Best Special Op ever
 

The Operations on the list, as well as the most recent ones conducted over the last few years and even those still yet to come are all without question the best ops ever. No one was like the one before.

I will add that from personal experience that the Operation where the number of Team members you leave with is the same that you return with is always a nice one.

De Oppresso Liber

There was a Ukranian soldier in CoA 10th SFGA while I was there. He infiltrated across the Czech Border, walked to the Ukraine to visit his mother before she died and walked back. IMO that fits the Military definition of Special Operations and was special.

His name was Rosniuk, RIP, he died boarding a plane for RVN in 1967.:lifter

Oh, did not see that, thought it could be added to this list.

Malayan Emergency-British and Malay Government defeat of Communist Insurgents -1948-1960. Demonstrates how Military and political forces must be coordinated and focused to defeat an insurgency.

Two to add to the list of all-time great ops:

Assault on the Japanese Embassy in Peru 22 April 1997

Also, assault on Air France 8969 26 Dec 1994, Marseilles - prevented a 9/11 style use of the plane to fly into the eiffel tower.



G

Have to disagree with you on that one.

Charlie Foxtrot, and they got lucky.

TR

Hi TR

Now you've got me interested.

In what way were they lucky? Bad plan / prep / execution?

If there is anything you can tell without breaking OPSEC, I'm keen to hear!

Regards

G

I'm not sure that I would call July to November a short amount of time...

In light of recent events, I turned to the "Search" button
 

Bump.

RAIDS

1. LTC Mucci and the 128 Rangers and aprox 250 guerrillas to rescue the victims of the Bataan Death March and others.

2. Mussolini Rescue, could take the first place position because of the potential of other effects of the war.

3. Son Tay Raiders

---------BT------

Special Operation(s) that Effected Change

1. A-stan, a bunch of SF guys on horseback doing in a few months what the Soviets could not do in many years.

2. Special Forces, South America circa, late 70's, 1980 - 1990.

3. VACANT - To Be Seen, I hope in my lifetime. Perhaps the saving of our own country and the preservation of our Constitution.

---------BT-------

Might I add. The United States has always placed an extreme value on the lives of our fellow captive warriors. As early as our Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Alamo, WWI, WWII, we have conducted rescue raids.

I pray we always do.

SAS Ops in Gambia-1981
 

http://sofrep.com/9277/problem-in-ga...two-sas-dudes/

I know this thread is old but, I think this is 1 of the most impressive Ops I have read about.

2nd (of couse) to what the Special Forces did in Afghanistan :D



SF in the STAN did what the ENTIRE Russian Military might couldn't do... Including the Army's that invaded throught history before the Russians....

The Battle for Cassinga, Angola 1978
 

Of course I wouldnt dream of promoting my book on this site, so I will put a link up where you can read a bit about this raid. In short, the South Africans executed an airborne assault on a heavily fortified SWAPO base camp 250km behind enemy lines. 367 paratroopers assaulted the camp of about 3500 enemy. The South Africans sustained 3 KIA and 1 MIA, the enemy in excess of 1000 KIA and many WIA.
A Cuban tank and APC column of more than 20 vehicles arrived when the battle was almost over to reinforce their SWAPO comrades. The lightly armed SA paratroopers, ( at this time at half strength due to half the force having already been extracted) with a little help from some jets, wiped out the armor with small arms and RPGs. The raid neutralized SWAPO at a crucial time in the war and forced them to compete in democratic elections instead of allowing them to sieze Namibia through the barrel of the gun as their leader had sworn to do. Namibia has remained a democratic capitalist country to this day, instead of the Communist Dictatorship it would have become.
http://www.namibweb.com/chap13.htm
If you really feel the need to know all about the operation, you will find my book on Amazon as The Battle for Cassinga by Mike McWilliams published by the UK Military publishing house Helion.
This raid was called "One of the most successful, daring airborne operations of all time." By Lt.Col Robert Brown of Soldier of Fortune.
Now, I am not saying it was the best, but it bears consideration.

11th Abn Raid at Los Banos........
 

11th Abn Raid at Los Banos.........:lifter

My old outfit the 11th Abn Div was de-activated in Germany in 1958,3 months later I was transfered to the 10th at Bad Tolz....

