Many authors have attempted to tell the history of America's Special Operations Forces, some better than others. Former Navy SEAL Ben Milligan sets his sights specifically on America's maritime commando capabilities from World War II to today, and in the process tells perhaps the best contemporary historical account of how Special Operations got to where it is today.
"By Water Beneath the Walls" is billed as being about the rise of the Navy SEALs, however, the book also includes chapters about the creation of Army Rangers and Special Forces, along with nods to Delta Force, Marine Recon, and other specialized units.
With a well-written and engaging narrative account of these units, and the men who formed them, Milligan has penned a book that belongs on the shelf of any serious student of Special Operations Forces.
The author starts with World War II and the creation of the Navy's maritime demolition teams, which later evolved into Underwater Demolition Teams. Some incredible stories are told about their activities blowing up obstacles on D-Day, finning right up to the shore of islands in the pacific to find places for Marines to land and incredible tales that most of us are unlikely to have heard before.
This includes an entire chapter on Commander Milton Miles, a sailor who led an Army of sailors fighting an unconventional war in China to tie down Imperial Japan's rear areas. Who would have thought that such a bizarre circumstance could have come to pass, but Milligan unfolds Miles' story in great detail?
Related
The author also tackles his subjects with a critical eye, one that may even be controversial for some readers. OSS head Bill Donovan is not spared and portrayed as someone who was at times an insular bureaucrat, Ranger legend William Darby receives some harsh words, and even the "First SEAL" Roy Boehm is not safe from the author who eviscerates historical inaccuracies in his book of the same title.
The through-line in the book is the author attempting to answer his own question of why the Navy even needs a ground-based combat element. At certain points, he refers to Navy SEAL Rangers and explores why the Navy sought in-land capabilities to replicate what already existed in other units. The answers he finds are fascinating, to say the least, and will carry the reader from World War II to Korea to the Bay of Pigs to Vietnam, and beyond.
"By Water Beneath the Walls" is available now.
Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR. Want to get more connected to the stories and resources Connecting Vets has to offer? Click here to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Related
