Special Operations and Strategy: From World War II to the War on Terrorism

by Kiras; James D.

• ISBN13: 9780415702126
• ISBN10: 0415702127
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-24
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Historically, special forces have been prone to misuse or misapplication. In particular, how special operations achieve their strategic effects has not been well understood. This stems in part from the Western historical tradition of the independently decisive 'great raid'. This work examines how a number of different special operations, in conjunction with more conventional military actions, achieve and sustain strategic effect(s) over time. In particular, this thesis argues that the root of effective special operations lies in understanding the relationship that exists between moral and material attrition at the strategic level through an examination of strategic theory and case studies. The key to understanding how special operations improve strategic performance resides in the concept of strategic attrition, and by extension, the nature of strategy. The nature of strategy reflects the complexities associated with moral and material interactions between competing adversaries. Theorists includingCarl von Clausewitz, Hans Delbruck, and Mao Zedong, understood that attrition has a moral dimension at the strategic level in addition to its more commonly known material one. By focusing a number of special operations against enemy moral and material vulnerabilities over time, and in conjunction with conventional operations, an enemy's will to fight can be eroded more quickly and efficiently. However, the use of the Special Air Service Brigade during the Normandy campaign in 1944, in this case incorporating special operations into a campaign of attrition, may not succeed for reasons related to the nature of strategy even when the desired goals are clearly understood.

Author Biography

James D. Kiras is assistant professor at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	x
Foreword	xi
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgments	xiv
List of abbreviations	xvi
Special operations and great raids	1	(15)
``Seeing `black lights' before sinking into oblivion'': theories of strategic paralysis	16	(19)
``A dark picture of destruction'': special operations, the persistence of ideas, and dambusting	35	(23)
Death by a thousand cuts: special operations, attrition, and the nature of warfare	58	(25)
``Looting a burning house'': the SAS in the campaign of attrition in Normandy, 1944	83	(29)
Conclusion: special operations and the nature of strategy	112	(6)
Notes	118	(77)
Bibliography	195	(29)
Index	224