Special Forces: Untold Stories

On January 31, 1968, North Vietnam violates a truce during “Tet”, the Vietnamese New Year. The NVA, or North Vietnamese Army, launches shock attacks on several key cities and provinces in South Vietnam. With 24 hours, the US embassy in Saigon falls to enemy invaders. Caught in the crosshairs of the invasion is Lang Vei, a small special forces camp, located a half mile from the enemy border. The 24 Green Berets stationed at Lang Vei act as “force multipliers”–their mission is to train allied indigenous troops and lead them on covert reconnaissance patrols. Operating deep within enemy territory, the risk of death or capture is extremely high.

On the morning of May 23, 1977, children attending a grade school in the Dutch village of Bovensmilde settle down for their morning lessons. Suddenly, four South Moluccans storm the building, firing bursts from their submachine guns. In their quest for an independent state, the Moluccans have resorted to terror to achieve their goals. A short time later, a commuter train outside of town screeches to a sudden halt—the South Moluccans board the train, taking all 60 passengers hostage. Police, backed by heavily-armed Royal Dutch Marines, surround both sites. The Marines, known in Holland as the “BBE”, are the country’s elite counter-terrorism and commando squad.

January 17, 1991, by the end of the first day of Operation Desert Storm, U.S. bombers and fighter jets have already established air superiority over Iraq. For the U.S.-led coalition, it promises to be a clean, high-tech war. But that night, Sadam Hussein strikes back with volley after volley of deadly Scud missiles aimed at both Israel and Saudi Arabia. When allied bombers fail to stop the Scuds from the air, the job falls to the British SAS on the ground. Since WWII, these highly trained commandos have been used to carry out sabotage and reconnaissance missions deep behind enemy lines.

On September 15, 1977, five masked gunmen abduct Hans Martin Schleyer and execute his three bodyguards. The Red Army Faction, in association with Germany’s notorious Baader-Meinhof Gang, takes credit for the crime. Barely a month later, a Frankfurt-bound Lufthansa flight leaves Majorca, Spain with 91 passengers and a crew of five. An hour into the flight, four Arab terrorists draw their weapons and take over the plane in the name of the Red Army Faction and the Baader-Meinhof Gang. Within hours of the hijacking, West Germany mobilizes its special anti-terrorist unit: Grenzschutzgruppe-9 or GSG-9.