Detachment A built on the legacy of its WWII forbearers, the OSS
As tensions rose amid the Cold War, the Soviets had close to 400,000 troops in the region around Berlin, plus the 75,000 soldiers serving in the Army of the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany.

To counter them, American, British and French forces in West Berlin numbered about 10,000, but there was a secret weapon hidden in the heart of West Berlin.

Detachment A, a clandestine Special Forces unit that served in Berlin from 1956 to 1984, was designated as a “stay behind” force, prepared to operate behind enemy lines to sow confusion and chaos among the Soviet ranks.

Veterans of the detachment, which never numbered more than 100 men, said the unit used many of the same skill sets as the Office of Strategic Services, a secretive World War II unit that would lay the groundwork for today’s CIA.

The detachment was known for its skills in unconventional warfare, counterterrorism and intelligence tradecraft, veterans said.

If war started, some of the soldiers would stay in Berlin. Others would disappear into the countryside to work deeper behind enemy lines.

There, they would strike the enemy’s rear, creating chaos and confusion, said James Stejskal, a detachment veteran who later served with the CIA. They would destroy rail, roads and canals, attacking rail yards, bridges, military command and control systems, telecommunications facilities, power plants and manufacturing facilities.

They would build guerilla forces, he said. And provide vital intelligence to NATO forces.

To support those missions, the detachment had 10,000 weapons stored in Berlin to arm resistance forces. It also had numerous equipment caches hidden in and around the city.

These caches, or mission support sites, housed weapons, ammunition, medical supplies, explosives, radios and gold.

The soldiers were always on high alert, Stejskal said. They trained on demolition, combat diving, communications, lock-picking, codes and disguises.

Often, they would learn from other elite forces across Europe, or they would train those forces, along with other Special Forces soldiers, Navy SEALs and West German forces.

Bob Charest, who twice served with Detachment A in Berlin, said the soldiers were constantly studying the enemy, using intelligence, aerial photographs and forays into East Berlin.

Some soldiers would pose as civilians to get tours or to even take on part-time jobs at their would-be targets. They also participated in approved military tours or “Military Liaison Missions” – so-called legal spy missions coordinated between NATO and Soviet forces.

Like the OSS, the soldiers had an arsenal of weapons that would make James Bond jealous, including many taken directly from the OSS itself.

This included coal filled with C-4 explosives, one-shot cigarette-lighter guns, vials filled with metal shavings to destroy turbines and noise-suppressed weapons.

Stejskal said the detachment pioneered counterterrorism techniques that are still in use today. He said the unit was a predecessor to most modern secretive and elite forces.

А что в этом секретного? Зеленые береты всегда специализировались на организации партизанского движения. Каждое на своем ТВД. Старики рассказывали в западных секциях и немецкие нацисты работали.