Te Wu or Special Task Units

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Peter H
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Te Wu or Special Task Units

#1

Post by Peter H » 24 May 2008, 17:44

Were these Assault troop formations raised for raids etc?

Te Wu Battalions and Companies existed within certain divisions.

Also some Armies had an "Honorary Division" of veterans,mainly returned wounded,but nevertheless also considered elite,experienced formations?

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Leonard
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Re: Te Wu or Special Task Units

#2

Post by Leonard » 04 Jun 2008, 10:56

Literally, "Te Wu" means spy or espionage. In reality, "te wu" units are mostly units organized out of the ordinary TOE. It so happened that sometimes they may be the better equipped soldiers within the unit. They are sometimes used as part of the HQ force, or the last reserve of the unit. They rarely undergo any special training.

Honorary units are made up entirely of soldiers returning to the battle after injury or retirement from armed service. They are thus more experienced. Taiwan still call their retired soldiers "honorary citizen"


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Peter H
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Re: Te Wu or Special Task Units

#3

Post by Peter H » 05 Jun 2008, 10:30

Thanks Leonard.

The fighting prowess of the Chinese in WW2 is underated in some quarters in my view.The subsequent war in Korea demonstrated how tough and how capable they were.Most of the Chinese soldiers sent to Korea were former KMT veterans as well if one can believe Jung Chang.Regardless of them being motivated by Communist ideals by that stage(another debatable point) they were good soldiers.

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Leonard
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Re: Te Wu or Special Task Units

#4

Post by Leonard » 05 Jun 2008, 14:42

Given good leadership, equipments and supply, the individual Chinese soldier is among the best in the world.

This is shown not only in the Koran war, but also the X-Force under Stilwell.

I would say many, but not most of those fighting in the Korean War was originally KMT soldiers. The most notable was the 30th Army, which was basically KMT's 60th Army that surrendered in Changchun.

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