The Raiders: The Elite Strike Forces That Altered the Course of War and History

by Richard Garrett

During World War II the British Commandos and the United States Rangers brought the art of combined operations and of the sudden, lightning strike upon the enemy to a level of organisation never reached in any previous war. But the Commandos and the Rangers were the inheritors of a long tradition; the history of strike forces made up of highly trained, highly professional crack troops is as old as that of war itself. In "The Raiders" Richard Garrett tells the stories of some of the most exciting of the raids carried out by these more-or-less irregular strike forces – raids which have often had an effect upon the course of war out of all proportion to the numbers of men involved – and provides linking commentaries that put each raid in perspective and add up to a concise history of this little-studied branch of warfare. This is a book that reveals the drama, horror and excitement of war at its most personal as it traces the development of the military strategy that Winston Churchill memorably called "the butcher and bolt policy."

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1980

Reviews

[Mark Cichonski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very exciting book about raiders throughout history.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting history of various small-unit special-forces-type outfits from World War I to the Israeli raid on Entebbe in 1976.