Special Forces Berlin: Clandestine Cold War Operations of the US Army's Elite, 1956-1990

During the Cold War, two US Army Special Forces detachments were stationed in West Berlin behind the Iron Curtain, their existence and missions classified as state secrets. With Soviet and Warsaw Pact forces posing a significant threat to Western Europe, US military planners developed Special Forces Berlin as a contingency plan. Should war begin, the unit's mission was to conduct sabotage and intelligence operations behind enemy lines to delay enemy advances and allow NATO forces time to escape the city. Approximately one hundred soldiers, highly trained and fluent in German, were each assigned specific operational areas. They possessed expertise in clandestine operations, sabotage, and intelligence tradecraft, capable of operating independently while blending into Berlin's population amid widespread espionage activity. The unit's unconventional warfare capabilities proved influential, with personnel later sought for other deployments, including the 1979 attempted rescue of American hostages from Tehran. Following official US government acknowledgment of the unit's existence in 2014, this account—written by one of the soldiers involved—documents their previously untold story.