Stand on the Oder: In Hitler’s Wehrmacht, the term “Special Forces” applied to something quite different from the Allied notion of an elite, but small battle unit. The German “Special Forces” were composed of large independent battle groups or “Kampfgruppen” operating with their own artillery, tanks and heavy weapons. They were designed to operate under special conditions and while not as large as a division they were large enough to hold the line in an emergency. Rapid response was the critical variable here. Sometimes cobbled together in the fog of battle from dissimilar units, i.e.: Paratrooper, Armored, Luftwaffe and even Naval units and pushed into critical hot spots in the front line, to hold until reinforced.
