U.S. Army Special Warfare: Its Origins: Psychological and Unconventional Warfare, 1941-1952

Modern War Studies

by Alfred H Paddock Jr

Colonel Paddock traces the origins of Army special warfare from 1941 to 1952, the year the Army's special warfare center was established. While the Army had experience in psychological warfare, the major recent U. S. experience in unconventional warfare had been in the Office of Strategic Services, a civilian agency, during World War II. Many army leaders, trained and experienced in conventional warfare, hesitantly accepted psychological warfare as a legitimate weapon in the Army's wartime arsenal, but questioned the validity and appropriateness of the Army's adoption of unconventional operations. The continuing tensions of the cold war and hostilities in Korea resolved the ambivalence in favor of coordinating in a single operation the techniques of both types of warfare. Colonel Paddock's extensively documented work traces a portion of a brief episode in our Nation's military hisotyr, but an instructive one. For the historian and military scholar, it provides the necessary backdrop for understanding the subsequent evolution of the Army's special warefare capability. For the national security policymaker, it suggests the value of the innovative impulse and the need for receptivity to new ideas and adaptability to change. John S. Pustay Lieutenant General, United States Air Force President, National Defense University

Genres: History

236 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1982

Reviews

[R. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is one of the hardest books to finish that I have ever read in my life. You would think from the title that it would be pretty interesting, and you would be wrong. It is essentially a 160 page collection of Army memorandums and other official correspondence covering the political end of Special Forces and Psychological Warfare from WW2 to the first years of the Vietnam War. The other 80 pages of the book at the end is the bibliography. Yes, that's right, a 160 page book has an 80 page bibliography.

It's also a good thing that I read this as a textbook and that I didn't pay for it because I would have been irritated had I actually spent money on this. I hope that the other two books for me class are more exciting because this was the same type of reading that I do on a daily basis at work.

If you are doing advanced scholarly research into the subject this is a good book to have. If you want a reference book that you can keep on the shelf to pull out once every five or ten years for writing scholarly papers this is a good book to have. This is not a good book to sit down and read with the intent to enjoy yourself in my opinion.

[Von · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went ahead and read the through the whole text. Things took place. Events had occurred.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dry, as is typical of works written in a military context for a military audience, but extremely well researched. My only real complaint is that I would have liked this book to be expanded even more extensively for this revised edition. A much needed addition to the history of both USSF and Special/Unconventional Warfare in general.

[Darren Sapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly academic look at how the famous Green Berets came to be. Those with a deep interest in the origins of U.S. Army psychological and unconventional warfare will appreciate this thoroughly researched book.