The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was established in 1942 in answer to America's lack of intelligence service that was specifically organized to operate during war time. Prior to OSS, much of America's overseas intelligence work was conducted by FBI as well as Navel and Army Intelligence. There was not a single body that was specifically designed to handle all foreign intelligence work. Perhaps it was this lack of unity in our intelligence services that brought about the situation where we were literally caught napping on December 7, 1941. FDR was convinced that the lack of centralized intelligence service was the main cause of the intelligence failure. So, he ordered the creation of the OSS, headed by a Medal of Honor recipient from World War One, a successful Wall Street lawyer who was a Colonel recalled to service, given a star, and literally told to create and lead the new OSS. Thus, Brigadier General William "Wild Bill" Donovan became the head of America's new spy organization, the OSS.
America had no template, no guidelines to follow. So, naturally, we simply copied what the British had done a few years earlier when they created the SOE, the Special Operations Executive, a wartime intelligence organization that trained special agents to not only conduct espionage work, but to infiltrate into enemy territory and conduct guerrilla warfare. The British, at the time were ahead of us in special warfare. Churchill had earlier ordered the creation of the Commando units, a special operations type unit, one battalion of which was parachute trained. Later this battalion became the basis for the British Parachute Regiment. The British also created a special small unit to operate in the desert, against Rommel in North Africa, which they called the Special Air Service, or SAS. We had nothing of a kind yet. In 1943 we began an experimental parachute training unit in Fort Benning, Georgia. As of yet, we had no airborne units that we could field.
The OSS was finally operational in 1943, after it had its personnel receive training, much of it with the British SOE. Although OSS was involved in classic espionage role, because of the wartime conditions, it was heavily involved in special operations conducted by its members who were actually members of the U.S. Army. OSS had recruited army volunteers, especially those who had linguistic abilities, and trained them for their particular type of warfare, which was conducting sabotage and guerrilla warfare, training and leading indigenous personnel in combat. Usually, a "Jedburgh Team" was parachuted into enemy territory to contact local resistance and help train and lead them in guerrilla operations. The "Jedburgh Team" consisted of two officers and one enlisted man. Much activity took place in occupied countries in Europe. For the most part, the OSS teams would join up with small guerrilla units and help train and lead them in operations. It didn't always work that way, especially in France where there was much bickering and in-fighting among the Resistance. Also, many of these guerrilla units did not want to be trained and "led," they just wanted our help in getting supplies and arms. The British SOE had a similar set up, so OSS split assignments with the British.
Asia was a different story. The British did not have their SOE operate quite as extensively as they did in Europe. Most of the SOE operations in Asia were strictly of espionage nature, although some military type activity did take place. Asia, particularly in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater, the OSS really proved its mettle. Unlike in Europe, particularly in Burma, the OSS was able to operate in much larger scale and lead large size units of guerrillas. There was no bickering or in-fighting among the resistance like in France. It was in Burma that OSS established the 200 man Detachment 101 which trained and led indigenous personnel in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese. At its peak, the Detachment 101 teams, which were usually at least double the size of "Jedburghs," led over 4,000 indigenous guerrillas, mostly of Kachin tribe. The "Kachin Rangers" as they were known (they were also called "Jingpao Rangers" for their location) were highly successful and were largely responsible for major victories that were carried out by conventional units. The Kachins would harass and "soften up" the Japanese units before the conventional forces would strike. Back in the early 1960s, Hollywood made a movie with Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen called "Never So Few" which was a glorified, Hollywood version of OSS and Kachin's in World War Two.
The OSS was also very successful in China, where members of Detachment 202 led small guerrilla units against Japanese. Interestingly, some of the guerrilla units that OSS trained and advised were the KLA or Korean Liberation Army units. Later, OSS even attempted to lead KLA into Korea, but for various reasons, that never happened.
A young captain of the OSS, Captain Aaron Bank, was parachuted into Indochina where he met and talked at length with a Vietnamese guerrilla by the name of Ho Chi Min. Ho Chi Min was a leader of a guerrilla group that called itself Viet Min, the only ones in Indochina that fought the Japanese. Bank made arrangements with Ho for the Viet Min to help rescue downed American flyers. Bank was told by this superiors to promise Ho that after the end of war, we would support him to gain independence from France, if he helped us! Ho Chi Min agreed wholeheartedly and Bank presented him with a .45 automatic pistol as a parting gift, promising him that US would stand behind him. Subsequently, Ho helped rescue dozens of US pilots. Thereafter, OSS had frequent contact with Ho. However, we all know what happened to our "promise" in 1945 after Japan surrendered!
General Stillwell, old "Vinegar Joe," thought OSS was invaluable in his CBI theater. Not so with General Douglas McArthur. McArthur did not like to share glory with anyone, particularly with the likes of OSS that did not operate like "gentlemen." McArthur, in particular disliked Bill Donovan, the OSS chief, who had received a Medal of Honor for heroism as a young infantry officer in World War One. McArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor by FDR after he had left (some call it abandoned) his troops and command in Corrigidor. Many at the time felt that he did not deserve any medal, let alone the Medal of Honor! FDR, however, awarded it for political reasons and to salve McArthur's monumental ego. Eisenhower later commented in private that he would not have accepted the Medal of Honor under such circumstances!
McArthur refused to have OSS in his theater of operation. This greatly handicapped the field commanders under his command. They could not get the kind of field "humint" (human intelligence) that OSS provided. One of McArthur's more resourceful generals, General Walter Krueger decided to do something about it. He created a "scouting" unit which he called the Alamo Scouts. This unit was initially created and operated without McArthur's knowledge. It was kept extremely small, and personnel were recruited from combat units and intensively trained at a secret location in New Guinea. As far as McArthur was concerned, it was a conventional army scout unit, something that most infantry units had within their front line rifle companies. But the Alamo Scouts were much more. They were the original "sneak and peek" unit, the predecessors of the legendary SOG in Vietnam. They were highly successful and were, together with OSS "Jedburgh Teams" and Detachment 101, the ancestors of the modern day Army Special Forces.
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