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Disc One Special Forces It is an old military tradition that the uniform is to be worn with pride yet some of the most highly regarded service badges are rarely if ever seen in public. Their wearers if they wear this uniform at all are unlikely to be found in any grand victory parade even when they have played a crucial role in securing victory. Such men belong to what are usually called 'Special Forces' shadowy highly select units whose very existence is scarcely acknowledged by their own governments. The right to wear the insignia of formations such as the Green Berets is not easily won... Using rare and fascinating footage we bring you the story of these men. Disc Two SnipersThe story of the sniping war as it developed during World War II throughout the various theatres of war. At the outset of war sniping was not considered relevant to modern warfare but its importance was gradually realised by all the major combatants. This programme covers the development of different weapons and techniques adopted by the German Russian British US and Japanese armies. Furthermore it covers the psychology of the sniper and his association with regular soldiers. The sniper was and remains until this day a contradictory figure respected as a skilled professional hated as an assassin. Disc Three Elite Forces The paratroops have long been firmly established as the best known of all 'elite forces'. The idea of 'parachute troops' was originally put forward in 1918 but it was not really until the Second World War that the modern paratrooper emerged. The first units were almost entirely the creation of General Kurt Student Commander of the German Airborne Forces whose men carried out some of the most spectacular exploits of the war. They played a key role in the lightning conquest of Normandy. The supposedly impregnable Belgium fortress of Eban Emael designed to stop an army was eliminated by a handful of determined attackers in gliders. The capture of Crete in 1941 by a purely airborne assault remains the great classic of its kind. The brilliant early successes of the German paratroops rapidly led to the creation of similar elite forces by both the British and the Americans. Three Allied airborne divisions took part in the Normandy landings of June 1944 and although many of the drops went widely astray the paratroops went on to achieve nearly all their objectives. But it is not merely on the dazzling airborne actions that the paratroops' claim to fame is founded. Deployed as elite infantry their record is no less impressive especially in defence as was demonstrated so notably by the Germans at Cassino the British at Arnhem and the Americans at Bastogne. The paratroops provided some of the war's greatest heroes.
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