Specialoperations

SOG Recon Team Florida executed the first combat HALO jump in Laos, 1970, a stealth mission marked by courage and covert challenges.

Great Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), the unit tasked with conducting behind-the-lines missions against the Axis powers during World War II, invented many unique and deadly items for its jobs by utilizing specialists who worked night and day in a mansion called The Frythe near the town of Welwyn Garden City. To those in the […]

Bloodless operations against an enemy during wartime are some of the most extreme and difficult acts that a nation can carry out. And the reasons are often simple. Such undertakings often border between fantasy and the impossible. It must involve surprise in every sense of the word, absolute secrecy, and nine times out of ten, […]

In 1941, the German Luftwaffe, just as the Army, began to see the need to develop a weapon to take the place of the bolt action rifle and the gun. But, whereas the Army sought to develop a new cartridge along with their weapons, the Luftwaffe chose to stay with the standard full-sized 7.92 mm X 57 […]

Fans of the World War II film, The Longest Day, will remember the scene in which a group of British soldiers come ashore being ushered on by bagpipes. Leading them was a gentleman wearing a white pullover sweater, portrayed by actor Peter Lawford.  Though not mentioned in the film, his name was Simon Fraser, a […]

Situated in southern England, near the town of Welwyn, lies a stately mansion known as the “Frythe.” During the Second World War, this once-private residence became home to Station IX, a research and development center created by Great Britain’s Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.), an organization responsible for running agents and supplying resistance movements behind enemy […]

In our coverage of foreign Special Operations units, there is one country which is easily overlooked. When we think of SOF in the Western world, it is Rangers, SEALs, SAS, KSK, or somewhat more obscure units like SOG or FSK that come to mind. In a conversation about international Special Operations units, few would mention […]

The Liberator pistol has to rank as one of the most unusual firearms ever designed. First conceived as a way to equip resistance forces in World War II, today most reside behind glass at museums or in the hands of collectors. Fame ultimately escaped it, but it’s safe to say it served its purpose despite […]

In 1989, NATO published a set of requirements that requested a new type of firearm with rounds capable of penetrating body armor. Called the Personal Defense weapon, or PDW, it was meant to replace weapons, such as pistols and submachine guns, whose caliber was found wanting against ballistic protection. Several companies went on to design […]

The Marine Raiders were some of the best-known specialized units that fought in the Pacific during World War II. They, along with Army units such as Merrill’s Marauders, carved a name for themselves in a part of the world where the terrain and weather often proved as formidable as the Japanese. Despite the obstacles though, these men […]

By 1972, Oman’s Dhofar Rebellion was entering its tenth year. The rebellion was originally begun by a frustrated tribal leader who wanted to overthrow the repressive Sultan, Said bin Taimur. First known as the Dhofar Liberation Front, the rebellion had grown and progressed into an insurgency with strong communist ties by the late 1960s, and […]

As the world fell apart around them, German industry from aircraft to small arms raced against time to produce something, anything that might permit the Third Reich to last a little longer. Most of these efforts failed miserably, while others were too farfetched to ever become reality. And yet, in spite of this, there were […]