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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:22:57 PM EDT
I'm taking an Intelligence and Espionage class at my university, and I've been having a blast giving presentations on obscure but awesome operations. Unfortunately I've done the ones I had laid out and still have one more presentation to do, so I'd love if Arf could give me some ideas for an epic finish.
So far I've done Operation Azorian, Operations Grouse/Freshman/Gunnerside, the Bazooka debacle that led to the Germans developing the Panzerschreck, and Operation Chariot. Feel free to also post about any military operations that are whatever cool but not well known. I'll start with a great video on the greatest military raid of all time. Yes, it's long. Yes, it's well worth it. Jeremy Clarkson (of Top Gear) wrote it and narrates it.  |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:26:59 PM EDT
[#1]
Project Eldest Son.
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:31:16 PM EDT
[#2]
I remember hearing about one that happened during Vietnam. Guys would leave rigged ammo laying around where the VC/NVA would get it and use it. It'd blow up their guns.
I don't remember the details of how it was rigged or what was going on, but it seemed cool. I'd like to know more about it. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:33:20 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I remember hearing about one that happened during Vietnam. Guys would leave rigged ammo laying around where the VC/NVA would get it and use it. It'd blow up their guns. I don't remember the details of how it was rigged or what was going on, but it seemed cool. I'd like to know more about it. Definitely a contender. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:35:26 PM EDT
[#4]
MK-Ultra.
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:37:07 PM EDT
[#5]
The kidnapping of the German garrison commander on Crete, General Heinrich Kreipe, by Patrick Leigh Fermor and Stanley Moss.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ill_Met_by_Moonlight |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:40:27 PM EDT
[#6]
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:46:13 PM EDT
[#7]
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:47:48 PM EDT
[#8]
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:52:04 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuote HistoryQuoted: The kidnapping of the German garrison commander on Crete, General Heinrich Kreipe, by Patrick Leigh Fermor and Stanley Moss. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ill_Met_by_Moonlight |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:53:44 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Project Eldest Son. ^^^ THIS The best eva. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:55:48 PM EDT
[#11]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
MK-Ultra. Yeah, but no on this one. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:57:11 PM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I'd love to do that one, if 3 people weren't already on it. But definitely a fun operation that few people know about. How have I never heard of that one? An amazing operation for sure. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
The kidnapping of the German garrison commander on Crete, General Heinrich Kreipe, by Patrick Leigh Fermor and Stanley Moss. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ill_Met_by_Moonlight Even less well known, Eugene Fluckey and the USS Barb (SS 220) In one of the stranger incidents in the war, Fluckey sent a landing party ashore to set demolition charges on a coastal railway line, destroying a 16-car train.[4] This was the sole landing by U.S. military forces on the Japanese home islands during World War II. Fluckey ordered that this landing party be composed of crewmen from every division on his submarine. "He chose an eight-man team with no married men to blow up the train," Captain Max Duncan said, who served as Torpedo Officer on the Barb during this time. "He also wanted former Boy Scouts because he thought they could find their way back. They were paddling back to the ship when the train blew up."[5] The selected crewmen were Paul Saunders, William Hatfield, Francis Sever, Lawrence Newland, Edward Klinglesmith, James Richard, John Markuson, and William Walker. Hatfield wired the explosive charge, using a microswitch under the rails to trigger the explosion. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:57:26 PM EDT
[#13]
The Brandenburgers seizing the Maikop oilfields.
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:58:44 PM EDT
[#14]
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Posted: 10/22/2016 3:59:16 PM EDT
[#15]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Even less well known, Eugene Fluckey and the USS Barb (SS 220) Quote HistoryQuoted:
Even less well known, Eugene Fluckey and the USS Barb (SS 220) In one of the stranger incidents in the war, Fluckey sent a landing party ashore to set demolition charges on a coastal railway line, destroying a 16-car train.[4] This was the sole landing by U.S. military forces on the Japanese home islands during World War II. Fluckey ordered that this landing party be composed of crewmen from every division on his submarine. "He chose an eight-man team with no married men to blow up the train," Captain Max Duncan said, who served as Torpedo Officer on the Barb during this time. "He also wanted former Boy Scouts because he thought they could find their way back. They were paddling back to the ship when the train blew up."[5] The selected crewmen were Paul Saunders, William Hatfield, Francis Sever, Lawrence Newland, Edward Klinglesmith, James Richard, John Markuson, and William Walker. Hatfield wired the explosive charge, using a microswitch under the rails to trigger the explosion. I used to correspond with Admr. Eugene Fluckey and I have his autographed book (and photo). |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:07:03 PM EDT
[#16]
I don't know if there's a name for it, but the Soviet plan to infiltrate our education and entertainment industries is paying off remarkably well for them.
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:07:33 PM EDT
[#17]
The time the Russian T-80 tank crew sold their tank for a case of Vodka
and then the farmer sold the tank to the US. 
