a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) (05/06/91)
From: a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) I have a slew of questions regarding special infantry units and their purposes, but I'll limit myself to just the few that I'm really interested in. 1) How are snipers selected, and what training must they undergo? Do they need a particular pyschological and physical profile? 2) The British Guards (the fellows who wear the huge furry hats and stand guard at Buckingham Palace) are, I presume, an elite outfit. What is their basic role, and have they ever seen any action? 3) What is the difference between the SAS and the SBS? Where do the Royal Marines fit in? 4) What is the difference between the Soviet Spetnaz and their Desant units? Any answers are muchly appreciated. -- J.D._Frazer@mindlink.UUCP (Vancouver, B.C., Canada)
bxr307@csc1.anu.edu.au (05/08/91)
From: bxr307@csc1.anu.edu.au a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) writes: > 2) The British Guards (the fellows who wear the huge furry hats and stand guard > at Buckingham Palace) are, I presume, an elite outfit. What is their basic > role, and have they ever seen any action? The Guards are formed in seperate battalions which roughly correspond to the geography of the United Kingdom. There is a Scots Guards, a Welsh Guards, an Irish Guards, and the Grenadier Guards (for England). These Infantry battalions, plus the cavalry Regiment, the Lifeguards are then formed into a Brigade called The Brigade of Guards. The Brigade of Guards, as have the battalions individually, seen service numerous times. Their function is _not_ as you appear to believe, purely ceremonial. They are what could be considered an elite and have extremely high standards of entrance and discipline. They have seen service in WWII, and several trouble spots around the world, including for the Welsh Guards, the Falklands/Malvinas conflict in the South Atlantic. > 3) What is the difference between the SAS and the SBS? Where do the > Royal Marines fit in? The SAS and the SBS belong to two different services. The SAS are part of the army and have a role, primarily of long range recce (secondarily is such things as sabotage, counter-terrorism, etc), operating deep inside the enemy's territory. The SBS on the otherhand, belongs to the Royal Marines and while part of their role is that of recce, they have a much greater emphasis placed upon raids and sabotage than do the SAS. While the SAS recieves some small boat training, that is the primary role of the SBS which is inserted usually by sea. The role of the Royal Marines, on the otherhand, is being the main seaborne assault component of the British forces. They are also trained in raiding techniques and have a heritage drawn from the Commando forces of WWII. They are usually referred to not just as Royal Marines, but rather as Royal Marine Commandos, as that is the designation of their units. -- Brian Ross
cmort@ncoast.org (05/08/91)
From: cmort@ncoast.org >From: a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) >4) What is the difference between the Soviet Spetnaz and their Desant units? Spetsnaz usually wear the uniforms of the Desantniki, but are drawn from throughout the armed forces. The Spetsnaz get more specialized training and equipment. They relate to the Desantniki in way similar to the relationship between the 82nd Abn. Div. and the Ranger Bn.s cmort@ncoast.org --- Chris Morton "Well just whose opinions do you THINK these are?"
