Command (military)

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As commands (short detachment ; by Italian commando , based on Latin commandāre , secondary form of Latin commendāre entrust to pass, transfer grant ' ) refers generally armed units in low intensity, which are task-specific combined for a special order.

Command squads were characterized by speed, mobility and good camouflage. Their tactics have evolved and adapted over time; they can be traced back to the guerrilla warfare of the 20th century.

Word origin

In German, the term command is attested as a borrowing from Italian around 1600, at that time with the sole meaning of 'command, command' or from the 17th century also 'command word', before it became 'with certain tasks' in the 18th century entrusted unit 'has been expanded.

Mission profile

A procedure in action is referred to as a so-called commando company. A command is (trained) permanently or only for one task. Actions usually take the form of a flick of a strike or an ambush. In the literature, commando combat refers to small-scale combat management with the operational aim of inflicting damage on the enemy. In contrast to hunting combat, command combat focuses on a target of operational importance, i.e. the targeted capture, rendering useless or destruction of key enemy positions such as airfields, communication and command centers, long-range, heavy artillery and missile positions, bridges, ports, supply points , Bunkers for command posts or other facilities essential to combat operations, or the detention of personnel. These coups d'état as ( English direct actions ) are carried out in a coup d'état either at the front or, after successful infiltration, in the enemy rear.

history

The Boer Wars

The first units, called commandos , were set up in South Africa in 1900 by the Boers in the fight against the British colonial power . The term command originally comes from Portuguese ( comando ) and later became part of the Afrikaans language used by the Boers .

The reason for the formation of mounted command units in strength from a platoon to a company lay in the superior strength of the British armed forces, which after initial failures in the Boer War had defeated a large part of the regular local troops. The Boers then withdrew into the African bush and started a guerrilla war in which they u. a. British supply lines, particularly railway lines, attacked and enemy soldiers ambushed. The fight of the Boers was more like a hunting fight . The British reacted to this type of warfare with unusual harshness: In addition to building concentration camps , they used the scorched earth tactic to deprive the Boer commandos of their livelihood. The resulting lack of supplies worsened the situation of the Boers, who finally had to surrender in 1902.

Commands in the First World War

As Vice Sergeant, Rudolf Windisch carried out the first known airborne command company in military history with Lieutenant Maximilian von Cossel in 1916. On the night of October 2 to 3, 1916, Cossel, who was dropped off by plane and picked up again by Windisch, blew up the Rovno-Brody railway line 85 km behind the Eastern Front . This was mentioned appreciatively in the army report of October 4, 1916: Eastern theater of war: ... Oberleutnant v. Cossel, dropped off the plane by Vice Sergeant Windisch southwest of Rowno and picked up again after 24 hours, interrupted the Rowno-Brody railway line at several points by blowing up ... First Quartermaster General Erich Ludendorff

Commands in World War II

The commandos of the Second World War were trained for combat operations on land, sea and in the air. Soldiers in these units had to master unarmed combat, infiltration and reconnaissance tactics and be able to operate under different climatic conditions. Some soldiers have been trained in special skills, such as handling explosives.

Even before the beginning of the war, the Wehrmacht set up the former Brandenburg Regiment, a special association for operational and strategic missions. It was only when they were first deployed that the British Army recognized their importance in modern, large-scale combat operations and set up their own Allied commandos for operations on the European mainland occupied by the Axis powers . They are considered the predecessors of modern special forces .

To combat allied commands, Hitler issued the command order , contrary to international law.

Germany

Many German commandos were carried out by the 'Brandenburger' . See also code names of German military operations in World War II

The British and US commandos

SOE command for the kidnapping of General Heinrich Kreipe , 1944

After the Wehrmacht occupied northern France in June 1940 , the British could no longer carry out military operations with regular troops on the mainland. As a result, and on the basis of a suggestion by Brigadier General Dudley Clarke , commando troops were trained from 1940 to operate in the European heartland and Norway. Clarke recommended the name Commando based on the Boer units. Even Winston Churchill favored that name; some high-ranking officers would have preferred the designation Special Service . Both terms later coexisted. Special Service means the whole organization (e.g. New Zealand Special Air Service , Australian Special Air Service Regiment ); 'Commando' or 'Kommando' more the individual action or the individual squad.

Covert operations of saboteurs, spies and forces for irregular warfare and support of guerrillas and partisans were carried out by members of the British Special Operations Executive SOE and the American Office of Strategic Services OSS.

The Commandos were formed from British volunteers . In the further course of the war, the training was tailored to the respective locations. Operations should be performed quickly and precisely and should not last longer than 36 hours.

The first action took place on June 23, 1940. 120 men carried out a reconnaissance operation on the French coast, which had only propaganda value and no particular military use. The successful Operation Claymore followed on March 4, 1941 in Norway.

One of the most famous companies was Operation Biting . In the course of this, in 1942, British commandos captured a Würzburg radio measuring device near Bruneval north of Le Havre .

The success of this and similar British companies prompted Hitler to issue the so-called command order (October 1942). This planned to execute captured commando soldiers or to hand them over to the SS.

Despite this ruthless approach towards the commandos, enough volunteers were found ; Commandos succeeded in further spectacular and successful companies u. a. in the Middle East and in Italy . The Commandos of the Royal Marines have continued the tradition of the original troops since 1946.

In 1942, William O. Darby set up US ranger associations in Northern Ireland . They received their baptism of fire on August 19, 1942 near Dieppe as part of Operation Jubilee . The mission failed with high Allied losses because the German resistance was unexpectedly strong. Their first independent action took place in November 1942 in North Africa as part of Operation Torch .