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:11:32 PM EDT
[#18]
Operation Mikado and Operation Plum Duff
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:14:34 PM EDT
[#19]
Operation Phantom Shitter
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:15:08 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Even less well known, Eugene Fluckey and the USS Barb (SS 220) Quote HistoryQuoted: Even less well known, Eugene Fluckey and the USS Barb (SS 220) In one of the stranger incidents in the war, Fluckey sent a landing party ashore to set demolition charges on a coastal railway line, destroying a 16-car train.[4] This was the sole landing by U.S. military forces on the Japanese home islands during World War II. Fluckey ordered that this landing party be composed of crewmen from every division on his submarine. "He chose an eight-man team with no married men to blow up the train," Captain Max Duncan said, who served as Torpedo Officer on the Barb during this time. "He also wanted former Boy Scouts because he thought they could find their way back. They were paddling back to the ship when the train blew up."[5] The selected crewmen were Paul Saunders, William Hatfield, Francis Sever, Lawrence Newland, Edward Klinglesmith, James Richard, John Markuson, and William Walker. Hatfield wired the explosive charge, using a microswitch under the rails to trigger the explosion. I bought his book on Amazon just now. Even if I don't end up presenting on it, it's an amazing story. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:15:21 PM EDT
[#21]
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:15:37 PM EDT
[#22]
XX
The Brits turned every Nazi spy in England. It was almost farcical. Everything the Abwehr got from England came from MI5. They turned every agent to return disinformation to Berlin. They even manipulated the mail so they could send accurate information too late for the Germans to use it, but it would convince them that the agent had good contacts. They turned the ringleaders so that when Germany sent a new spy, he reported directly to the English government. If they didn't trust the German spy to work for them, they killed him. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:16:15 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
XX The Brits turned every Nazi spy in England. It was almost farcical. Everything the Abwehr got from England came from MI5. They turned every agent to return disinformation to Berlin. They even manipulated the mail so they could send accurate information too late for the Germans to use it, but it would convince them that the agent had good contacts. They turned the ringleaders so that when Germany sent a new spy, he reported directly to the English government. If they didn't trust the German spy to work for them, they killed him. That's a favorite of mine. 
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:16:53 PM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The time the Russian T-80 tank crew sold their tank for a case of Vodka and then the farmer sold the tank to the US. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:19:14 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Operation Phantom Shitter |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:22:18 PM EDT
[#26]
I have always been amazed by the total commitment that went into Operation Anthropoid, the decision to kill Reinhard Heidrich. Watch the movie Conspiracy, with Kenneth Branagh, then Anthropoid, the movie.
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:22:52 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
I'll save that one for my doctoral thesis. Too many cases to analyze in a short paper. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
Operation Phantom Shitter I may or may not "know" someone who "knows" someone who could arrange for a practical demonstration for your prof. Jk |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:23:25 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryQuoted: XX The Brits turned every Nazi spy in England. It was almost farcical. Everything the Abwehr got from England came from MI5. They turned every agent to return disinformation to Berlin. They even manipulated the mail so they could send accurate information too late for the Germans to use it, but it would convince them that the agent had good contacts. They turned the ringleaders so that when Germany sent a new spy, he reported directly to the English government. If they didn't trust the German spy to work for them, they killed him.  Ok, new top contender. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:30:57 PM EDT
[#29]
The heroes of Telemark
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:37:22 PM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The heroes of Telemark |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:39:46 PM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Ok, new top contender. Quote HistoryQuoted:
Quoted:
XX The Brits turned every Nazi spy in England. It was almost farcical. Everything the Abwehr got from England came from MI5. They turned every agent to return disinformation to Berlin. They even manipulated the mail so they could send accurate information too late for the Germans to use it, but it would convince them that the agent had good contacts. They turned the ringleaders so that when Germany sent a new spy, he reported directly to the English government. If they didn't trust the German spy to work for them, they killed him.
Ok, new top contender. The Germans were just some upstart Continental power. The English had been leveraging their intelligence network against Europe for hundreds of years prior to the second World War. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:41:19 PM EDT
[#32]
You got me watching a new documentary called THE REAL HEROES OF TELEMARK on youtube. A documentary team goes to recreate everything from the jump to the infix.
ETA this is a really good documentary, with interviews with the actual commandos involved. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:47:50 PM EDT
[#33]
I don't know that it had a name, but the USN during WWII decided they wanted subs to recon landing beaches in the Pacific. They tried several different cameras, but the only one that worked well with the periscope eyepiece was made by Zeiss. Obviously, this increased the difficulty of acquiring more of them. So they had a person (recruiting stations maybe?) place a personal ad in the local paper WTB the Zeiss in question. Doing this they were able to gather sufficient numbers of them to be able to send the cameras out with subs scouting beaches.