fcrary@lightning.Berkeley.EDU (Frank Crary) (05/08/91)
From: fcrary@lightning.Berkeley.EDU (Frank Crary) In article <1991May7.062227.12192@amd.com> a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) writes: >4) What is the difference between the Soviet Spetnaz and their Desant units? The Soviet Spetnaz are "Special Operations" troops, e.g. commandos. They are similar, but not identical, to the United States' Special Forces and the UK's Special Air Service (SAS). On the other hand, the Soviet Desant troops are paratroopers, similar to the American 82nd or 101st Division. Frank Crary UC Berkeley
Robert_Bell@mindlink.bc.ca (Robert Bell) (05/08/91)
From: Robert_Bell@mindlink.bc.ca (Robert Bell) I only know about the British units(served 6 years).The guards are basic infantry,however they are also used for Buckingham palace guard duty and other ceremonial duties.They do so long on guard duties then so long doing infantry training.Yes they've seen a lot of action,their history goes back to the late 1600's.The furry hat's you refer to are called buzbies and are made of bear skin. The difference between the sas and sbs is that the sbs are ampibious,their us equivalent would be seals.The sas only operate on land.The royal marines are the naval version of infantry,however they specialise in commando type operations and are very highly trained.They also form,with the parachute regiments Britains quick reaction force,if there is trouble anywhere they'll be first in.Hope this helps you. -- Robert Bell uunet!van_bc!rsoft!mindlink!a1076 Benndorf-Verster a1076@mindlink.uucp Vancouver Canada voice 604-853-5870
errp04@castle.ed.ac.uk (I M Burke) (05/08/91)
From: I M Burke <errp04@castle.ed.ac.uk> >From: a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) >2) The British Guards (the fellows who wear the huge furry hats and stand guard >at Buckingham Palace) are, I presume, an elite outfit. What is their basic >role, and have they ever seen any action? There are 5 Guards regiments; the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards. The first three have 2 battalions each, the others currently only one each. Their role is essentially the same as any other infantry battalion, with the additional duty of guarding Buckingham Palace; (I think this is done on a rota basis). 2nd Battalion, Scots Guards, and 1st Battalion Welsh Guards were in the Falklands; prior to that Guards battalions were present in most of the British Army's major wars. >3) What is the difference between the SAS and the SBS? Where do the Royal >Marines fit in? The SAS are part of the army; SBS are part of the Royal Marines. Iain Burke University of Edinburgh
bsh031@cck.cov.ac.uk (Coyote) (05/08/91)
From: bsh031@cck.cov.ac.uk (Coyote) a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) writes: >2) The British Guards (the fellows who wear the huge furry hats and stand guard >at Buckingham Palace) are, I presume, an elite outfit. What is their basic >role, and have they ever seen any action? I think the British Guards are not a regiment as such. Different regiments of the Armed Forces (mainly Army) supply selected soldiers to carry out this duty. This is how soldiers of the Royal Air Force Regiment also carried out this task. The Royal Navy (ie.Royal Marines), are the only Force not to carried this out. Because the the Soldiers are from active regiments, I therefore assume that they have seen action at one time or another. I may stand corrected on this, but I think it is right. -- JANET : bsh031@uk.ac.cov.cck - alias - COYOTE INET : bsh031%cck.cov.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk [ PLEASE avoid big elaborate .signatures; it's a pain to cut them down to a reasonable size for the mailing list digest. Thanks. --CDR]
waltm@bu.edu (Walt Mattison) (05/08/91)
From: maxzilla.UUCP!waltm@bu.edu (Walt Mattison) In article <1991May8.034632.11471@amd.com> cmort@ncoast.org writes: >>From: a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) >>4) What is the difference between the Soviet Spetnaz and their Desant units? >Spetsnaz usually wear the uniforms of the Desantniki, but are drawn from >throughout the armed forces. The Spetsnaz get more specialized training >and equipment. They relate to the Desantniki in way similar to the >relationship between the 82nd Abn. Div. and the Ranger Bn.s This is not exactly correct. The SPETSNAZ are more along the lines of the US Army Special Forces than the Rangers. They wear the uniform that they need for the mission. If a sterile mission they could be wearing US Army BDUs...who knows? They are not under the direction of the military, but under the organization of the GRU which is the military Intelligence community much like the DIA here. During operations they are assigned to the front commanders who then provide the mission. Although they are perfectly capable of conducting Ranger type missions they have the additional task of insurgency and counter-insurgency missions which serve to separate the SPETSNAZ from the shock troops of the airborne or recon units. walt [ I'd recommend Victor Suvorov's _The Spetsnaz_ for an inside look. Actually I'd recommend all his books. --CDR ]
silber@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Ami A. Silberman) (05/09/91)
From: silber@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Ami A. Silberman) a481@mindlink.bc.ca (J.D. Frazer) writes: >2) The British Guards (the fellows who wear the huge furry hats and stand guard >at Buckingham Palace) are, I presume, an elite outfit. What is their basic >role, and have they ever seen any action? I'm not sure what they have done in the current century, but they were present in several of the Napoleonic battles (I think Talvera, and Waterloo). They were basically elite, shock infantry. As late as WWII there was at least one armored guards regiment. As a side note, the Life Guards (the ones on horses that you see in parades) use the oldest military gear still in use today, their breastplates were captured from the French at Dettingen in 1742. -- ami silberman - janitor of lunacy silber@cs.uiuc.edu