Secret War

[leunga]

What is secret war? I guess the concise definitions as shown in IWM's Secret War corner is useful for reference.

M15 - British security service defending the state against its enemies with their shores.
M16 - The secret intelligence services seeking out information on enemies abroad.
Secret Communications - British's signal intelligence organisations which intercept and decode communications.
Special Operation Executives (SOE) - Created during WWII with instruction to "Set Europe Ablaze".
Secret Soldiers - Elite Special Forces carrying out military operations behind enemy lines.

Selected exhibit
[attachmentid=540]

[Devil]

Special Forces always play a great part in a war.To sabotage the enemy to thin the lines.But I personaly think that the most valuable action of a special unit is to help that the casualitis keep low.There will be less casualitis if special forces sabotage enemy artylery tanks supply depots... Before a major assault on that teritory.Special Forces always play a great part in a war.

[Devil]

Excuse me for posting the same 2 times.
Do anyone knows a German special unit

EDIT: Deleted repeat post, no worries Devil. Gnomey

[morse1001]

Originally posted by Devil@Mar 22 2005, 08:27 AM
Excuse me for posting the same 2 times.
Do anyone knows a German special unit

Quoted post

The brandenburger Divison. The 105th prussian Marine stromtroopers.

[morse1001]

Originally posted by leunga@Mar 22 2005, 07:52 AM
What is secret war? I guess the concise definitions as shown in IWM's Secret War corner is useful for reference.

M15 - British security service defending the state against its enemies with their shores.
M16 - The secret intelligence services seeking out information on enemies abroad.
Secret Communications - British's signal intelligence organisations which intercept and decode communications.
Special Operation Executives (SOE) - Created during WWII with instruction to "Set Europe Ablaze".
Secret Soldiers - Elite Special Forces carrying out military operations behind enemy lines.

Selected exhibit
[attachmentid=540]

Quoted post

there is also Mi9 escape and evasion. the Y service which provided the signals intelligence. the special duty squadrons which dropped the agents into Europe and other places. the list is almost endless.

[Kiwiwriter]

Another famous German secret unit (an oxymoron, 'tis true), was Otto Skorzeny's 150th Panzer Brigade in the Battle of the Bulge, and his teams of English-speaking Germans in American uniforms. They cut wires and switched road signs in an effort to create chaos behind the American lines, but most got caught. An interesting story.

[jeffbubble]

Another clandestine force was also at large, this was the British resistance organisation who operated under the deliberately vague name of Auxiliary Troops. It had been formed by Major Colin McVean-Gubbins under the aegis of GHQ Home Forces To cover up their activities, they wore Home Guard uniforms with the ‘202 Battalion Flash’.

The bases were top secret, and tended to be large underground concrete bunkers well hidden and capable of sustaining the four man teams for weeks. These 970 ‘setts’ were well stocked with food, water and the latest weapons including Thompson sub-machine guns, Mills bombs, sticky bombs, anti tank mortars, plastic explosives and time pencils.

Over 5,000 men were in this secret army, which were to fight the Germans if invasion took place, their task was to carry out acts of sabotage and disruption. It was calculated that their life behind enemy lines would be in the order of days, not weeks.

[Thomas McCall]

Also the SOE in the far east Force 136 which enlisted and trained the native tribesmen of Burma, Malaya, Siam (Thailand) and French Indo-China to be scouts and to sabotage Japanese lines of communication.

Force 136 (Burma section) was commanded by John Ritchie Gardiner from 1943 to the end of the war, like many other of the men employed in Force 136 Gardiner knew the area well which was key in delaying Japanese reinforcements they also harried Japanese forces breaking out of the Pegu Yomas mountain range in July and August 1945.

[frankie1958]

Hi

I am looking for the family of John Jenner Marchant who was with Force 136 in Burma in 1944. Also he was in Jugon, France. Is there anyone that remembers him or can tell me if he is still alive? He would be 85 years old. He had a twin brother, Peter and Peter has a son, Simon. But I have been unable to locate them. I would very much like to get in touch with anyone with any information. Thanks.

Frankie

[mattgibbs]

With relation to JJ marchant have you tried looking at the recently released personnel files of the SOE at the PRO archives? A new book published this year mentions that some of 10,000 files are being opened up.
Regards
MG