"special forces"

[Hoplophile]

Hello, Carl!

The unit (Sturmabteilung Koch) charged with the securing of the Albert Canal bridges and neutralizing Fort Eben-Emael was composed entirely of men from the 1st Fallschirmjäger Regiment of the Luftwaffe.

For a short treatment of the capture of Eben-Emael, see the article on that subject in this work, which can be downloaded for free.

https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals ... ommand.pdf

[Hoplophile]

Hello, Carl!

The unit (Sturmabteilung Koch) charged with the securing of the Albert Canal bridges and neutralizing Fort Eben-Emael was composed entirely of men from the 1st Fallschirmjäger Regiment of the Luftwaffe.

For a short treatment of the capture of Eben-Emael, see the article on that subject in this work, which can be downloaded for free.

https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals ... ommand.pdf

[Hoplophile]

PS: Here are some other sources about the Albert Canal/Eben-Emael operation in 1940:

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=8069

http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/sing ... /210/rec/1

http://www.niehorster.org/021_belgium/f ... art_01.htm

[Carl Schwamberger]

Thanks

[Ypenburg]

The unit (Sturmabteilung Koch) charged with the securing of the Albert Canal bridges and neutralizing Fort Eben-Emael was composed entirely of men from the 1st Fallschirmjäger Regiment of the Luftwaffe.

Actually, supported by the Erkennungsmarkenverzeichnis of S.A. Koch, more then 70 securing the canel bridge's came from severall regular Pionier-Btl. and Infantry-Regiments. Next to that 4 of the men involved were actually deserters of the Belgian army, belonging to the ethnic German minority in Belgium and were recruted by the Abwehr. 1 of them, Heinen, was killed in action.

Regards,

[Hoplophile]

You are quite right. (I should have known better than to have used the word "entirely.")

[Number24]

The military commander of the invasion of Denmark and Norway coinn1940 ngratulated the Brandernburger regiment with ten (successful) missions during the invasion of Norway. We don't know what those missions were, but there were reports of soldiers in Norwegian uniforms actually working for the invaders.
After the sabotage of the heavy water production in Rjukan in 1943 a several units tied to hunt down the nine SOE saboteaurs in the mountains, including Waffen-SS Jagdverband. All nine saboteaurs got away and lived to be old men, but at least one of them said the best tactic the Germans could have used was using small elite teams (like Jagdverband was). By using many and mostly large units they wer essentially chasing their own tails (or ski tracks) and never found the saboteaurs.

[Carl Schwamberger]

Maybe it was a different team and raid? I recall a interview on the TV with a Brit describing how he got into a pistol shootout with a German pursuer. He was on skis and outran all but one pursuer. At some point the German got close enough to become dangerous shooting his pistol, so the Brit turned around and managed to hit him with a pistol shot.

[Number24]

That episode sounds a lot like the experiences of one of the saboteurs from the Vemork mission. After most of the search for the saboteurs was over, one of them was tasked with gathering up equipment they had left in several cabins. He was discoverd by a German patrol and a ski chase follewed. In the end only one german was able to follow the SOE agent, but he seemed impossible to shake off. Supposedly the German was a former ski champion dfrom Bavaria. The SOE agent turned and fired one shot. He knew the distance was too great, but according to the close quarters Fairbairn and Sykes (the heavy water sabotage team tyrained against Sykes in Scaotland and did better than him) it was smart to shoot first to make your oponent panic. This happend in this case. The German stopped and fired all his ammo, but missed. The SOE agent turned and chased off the German.
I don't remember the name of the SOE agent (Possibly Knut Haugland) but he was one of the nine Heavy Water saboteurs. I've never heard of a British soldier/agent skiing against a German in Norway during the war and <i highly doubt it ever happened.

[Number24]

I found it ! it was Claus Hellberg (much later he was a ski guide for the Norwegian and Danish Queen when they visited the Norwegian mountains).
He played himself in the 1948 movie "Kampen om tungtvannet". 14 000 German soldiers searched for the SOE agents in the mountain after they blew up the heavy water factory. The German who was chasing him is discribed as a Gebirgjeger and middle European ski champion from Bavaria. He chased Hellberg for four hours and was killed in the end. Here is the clip from the film: https://youtu.be/qeJgB-c4HFg?t=1485

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Guys,

The Waffen-SS was militarily almost completely unoriginal. It essentially followed German Army precedents.

The same was true of "special forces". Skorzeny's unit only began to appear on the scene in late 1943 when the head of the Abwehr, Wilhelm Canaris, who had created the Brandenburgers, began to fall under justifiable suspicion of opposing the Nazis, and got their big boost when he was arrested in early 1944. It is notable that almost all the few fluent English-speakers Skorzeny deployed during the Ardennes offensive were former Brandenburgers.

So, in answer to the original question, yes, late in the war the SS did have what might now be considered "special forces", but they were highly derivative of the Army's Brandenburgers.

Cheers,

Sid.