough and highly entertaining. It would be nigh on impossible to praise it too highly' Daily Express 'Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II' Antony Beevor 'Told with deceptive brilliance . . . one the finest books of its kind' Evening Standard

The commands, units and leaders of the General SS are finally compiled into a single detailed reference book for both the historian and SS memorabilia collector. This complete volume begins with an explanation of the twelve administrative and command main offices involving the SS to include the development, components and functions of each, as well as their respective office chiefs. The following section explores the most powerful posts in the SS, the Higher SS and Police Leaders, along with the subordinate SS and Police Leaders found in occupied territories - both the commands and the individual holder of these posts are examined in depth. The SS Main Districts are covered next including all their various subordinate components, title changes, development, commanders and chiefs of staff. The more than forty SS Districts follow, detailed in a similar format. Examining the more than one-hundred and twenty-five SS Foot Regiments in the General SS, the names and ranks of the hundreds of commaners, as well as details of unit location changes, popular and honor titles as well as other data for each are within a separate chapter. Finally, the elite SS Riding Districts and Regiments are covered similarly. Career biographies are included for more than two hundred senior SS commanders, many of whom served portions of their career in the Waffen-SS, Polizei, SD and other facets of Himmler's commands. The biographical data for individuals alone adds vast detail to this fascinating topic. Along with more than 120 rare photos of SS senior ranking officers and seven maps, a detailed index allows referencing of individual commands or personalities. Mark Yerger is also the author of Riding East, The SS Cavalry Brigade in Poland and Russia 1939-1942; Images of the Waffen-SS, Chronicle of Germany's Elite Troops; and a biography of SS-Strumbannfuhrer Ernst August Krag (all three titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

The Sunday Times Bestseller. 'Breathtaking. Kim Hughes is the man who stands between us and oblivion.' Andy McNab (author of Bravo Two Zero) 'An uplifting and enlightening account of the personal courage and dedication required to do a very lonely job in the most extreme of conditions'. John Nichol (The Mail On Sunday) This is a book about science, bombs, and what happens to the human psyche when every day you go to work might be your last. Kim Hughes is the most highly decorated bomb disposal operator serving in the British Army. He was awarded the George Cross in 2009 following a grueling six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan during which he defused 119 improvised explosive devices, survived numerous Taliban ambushes and endured a close encounter with the Secretary of State for Defence. The back drop to Painting the Sand is the Afghan War, the conflict where the cold courage of the bomb disposal operator rose to national prominence. No other field of warfare offers the chance of a single individual to come so close to his enemy and fight out a battle of wits where losing can mean death. This is one of the best memoirs that will come out of a ten-year struggle to defeat a hidden, and enduring, enemy.

To understand wars and armed conflicts, we need to understand the inner logic of military institutions and warrior culture. In Making Warriors in a Global Era, Tone Danielsen employs ethnographic methods to analyze and discuss current debates among both military personnel and academics about the rise of the special operations forces and their effects on how armed conflicts are handled and wars are fought. Based on a decade of research and Danielsen's unprecedented access inside a Norwegian Naval Special Operations Commando, Danielsen describes the culture, experiences, and skill sets of a special operations unit and explores the historical and political implications these types of units have on modern warfare and society as a whole.

Presented here are the biographies of the 130 men of the Fallschirmjager-Hitler's elite paratroopers, who won the Knight's Cross and its higher grades. These men fought on nearly every front during the Second World War, from their first action in Denmark in April 1940, to their last major battle at Monte Cassino. A total of twenty-four Knight's Crosses were awarded to Fallschirmjager troops during the battles of Monte Cassino and in the airborne invasion of Crete with the remainder awarded during the fighting in France, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Russia, and at least one in North Africa. These tough, elite soldiers parachuted behind enemy lines and were one of the most successful units during the Second World War. The book gives details of their promotions and other medals and decorations and is well illustrated with over 200 photographs.

'A humbling, inspiring account of some of the real founders of modern day Special Forces soldiering' Bear Grylls Praise for Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author Damien Lewis' SAS mission series: 'One of the great untold stories of WWII' - Bear Grylls on SAS Ghost Patrol 'A tale of bravery against desperate odds' - Sunday Times on Churchill's Secret Warriors 'True adventures laced with staggering bravery and sacrifice' - Sun on Hunting the Nazi Bomb SAS Nazi Hunters is the incredible, hitherto untold story of the most secret chapter in the SAS's history. Officially, the world's most elite special forces unit was dissolved at the end of the Second World War, and not reactivated until the 1950s. Among their last actions was a disastrous commando raid into occupied France in 1944, which ended in the capture,torture and execution of 31 soldiers. It can now be revealed that the SAS never was dissolved: it lived on, commanded personally by Churchill and hidden even from the British government. They were tasked with hunting through the ruins of the Reich for the SS commanders responsible for the murder of their comrades, including many who had escaped the failed justice of the Nuremberg trials. Along the way, they discovered before anyone else the full horror of Hitler's regime, and the growing threat from Stalin's Russia. Still studied by the SAS today and a central part of their founding myth, the story of the Nazi hunters is now told by bestselling author Damien Lewis.