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:48:07 PM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The Germans were just some upstart Continental power. The English had been leveraging their intelligence network against Europe for hundreds of years prior to the second World War. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: XX The Brits turned every Nazi spy in England. It was almost farcical. Everything the Abwehr got from England came from MI5. They turned every agent to return disinformation to Berlin. They even manipulated the mail so they could send accurate information too late for the Germans to use it, but it would convince them that the agent had good contacts. They turned the ringleaders so that when Germany sent a new spy, he reported directly to the English government. If they didn't trust the German spy to work for them, they killed him. Ok, new top contender. The Germans were just some upstart Continental power. The English had been leveraging their intelligence network against Europe for hundreds of years prior to the second World War. German "intelligence" during WW2 was mind-blowingly bad, at every level. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:49:15 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You got me watching a new documentary called THE REAL HEROES OF TELEMARK on youtube. A documentary team goes to recreate everything from the jump to the infil. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:51:29 PM EDT
[#36]
Soviet NKVD turning Nazi General Reinhard Gehlen, who later became head of West German Intelligence, and key asset in Europe for the later-created CIA.
Gehlen's organization became at least a 200-man double agency working for the Soviets during the Cold War, while Langley thought they were legitimate sources and area experts on Europe. It's why we never saw the Iron Curtain erected until it was too late. They kept us blind the whole time. World Turned Upside Down On Oct 8, 1998, the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act became US law. This legislation:
“...calls for the establishment of the Nazi War Criminal Records Interagency Working Group [IWG] to locate, identify, and make available to the public Nazi war criminal records.” [1] The IWG’s task was to organize previously classified documents from the OSS, predecessor of the CIA, as well as from the CIA and other intelligence sources, and to make these documents available to the public. These were to include documents relating to possible collusion between US government organizations and Nazi war criminals. Millions of pages have been released but very little information has trickled down to the broad public. And this trickle has been presented in a way calculated to minimize public awareness of the extent to which the Nazi apparatus was recruited in order - literally - to *become* the US covert operations and intelligence apparatus (the CIA etc.) This story centers around the figure of Reinhard Gehlen. Emperor's Clothes In my opinion, there has never been an intelligence success so massive and long-lasting than this one. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:52:17 PM EDT
[#37]
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:55:36 PM EDT
[#38]
Gran Sasso raid a/k/a Operation Eiche ("Oak"). The German commando raid to rescue Mussolini.
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:58:14 PM EDT
[#39]
CKSPHERE aka "the billion dollar spy"
http://qz.com/445869/the-true-story-of-the-soviet-engineer-who-became-a-cia-spy-and-saved-the-us-1-billion/ |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:59:07 PM EDT
[#40]
Sir Francis Walsingham, the Babington Plot, and the trap he laid for Mary, Queen of Scots.is one of my favorite.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babington_Plot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Walsingham#Entrapment_of_Mary.2C_Queen_of_Scots This is from Elizabeth:The Golden Age when she finds out she's busted.
When Mary's head gets cut off and the executioner holds it up, her head fell out. She'd been wearing a wig. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:59:21 PM EDT
[#41]
"Eldest Son."
SOG operation in Vietnam to spike enemy weapons caches with ammo that would cause their rifles to blow up in their fucking faces. 
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Posted: 10/22/2016 4:59:43 PM EDT
[#42]
Nyadzonya
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Posted: 10/22/2016 5:00:47 PM EDT
[#43]
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Posted: 10/22/2016 5:01:40 PM EDT
[#44]
Operation Source/The X-Craft raid. More or less destroyed Tirpitz, the sister ship of Bismarck (she was repaired, but this initial disabling kept her out of the game until the brits could bomb the fuck out of her).
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Posted: 10/22/2016 5:04:39 PM EDT
[#45]
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Posted: 10/22/2016 5:04:55 PM EDT
[#46]
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Posted: 10/22/2016 5:13:41 PM EDT
[#47]
Check out "Heavy Water War" on Netflix
Doh. Beaten. |
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Posted: 10/22/2016 5:14:03 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
The 5 December, 1972 secret CIA operation to tap phone lines in Vinh, North Vietnam with Air America's OH-6A Loach/Little Bird modified for stealth Its a long read, but worth it. Thanks for that. Awesome read so far. 
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Posted: 10/22/2016 5:16:42 PM EDT
[#49]
For boldness & action - it's got to be the Raid on Entebbe. An incredible operation where one country's forces flew into another country from hundreds of miles away, killed the terrorist and soldiers of the home country, rescued their countrymen, blew up their stuff and then left before anyone could do anything about it. It became the blueprint for other rescue missions to work from.
For intelligence/espionage: The bugging of German POWs by the British during WWII. They would put captured German Generals, pilots, any sort of VIP, anyone that they thought who would hold valuable information and put them in very comfortable surroundings in Trent Park. They then left them there to sit around and talk to each other. The war and secrets would inevitably be discussed. Only one thing, MI19 was listening to them.
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Posted: 10/22/2016 5:20:26 PM EDT
[#50]
Operation Northwoods
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