Odd Unit Designations

[dragoon500ly]

Anyone care to take a crack at who the 5307th Composite Unit, Provisional were?





Give up?


In World War II they were officially the 5307th Composite Unit, Provisional; operated under the operational code word of GALAHAD Force and were known to the press as "Merrill's Marauders".

Their linage is carried on by the 75th Rangers.

[LBraden]

L Detachment of the 22nd Regiment.


The ORIGINAL SAS, only 60 men and 6 officers.... Talk about British foolery and paperwork.

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by LBraden

L Detachment of the 22nd Regiment.


The ORIGINAL SAS, only 60 men and 6 officers.... Talk about British foolery and paperwork.

Even the name SAS is a bit off: The only thing they had to do with aircraft was running around in jeeps blowing them up!

[Matt Wiser]

The Rosarious Flying Circus, named after its CO, Luftwaffe Major Ted Rosarious.

Give up?

This was a special Luftwaffe squadron that operated captured Allied aircraft for air combat training. They had 3 P-47s, 3 Spitfires, a Mosquito, 3 B-17s (later passed to KG 200-the Luftwaffe's Special Operations unit), a Short Stirling, a B-26, P-39 (from Russia), P-40 (from North Africa), two P-38s, a B-24, and at least 4 P-51s. All the bombers eventually were assigned to KG 200 for long-range recon and for dropping German agents behind Allied lines. Several B-17s and B-24s were recaptured at the end of the war, still wearing full German insignia.

[dragoon500ly]

Royal Marine Boom Patrol Detachment


Now known as the Special Boat Service.

[dragoon500ly]

Now here are some odd ball units:

2677th Office of Strategic Services Regiment

According to Shelby Stanton (WWII OOB), this unit was organized July 14, 1944 at Algiers under Fifth Army and was transferred to Caserta, Italy where it was absorbed into the OSS Operational Group Command on November 27, 1944. This unit even earned a battle honor: Rome-Arno.

Soooo, what did this unit actually do?

It seems, that no one really knows for sure. FOIA requests filed with the Department of the Army, Department of Defense and the CIA, all come back as either classified or information not available.

Best information that I've ever come across mention, in passing, that this was some kind of holding unit for reconnaissance and sabotage detachments. Problem with this is simply, why wouldn't the OSS simply operate this unit itself?

Next up is the 2671st Special Reconnaissance Battalion. This outfit served alongside the 2677th OSS Regt in the OSS Operational Group Command. A bit more is available about this unit. It was a holding unit for parachute-inserted reconnaissance teams that covered most of Italy and Yugoslavia. But like its fellow unit, lots of luck with the FOIA requests!

Alamo Scouts. This unit was the US Sixth's Army reconnaissance unit. It was a fairly small unit, perhaps 300 men at its largest, but it was responsible for conducting over sixty intelligence gathering missions in New Guinea and the Philippines.

Finally, the OSS strikes again with the Jingpaw or Kachin Rangers. OSS Detachment 101, stationed at New Delhi, India, recruited Kachin tribesmen in north-central Burma for a several operations around Mongkung and Heshi, Burma. By all accounts a fairly straight forward anti-Japanese guerilla outfit.

[Sanjuro]

PPA?
Popski's Private Army; the smallest of the three British Special Forces units operating in the Western Desert in WW2. Formed in 1942 by Vladimir Peniakoff (his nickname "Popski" came about because signallers had problems with his name), they finished the war with a flourish: disembarking their jeeps in St Mark's Square in Venice and driving around, the only wheeled vehicles ever to go there!

[dragoon500ly]

PPA was officially known as the Demolitions Section, Long Range Desert Group.

PPA was also rather famous for mounting a flamethrower onto a jeep and going Jerry hunting with it.

[Sanjuro]

Officially it was No.1 Demolition Squadron, PPA; its original function was to attack the Afrika Korps fuel supplies. The name is alleged to have come from General Hackett; exasperated at Peniakoff's delay in choosing a suitable name he said "You'd better come up with something quick or we shall call you Popski's Private Army!"
"I'll take it" replied Popski.
He had previously gone on one mission with the LRDG, been wounded, and awarded the MC; however, the LRDG's main function was reconnaissance- hence the setting up of an independent unit under Popski.