EARLY SPECIAL FORCES: 10TH SFG(A)
Published: November 01, 2008 02:24 am
A proud and skillful organization
Jerry Hogan - Columnist
Jerry Hogan - Columnist
Rockwall County Herald-Banner
Several weeks ago this column described the story of Larry Thorne, a man who
fought the Russians in the uniform of three countries: Finland, Germany, and the
United States. The article described his WWII exploits and his service in the US
Army Special Forces Green Berets. It also discussed the 10th Special Forces
Group, the first and oldest organization of this type in the US Army post WWII.
Since that article was published, comments have been received from as far away
as Finland from readers who have had additional questions about the 10th Group,
Larry Thorne, and some of the other soldiers and events that happened during
those early years in Europe.
There were exciting things that happened in the early years of the 10th Special
Forces in Europe. Since I was there for three of those years, I have personal
knowledge of some of those events, and after reviewing the published history of
the Group and finding that much of what happened is not classified, let me
relate in a short version things that actually happened in the early years of
Special Forces in our Army in Europe.
The 10th Special Forces Group was initially formed on June 19, 1952 at Fort
Bragg, North Carolina with one officer, one warrant officer, and seven enlisted
men. By the end of the month, 122 soldiers of all ranks were present for duty.
These men came from the old OSS WWII organization, Airborne and Ranger groups in
the US Army, and Lodge Bill Soldiers. These later men were non-US citizens from
politically oppressed countries who could become US citizens by serving in the
US Army. Many former soldiers from Eastern Europe were included in this group.
In November of 1953, the original 10th Special Forces Group was split in two and
half deployed to Bad Tolz, Germany and the remainder stayed at Fort Bragg to
become the 77th Group. Arriving in southern Bavaria, the 10th Group Soldiers
started their training for Unconventional Warfare behind enemy lines in the
event of a war in Western Europe. In the summer of 1956, six operational
detachment “A” Teams moved to West Berlin with the specific mission of “stay
behind” Unconventional Warfare. The concept here being if war did start and
Berlin was overrun with Russian soldiers, these Special Forces teams would
already be in place to start operations behind enemy lines. As you can expect,
these teams, labeled Detachment “A”, or “Det A” for short, were shrouded in
secrecy and no recognition of their presence in Berlin was ever made until their
deactivation in 1984. (And that made for some strange ways of doing business
when one of the soldiers from Bad Tolz went to Berlin to meet with guys from Det
A!)
Down in southern Germany where the main elements of the Group were located, the
concept of exchange training with other countries was starting to take effect.
Linkage with other “special” units of foreign Armies became one of the primary
goals. Joint training with teams from England, France, Norway, Germany, Spain,
Italy, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia was held. More extensive
involvement happened with several countries.
For example, in Jordan a group of Special Forces soldiers established and ran
the first airborne school for the Jordanian Army. Another group went to Saudi
Arabia and trained 350 officers and non-commissioned officers of a guerilla
force supported by King Faisal. Four teams went to Iran and helped train the
Iranian Special Forces as well as Kurdish tribesmen in the mountains of Iran.
One team went to Pakistan where they trained with their Special Warfare Warriors
in the hills and deserts of that country. Another team, led by a friend of mine,
Steve Snowden, went to Turkey where they trained the nucleus of the Turkish
Special Forces.
Some real-life missions also happened during those early times. One was the
recovery of bodies from an American C-130 aircraft that had crashed on top of
the highest mountain in Iraq. Not only were the bodies recovered but also
classified material that had been on board the plane. This successful mission
was led by Captain Larry Thorne after several previous attempts by others had
failed.
As outlined in the history of the Group, in Africa, the 10th Special Forces
served without fanfare, often wearing no identification, patches, berets, or
other insignia, sometimes even operating in civilian clothes. In the summer of
1960 the Group received orders to assist in the evacuation of the Congo as a
wave of violence surfaced against the remaining whites in the former Belgian
colony following their independence on July 1, 1960. Lieutenant Sully Fontaine
was given this mission.
Sully was a Belgian by birth who had worked with the British Special Operations
during WWII and had parachuted behind Nazi lines into France because he spoke
better French than English. He later held a commission in the Belgian Army and
had previously served with that army in the Congo. He chose five other men from
the 10th Group to go with him on this mission: Vladimir Sobiachevsky, a Russian;
George Yosich, who had worked with partisans in Korea; Pop Grant, an old Special
Forces soldier; Snake Hoskins, who later won the Medal of Honor posthumously;
and Stefan Mazak, a Czech and former French Foreign Legionnaire.
The US Ambassador in the Congo ordered a small unit to Leopoldville in the Congo
to help save American and European lives. The team consisted of three
helicopters, three light single engine airplanes, an Air Force radio expert, and
the Special Forces group from the 10th. A meeting with the Ambassador, the SF
Team, and the Belgian paratroopers took place and the mission was defined. At
the larger airfields the Belgian paratroopers would be in charge. The Special
Forces Team would control operations on the smaller airfields. The mission was
to get as many Americans and Europeans out as possible. Despite enemy contact
resulting in a few holes in the aircraft, the mission was accomplished. Nine
days following their arrival in country, the team had evacuated 239 refugees
without a single casualty.” No publicity that US Special Forces Soldiers were
involved with this action was ever made.
In addition to the Unconventional Warfare mission, the Group in the early 1960s
also started to pick up the mission of counter-insurgency. Most of the training
missions described earlier fit into this category. With this new mission, in
addition to Eastern Europe, the Group found themselves responsible for North
Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia as far east as Pakistan. So in
addition to teams qualified in the languages of Eastern Europe, now the new
languages of Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, Greek, Turkish, and Pashto could be heard in
the coffee shop and around the team rooms. In fact, at times English was really
the “foreign” language of the 10th Special Forces Group.
Since these early days the 10th Group has gone through several geographical
displacements and now, after a stop in Fort Devens, Mass., the Group
headquarters is in Fort Carson, Co. One major element of the organization has
remained in Germany but has relocated from Bad Tolz to Stuttgart, Germany. And
the old Kaserne in Bad Tolz, home of the original 10th Special Forces Group in
Germany and a former German SS Officers School complete with an indoor Olympic
swimming pool, has been turned back to the German government.
Green Beret Soldiers from the 10th Special Forces Group have served in Vietnam,
Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and every other hot spot where the United States is
fighting this Global War on Terror our country has been thrust into. Medals, up
to and including the Medal of Honor, adorn their chests as they help in
protecting our freedoms. The legacy that started back in 1952 with the
establishment of the “Green Berets” continues today. It is proud organization
composed of proud and extremely skillful Soldiers who continue to set the
example. If you ever see one, how about telling them thanks and also tell them
how glad you are they are on our side!
Jerry Hogan is a retired US Army Special Forces Lieutenant Colonel who lives in
Heath, Texas. He can be contacted at [email protected] or 214-394-4033.