A large number of civilian prisoners had been detained by the Japanese on Luzon,
mostly in internment camps scattered throughout the island. The largest of these was located on the campus of the Agricultural College of the Philippines at Los Baños, some forty miles (64 km) south-east of Manila...General Douglas MacArthur had tasked the 11th Airborne Division with rescuing the Los Baños internees on 3 February, but the division's ongoing combat operations around the Genko Line left it unable to divert any resources at that time...All that could be accomplished during February was to gather information, primarily through liaison with the guerilla groups operating in Southern Luzon and around Los Baños. Maj. Gen. Swing and his command staff were briefed daily by the officer working with the guerilla groups, Major Vanderpool...From the guerillas and a few civilians that had escaped the camp, Vanderpool established that it was surrounded by two barbed-wire fences approximately six feet tall. Several guard towers and bunkers dotted its perimeter, each containing at least two guards. Prisoners left each morning under armed guard to gather food supplies and firewood from a nearby town...Vanderpool was informed that the camp's population consisted of American civilians in three distinct groups: Protestant missionaries and their families; Roman Catholic nuns and priests; and professional workers such as doctors and engineers, and their families. The latter group included several hundred women and children. While all the inmates appeared to be in good health, many had become weak from food rationing.

On 20 February, Maj. Gen. Swing was finally able to release sufficient troops for a raid on the Los Baños camp, and a four-phase plan was devised by Major Vanderpool and the divisional staff officers...The divisional reconnaissance platoon would travel across a nearby lake and move to the outskirts of the camp, securing a large adjacent field as the drop zone for a company of paratroopers. Having landed, the paratroopers would eliminate Japanese resistance in the area, secure the camp, and prepare for its evacuation. Fifty-four amphibious Amtracs would transport two additional companies of paratroopers to the lake shore, where a beachhead would be established while the Amtracs continued to the camp to evacuate its occupants. Simultaneously, a task force consisting of a reinforced infantry battalion, two battalions of heavy artillery and a tank destroyer battalion would advance down Highway 1 towards Los Baños to interdict any Japanese attempts to interfere.

Assisted by a group of guerrillas, on the night of 21 February the divisional reconnaissance platoon made their way to the lake and collected ten canoes. Despite navigational difficulties, the platoon came ashore near Los Baños at 02:00 the following morning, and after securing the paratroopers' drop zone, concealed themselves in the jungle near the camp...During the afternoon B Company of the 1st Battalion, 511th PIR was transferred to the airfield from which they would be deployed, while the rest of the battalion rendezvoused with the Amtrac convoy...At 07:00 on the morning of 23 February, B Company took off in ten C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft, arriving over their drop zone shortly afterwards....As the first paratroopers landed, the reconnaissance platoon and the supporting guerilla fighters opened fire on the camp's defences, using Bazooka rounds to penetrate the concrete pillboxes, and then entered the camp to engage its garrison. The paratroopers soon joined the battle, and by 07:30 the Japanese guards had been overcome and the internees were being rounded up and readied for evacuation...At the lakeshore the 511th's other two companies had secured their beachhead, and the convoy of Amtracs reached the camp without incident. Priority during loading was given to the women, children and wounded; some of the able-bodied men walked alongside the Amtracs as they returned to the beach. The first evacuation convoy left the camp at approximately 10:00, with B Company, the reconnaissance platoon and the guerrillas remaining behind to provide a rearguard. By 11:30 all of the civilians had been evacuated, and at 13:00 the Amtrac convoy returned for the rearguard, with the last paratroopers leaving the beach at approximately 15:00...Meanwhile on Highway 1, the taskforce that had been deployed to protect the operation met heavy Japanese resistance and suffered several casualties, but was able to block Japanese forces that advanced on the camp, before retreating back to American lines...The raid had been a complete success, liberating 2,147 civilians...This gave them their nick name "The Angels"...:D

Big Teddy :munchin

My favorites:

The seizure of Fortress Eben Emael, Mussolini's rescue (how many people can you fit in a Fiesler Storch?), the raid on Entebbe.

Not listed; the Rangers assualt on the German positions above the cliffs at Point Du Hoc immediately before the opening of D-day.

Recent operations; the American assisted assualt on the Japanese embassy in Peru. The tunnel and explosives were brilliant.

Any operation Bob Howard was involved with at CCN.