These 100 skills, adapted for civilians from actual field experiences of Special Forces operations, offer a complete hands-on and practical guide to help you survive in the wild no matter the climate or terrain; be prepared for any crisis; and have the critical life-saving knowledge for staying safe in any hostile environment or disaster. 100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition is what you need for today's world, combining survival hacks developed on the battlefield with the low-tech tools you have on hand. This book is your essential prep manual, from securing shelter, building fire, finding food, and navigating back to civilization no matter the environment to thinking like a special forces solider so that you can survive a hostage situation, an active shooter, a suicide bomber, or a terrorist threat on the subway, and even apply trauma medicine as a first responder. Full of specific scenarios to help you get in the mind-set of survival, 100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition is better than a Swiss Army knife whether you're lost at sea, forced to land a plane, fighting off a bear, or deciding whether to run, hide, or fight. Next to each skill are easy-to-grasp detailed illustrations, because when you need to survive the apocalypse, you don't have time for complicated instructions.

Wanted: Volunteers for Project Delta. Will guarantee you a medal. A body bag. Or both. When Charlie Beckwith issued this call to arms in Vietnam in 1965, he revolutionized American armed combat. This is the story of what would eventually come to be known as Delta Force, as only its maverick creator could tell it - from the bloody baptism of Vietnam to the top-secret training grounds of North Carolina to political battles in the upper levels of the Pentagon itself. This is the heart-pounding, first-person, insider's view of the missions that made Delta Force legendary. Through it all, the reader will become much better acquainted with America's deadliest weapon.

The true story of a legendary SAS soldier who participated in the battle of Mirbat and assaulted the Iranian Embassy to free the hostages held within. No publicity, no media. We move in silently, do our job, and melt away into the background. If you have the stamina, the willpower and the guts, we'll welcome you with open arms and make you one of us. And if you haven't, then it's been very nice knowing you. Eighteen years in the SAS saw Pete Winner, codenamed Soldier 'I', survive the savage battle of Mirbat, parachute into the icy depths of the South Atlantic at the height of the Falklands War, and storm the Iranian Embassy during the most famous hostage crisis in the modern world. For the first time Pete also details his close-protection work around the world, from the lawless streets of Moscow to escorting aid convoys into war-torn Bosnia. He also unveils the problems of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder faced by many Special Forces veterans, and how he battled his own demons to continue his roller-coaster career. This is his story, written with a breathtaking take-no-prisoners attitude that brings each death-defying episode vividly to life.

Admiral William H. McRaven is a part of American military history, having been involved in some of the most famous missions in recent memory, including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, and the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.Sea Stories begins in 1960 at the American Officers' Club in France, where Allied officers and their wives gathered to have drinks and tell stories about their adventures during World War II -- the place where a young Bill McRaven learned the value of a good story. Sea Stories is an unforgettable look back on one man's incredible life, from childhood days sneaking into high-security military sites to a day job of hunting terrorists and rescuing hostages.Action-packed, inspiring, and full of thrilling stories from life in the special operations world, Sea Stories is a remarkable memoir from one of America's most accomplished leaders.

This fascinating look at the life of a modern-day professional soldier gives the reader an inside view of the deadly global war on terror. Herd argues that conflicting political objectives have muddied the way forward for the on-the-ground commanders and thus threaten the prospect of any real victory in Afghanistan. He uses everyday stories to make his points: ""One of the local leaders pointed to his wrist and said to my interpreter, 'the Americans have all the watches but we have all the time.' That made a lasting impression on me."" Colonel Herd was one of the highest ranking officers on the ground with a command of some 4,000 elite soldiers from all branches of the U.S. military and five other coalition nations. It was a mission he had trained for all of his life. A sixth-generation soldier, Herd became a master parachutist, a combat scuba diver, a Green Beret and an Army Ranger. He conducted combat missions against the Taliban by using the Special Forces mandate of working by, with and through the local population.

Iran is a country at war - in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. The founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, always told audiences that the revolution was not about Iran, but the whole region. To establish an arc of Shia influence across the Middle East, the Islamic Republic created the Quds Force, the extraterritorial branch of its Revolutionary Guards. Hundreds of thousands of Shia youths were recruited, trained, armed, and organized in militia groups across the region. The book tells the story of how the Quds Force and its Shia militias fought on the three fronts to advance the Islamic Republic's militant interpretation of Shia Islam and create a contiguous land corridor linking Iran through Iraq to Syria, Lebanon, and the Israeli northern fronts. The Iran-led operations are creating enormous political and security challenges for the Sunni Arabs and all regional powers, creating further instabilities in an already turbulent Middle East, with specters of direct military conflicts looming, pitting Iran against the Arab states and Israel.

Photo history of the long-gun versions of Germany's Panzer IV during WWII.

One of the most remarkable stories in the history of Special Forces' operations - Daily Express In the bleak moments after defeat on mainland Europe in winter 1939, Winston Churchill knew that Britain had to strike back hard. So Britain's wartime leader called for the lightning development of a completely new kind of warfare, recruiting a band of eccentric free-thinking warriors to become the first 'deniable' secret operatives to strike behind enemy lines, offering these volunteers nothing but the potential for glory and all-but-certain death. Churchill's Secret Warriors tells the story of the daring victories for this small force of 'freelance pirates', undertaking devastatingly effective missions against the Nazis, often dressed in enemy uniforms and with enemy kit, breaking all previously held rules of warfare. Master storyteller Damien Lewis brings the adventures of the secret unit to life, weaving together the stories of the soldiers' brotherhood in this compelling narrative, from the unit's earliest missions to the death of their leader just weeks before the end of the war.