The Sparrow Force achieved great fame during the Pacific War . The 1000 to 2000 Australians and Dutch, together with local helpers, succeeded in tying up a complete Japanese division (around 12,000 men) on the island in the 1942/43 battle for Timor .

On August 15, 1944, around midnight, the " First Special Service Force " (Colonel Walker) neutralized the batteries of the islands of Hyères as part of the landing in Provence .

After the war, the British and Americans tried to investigate the fate of missing commando fighters (and female fighters - some women also parachuted over France) and to arrest their murderers. For example, 31 men were executed by the Wehrmacht after capture in Operation Loyton in 1944 .

German command units

The Brandenburg Regiment was founded in December 1939 as a German command unit in the Abwehr, which was headed by Wilhelm Canaris as Chief of Military Defense . It carried out covert operations, but also open combat operations. Soldiers of the regiment, later division, Brandenburg fought in all campaigns of the German Reich. When the attack on Poland began, they captured the important Jablunka Pass in southern Poland. With the beginning of the Russian campaign, the Dune bridges, which were essential for the attack by Army Group North. On the Eastern Front they advanced into the Caucasus as part of the Shamil operation . The Operation Pastorius should sabotage actions in the US run. Various companies took them to the Middle East, the Balkans and near the Russian port city of Murmansk .

When deployed behind enemy lines, soldiers often camouflaged themselves with enemy uniforms and used enemy weapons. After the war, the British recruited some experienced fighters into the regiment who spoke English. Others joined the French Foreign Legion .

In competition with the “Brandenburgers”, the Waffen-SS also set up special units under Office VI-S. In April 1943, the Austrian Otto Skorzeny was given authority over the SS special units. In order to take part in a first mission, when Mussolini was liberated on September 12, 1943, in the " Operation Eiche ", he was able to take part in the operation of the paratrooper training battalion with an SS commando. Another undertaking was the establishment of the Hungarian ruler Miklós Horthy on October 15, 1944 , who intended to end his alliance with Germany.

Other companies found u. a. in the Ardennes offensive (from December 16, 1944), in which Skorzeny set up a unit that operated disguised as Americans behind the enemy lines (" Operation Greif "). This forced the Allied soldiers to be more vigilant, but on the whole was not very successful. Those commandos captured by the Americans were shot because they violated the Hague Land Warfare Regulations for wearing Allied uniforms . Skorzeny himself was charged for this after the war, but not convicted, since it turned out that Allied commandos had also fought in enemy uniforms. (See also ruse .)

Israeli commando operations

  • The Operation Entebbe took place in 1976 at the airport of Entebbe in Mogadishu. During the operation, Israeli special forces liberated an Air France plane hijacked by German and Palestinian terrorists.
  • Operation Rooster captured a Soviet radar station in 1969. Four Egyptian technicians were kidnapped to Israel.
  • The operation spring of youth killed in 1973 Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar and Kamal Adwan in Beirut.

US commands

Terrorist commands

Terrorist groups also used command strategies.

  • 1977: Command Martyr Halimeh - Lufthansa flight to Mallorca captured to press terrorists free.
  • 1972: Command June 2nd - RAF bomb attack on the Springer publishing house in Hamburg
  • 1986: Command Mara Cagol - RAF bomb attack on Siemens manager Karl Heinz Beckurt
  • 2002: In November of that year, a command from the Colombian FARC kidnapped Archbishop Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wolfgang Pfeifer: Etymological Dictionary of German . 7th edition. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-423-32511-9 , pp. 693-694 .
  2. ↑ Dirk Freudenberg: Theory of the irregular partisans, guerrillas and terrorists in modern guerrilla warfare . 1st edition. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-15737-5 , p. 393 .
  3. ↑ Klaus Altenhörner: Kommandokampf- What is it? In: Traces and Motives . tape 77 , p. 4th ff .
  4. ↑ a b Hartmut Schauer: US Navy SEALs . Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-613-01864-0 , p. 14.
  5. ↑ Direct Action missions are short duration strikes that are used when Special Forces want to seize, capture, recover or destroy enemy weapons and information or recover designated personnel or material (translation: Direct Action missions are attacks of short duration that are carried out by special forces carried out to capture, loot, regain or destroy enemy weapons and information, or rescue designated personnel or material ) at goarmy.com ( accessed June 17, 2008)
  6. ^ Provence August 1944 landing and liberation. In: cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr. Ministry of Defense (France) , accessed October 20, 2018 .
  7. ^ Christian Frey: Anti-Terror Troops: Entebbe 1976 - Model of all command companies . July 18, 2015 ( welt.de [accessed January 12, 2020]).
  8. ^ The Israeli Air Force. Retrieved January 12, 2020 .
  9. ↑ 40 years ago today: Operation “Spring of Youth” in Beirut. In: K-ISOM. April 10, 2013, accessed on January 12, 2020 (German).
  10. ↑ Julie Marks: How SEAL Team Six Took Out Osama bin Laden. Retrieved January 12, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Clifford E. Day; Ralph P. Millsap JR: Critical Analysis on the Defeat of Task Force Ranger. In: Global security.org. March 10, 1998, accessed on January 12, 2020 (English, adobe document linked on target page).
  12. ↑ Margrit Gerste: RAF: Whoever weeps is dead . In: The time . July 5, 1996, ISSN  0044-2070 ( zeit.de [accessed January 12, 2020]).
  13. ↑ Wolfgang Kraushaar (ed.): The RAF and left terrorism . tape 2 . Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-936096-65-1 , p. 1076 ff .
  14. ^ Statement on the Abduction of Bishop Jorge Jiménez Carvajal. United States foundation of catholic bishops, accessed January 12, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Crime - FARC command kidnaps Colombian archbishop. In: Website of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . November 12, 2002, accessed January 12, 2020 .