Special Forces Berlin

Special Forces Berlin
Author: James Stejskal
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2017-02-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612004458

The previously untold story of a Cold War spy unit, “one of the best examples of applied unconventional warfare in special operations history” (Small Wars Journal). It is a little-known fact that during the Cold War, two US Army Special Forces detachments were stationed far behind the Iron Curtain in West Berlin. The existence and missions of the two detachments were highly classified secrets. The massive armies of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies posed a huge threat to the nations of Western Europe. US military planners decided they needed a plan to slow the expected juggernaut, if and when a war began. This plan was Special Forces Berlin. Their mission—should hostilities commence—was to wreak havoc behind enemy lines and buy time for vastly outnumbered NATO forces to conduct a breakout from the city. In reality, it was an ambitious and extremely dangerous mission, even suicidal. Highly trained and fluent in German, each of these one hundred soldiers and their successors was allocated a specific area. They were skilled in clandestine operations, sabotage, and intelligence tradecraft, and were able to act, if necessary, as independent operators, blending into the local population and working unseen in a city awash with spies looking for information on their every move. Special Forces Berlin left a legacy of a new type of soldier, expert in unconventional warfare, that was sought after for other deployments, including the attempted rescue of American hostages from Tehran in 1979. With the US government officially acknowledging their existence in 2014, their incredible story can now be told—by one of their own.

The German Defense Of Berlin

The German Defense Of Berlin
Author: Oberst a.D. Wilhem Willemar
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2015-11-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1786251469

Often written during imprisonment in Allied War camps by former German officers, with their memories of the World War fresh in their minds, The Foreign Military Studies series offers rare glimpses into the Third Reich. In this study Oberst a.D. Wilhem Willemar discusses his recollections of the climatic battle for Berlin from within the Wehrmacht. “No cohesive, over-all plan for the defense of Berlin was ever actually prepared. All that existed was the stubborn determination of Hitler to defend the capital of the Reich. Circumstances were such that he gave no thought to defending the city until it was much too late for any kind of advance planning. Thus the city’s defense was characterized only by a mass of improvisations. These reveal a state of total confusion in which the pressure of the enemy, the organizational chaos on the German side, and the catastrophic shortage of human and material resources for the defense combined with disastrous effect. “The author describes these conditions in a clear, accurate report which I rate very highly. He goes beyond the more narrow concept of planning and offers the first German account of the defense of Berlin to be based upon thorough research. I attach great importance to this study from the standpoint of military history and concur with the military opinions expressed by the author.”-Foreword by Generaloberst a.D. Franz Halder.

To Save a City

To Save a City
Author: Roger G. Miller
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2008-04-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781603440905

Following World War II, the Soviet Union drew an Iron Curtain across Europe, crowning its efforts with a blockade of West Berlin in a desperate effort to prevent the creation of an independent, democratic West Germany. The United States and Great Britain, aided by France, responded with a daring air logistical operation that in fifteen months delivered almost three million tons of coal, food, and other necessities to the people of Berlin. Now, drawing on rare U.S. Air Force files, recently declassified documents from the National Archives, records released since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the memories of airlift veterans themselves, Roger G. Miller provides an original study of the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin Airlift was an enterprise of epic proportions that demonstrated the power of air logistics as a political instrument. What began as a hastily organized operation by a small number of warweary cargo airplanes evolved into an intricate bridge of aircraft that flowed in and out of Berlin through narrow air corridors. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, a stream of airplanes delivered everything from food and medicine to coal and candy in defiance of breakdowns, inclement weather, and Soviet hostility. And beyond the airlift itself, a complex system of transportation, maintenance, and supply stretching around the world sustained operations. Historians, veterans, and general readers will welcome this history of the first Western victory of the Cold War. Maps, diagrams, and more than forty photographs illustrate the mechanical inner workings and the human faces that made that triumph possible.

The Berlin Airlift and the Making of the Cold War

The Berlin Airlift and the Making of the Cold War
Author: John M Schuessler
Publisher:
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2022-06-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781648430602

For eleven months that spanned 1948 and 1949, cargo aircraft from the air forces of the western Allies carried out one of the most extraordinary feats of peacetime military power projection in history: ferrying supplies to the city of Berlin, then under Soviet blockade. By spring 1949, the Berlin Airlift, initially considered unlikely to succeed, had convinced the Soviets that their efforts to force a solution to Berlin's future were badly miscalculated. The city became a symbol of the escalating division of Europe into competing blocs in a new Cold War order. This largely improvised military action had exerted unforeseen influence on the post-World War II world. The Berlin Airlift and the Making of the Cold War brings together historians and political scientists to explore the origins, course, and impacts of the Berlin Airlift after seventy years. Here, scholars and authorities on the Airlift, its logistics, the great power competition involved, and the position of Berlin within a divided and occupied Central Europe discuss not only the Airlift itself but also the critical role the operation played in shaping the physical and mental landscape of Cold War confrontation in Europe. The Berlin Airlift was just one of a series of decisions and events that shaped the Cold War across a global stage. It was a pivotal moment in the story of how Germany and its people experienced recovery and rebuilding after 1945. This book offers fresh insights into the legacies and lessons of the Airlift in theoretical and historical context.

Over the Hump

Over the Hump
Author: William H. Tunner
Publisher:
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2009-06-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9781437912852

The memoirs of Lieutenant General William H. Tunner, a key leader in the development of military airlift from World War II through 1960. He recounts major challenges of his career: organizing the aircraft ferrying effort of World War II, flying the "Hump" route of supply from India to China, managing the Berlin Airlift in 1948 and 1949, and commanding the Combat Cargo Command of Far East Air Forces in the crucial early months of the Korean War. Photos.

Berlin and the American Military

Berlin and the American Military
Author: Robert P. Grathwol
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 222
Release: 1999-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814731333

"Robert P. Grathwol and Donita M. Moorhus here tell the story in words and pictures of that city and the thousands of American soldiers and their families who served and lived there between 1945 and 1994. Oral histories depict the people, places, and events that comprise the history of this vital outpost of democracy in the middle of a Communist bloc."--BOOK JACKET.

American Forces in Berlin

American Forces in Berlin
Author: Robert P. Grathwol
Publisher: Defense Department
Total Pages: 216
Release: 1994
Genre: History
ISBN:

An engaging look at reality-based Christian leadership, The Four Faces of a Leader has the potential to utterly transform leaders and those they lead--not with bells and whistles, but with a soft whisper of truth about servant leadership. By emphasizing the leadership priorities Jesus demonstrated in the gospels, Rhoden engages the reader with practical applications for all pastors, whether they serve 3,000 or 200 members. Like a personal mentor sharing valuable life lessons, this book challenges, inspires, informs, and encourages. Based on four leadership "faces" of shepherd, servant, steward, and seer, this is a solid roadmap of practical insights for leaders of every generation who want to be the change the world is looking for.

American Military Police in Europe, 1945-1991

American Military Police in Europe, 1945-1991
Author: Robert L. Gunnarsson, Sr.
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 445
Release: 2011-09-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0786485078

Military Police units worked to keep the peace in Europe from the occupation after World War II to the end of the Cold War. This text examines the MPs, from the arrival of the U.S. Constabulary, which was the only law enforcement force on the continent. It provides unit histories, discusses the advancement of law and order programs, and covers the provision of nuclear weapons security, customs regulations and traffic enforcement. Robert L. Gunnarsson, Sr., served as an MP in the 1960s and later worked in law enforcement. He is a writer and researcher.