Scouts and Raiders: The Navy’s First Special Warfare Commandos

The history of the Scouts and Raiders of World War II is the story of the precursors of today’s elite SEAL teams. As the Navy’s first special warfare commandos these highly trained and skilled officer/enlisted boat crews conducted pre-assault reconnaissances of landing beaches, hydrographic reconnaissances, marked assault beaches, and guided in assault waves from 36-foot Scout boats, rubber boats, and kayaks at North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Southern France, and Normandy, earning numerous decorations for heroism, including eight Navy Crosses. In the Mediterranean, Scouts and Raiders trained elite units such as Rangers and the First Special Service Force, and were assigned to Special Operations Task Group 80.4 and the Adriatic Special Operations Group, working with Allied units supporting Tito’s partisans. In the Pacific, Scouts and Raiders served as Scout Intelligence Officers, Amphibious Scouts, Beachmasters, and with Underwater Demolition Teams with the Fifth and Seventh Amphibious Forces from Kwajalein to Okinawa and in the Philippines campaign. They served in Admiral Milton Miles’ US Naval Group in China, training Nationalist Chinese guerrillas, participating in raids and ambushes and conducting behind-the-lines overland reconnaissances, disguised as coolies to escape detection by Japanese forces. Highly trained, skilled and brave, the Scouts and Raiders were the Navy’s first special warfare commandos. This book should be useful to anyone interested in military and naval history, amphibious operations and special warfare. It tells, for the first time, the story of the Scouts and Raiders, a unique World War II unit.