These are the policies and procedures used by the CIA's JMWAVE station to train the anti-Castro Cubans, and for the Dealey Plaza Operation.
OPERATIONAL GROUP FIELD MANUAL – STRATEGIC SERVICES
(Provisional)
Prepared under the direction of The Director of
Strategic Services
(William Donovan)
SECRET
Strategic Services Field Manual No. 6
Office of Strategic Services
Washington D.C.
25 April 1944
This Operational Groups Field Manual – Strategic
Services is made available for the information and guidance of selected
personnel and will be used as the basic doctrine for Strategic Services
training for the operations of these groups.
The contents of this manual should be carefully
controlled and should not be allowed to come into unauthorized hands. The
manual will not be taken to advance bases.
AR 380-5, 15 March 1944, pertaining to the handling
of secret documents, will be complied with the handling of this manual.
Signed
William J. Donovan Director
William J. Donovan Director
TABLE OF CONENTS
SECTION 1 – INTRODUCTION
1. SCOPE
AND PURPOSE OF MANUAL
2. DEFIITIONS
3. OPERATIONAL
GROUPS
SECTION II – ORGANIZATION
4. ORGANIZATION
IN WASHINGTON
5. ORGANIZATION
IN THE FIELD
SECTION III – PERSONNEL
6. ORGANIZATION
FOR RECRUITMENT
7. QUALIFICATIONS
OF OG PERSONNEL
SECTION IV – TRAINING
8. GENERAL
PROCEDURE
9. TRAINING
OBJECTIVES
10. CURRICULUM
11. MAINTENANCE
OF MORALE
SECTION V – OPERATIONS
12. GENERAL
13. TYPES
OF OG OPERATIONS
14. OPERATIONAL
PROBLEMS
SECTION VI – COOPERATION OF OG
WITIN OSS AND WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
15. COOOPERATION
WITH THE INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
16. COOPERATION
WITH OTHER OSS OPERATIONS BRANCHES
17. COOPERATION
WITH SIMILAR AGENCIES OF ALLIED NATIONS
SECTION VII - PLANNING
18. PLANNING
IN WASHINGTON
19. PLANNING
IN THEATERS OF OPERATIONS
20. CHECK
LIST
OPERATIONAL GROUPS FIELD MANUAL –
STRATEGIC SERVICES
SECTION I – INTRODUCTION
`1. SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF MANUAL
This manual sets forth the
authorized functions, operational principles, methods, and organization of
Operational Groups (OG’s) as a part of OSS operations. It’s purpose is to guide
Strategic Services personnel responsible for planning, training, and operations
in the proper employment of OG’s.
2. DEFINITIONS
a. OVER-ALL
PROGRAM FOR STRATEGIC SERVICES ACTIVTIES – a collection of objectives, in order
of priority (importance) within a theater or area.
b. OBJECTIVE
– a main or controlling goal for accomplishment within a theater or area by
Strategic Services as set forth in an Over-all Program.
c. SPECIAL
PROGRAM FOR STRATEGIC SERVICES ACTIVITIES – a statement setting forth the
detailed missions assigned to one or more Strategic branches, designed to
accomplish a given objective, together with a summary of the situation and the
general methods of accomplishment of the assigned missions.
d. MISSION
– a statement of purpose set forth in a special program for the accomplishment
of a given objective.
e. OPERATIONAL
PLAN – an amplification or elaboration of a special program, containing the
details and means of carrying out the specified activities.
f. TASK
– a detailed operation, usually planned in the field, which contributes toward
the accomplishment of a mission.
g. TARGET
– a place, establishment, group or individual toward which activities or
operations are directed.
h. THE
FIELD – all areas outside of the United States in which Strategic Services
activities take place.
i.
FIELD BASE – an OSS headquarters in the
field, designated by the name of the city in which it is established, e.g.,
Strategic Services Field Base, Cairo.
j.
ADVANCED OR SUB-BASE – an additional
base established by and responsible to an OSS field base.
k. OPERATIVE
– an individual employed by and responsible to the OSS and assigned under
special programs to field activity.
l.
AGENT – an individual recruited in the
field who is employed and directed by an OSS operative or by a field or
sub-base.
m. RESISTANCE
GROUPS – individuals associated together in enemy-held territory to oppose the
enemy by any and all means short of military operations, e.g., by sabotage,
non-cooperation.
n. GURREILLAS
– an organized band of individuals in enemy-held territory, indefinite as to
number, which conducts against the enemy irregular operations, including those
of a military or quasi-military nature.
3.
OPERATIONAL GROUPS
a. DEFINITION
OPERATIONAL GROPUS: a
small, uniformed party of specially qualified soldiers, organized, trained, and
equipped to accomplish the specific missions set forth below.
b. AUTHORITY
Among
the functions assigned by the Joint Chiefs of Staff directive to the Office of
Strategic Services are the following, which are applicable to Operational
Groups:
(1) The
organization and conduct of guerrilla warfare;
(2) The
use of the organization and facilities of the OSS by the theater commander in
his theater or area in any manner and to the maximum extend desired by him.
c. MISSIONS
OF OPERATIONAL GROUPS
The
mission of OPERATIONAL GROUPS is:
(1) To
organize, train, and equip resistance groups in order to convert them into
guerrillas, and to serve as the nuclei of such groups in operations against the
enemy, as directed by the theater commander.
(2) In
addition, under authority granted to the theater commander by the JCS
Directive, Operational Groups may be used to execute independent operations
against enemy targets as directed by the theater commander.
SECTION II – ORGANIZATION
4. ORGANIZATION IN WASHINGTON
a. Operational Groups are organized in Washington
along strictly military lines. There is a commanding officer, responsible to
the Strategic Services Operations Officer, and a staff consisting of an
executive officer, an S-1 (personnel),
and S-2 (intelligence and security), and S-3 (plans and training), an S-4
(supply), and a medical officer (chief surgeon and medical supply officer). There
is also training staff of variable size consisting of semi-permanent senior
instructors, and junior instructors who are assigned to field duty with OG’s
after they have trained their successors.
b. OG Headquarters, Washington, has no direct
command over OG’s in the field, since they are under control and direction of
the theater commander through the strategic services officer. The primary
function of the OG organization in Washington is to service OG’s in the field
with trained personnel and supplies. OG Headquarters, Washington, also has the
administrative responsibility of maintaining coordinated chronological record
of OG activities.
5. ORGANIZTION IN THE FIELD
a. The Operational Group
(1) TABLE OF ORGANIZATION
The Operational Groups, consisting of 4 officers and
30 men, is the basic unit of OG organization. An OG normally consists of 2
sections of 2 squads each.
The T/O of a typical OG is as follows:
Captain (1) commanding
First Lieutenant (3) including:
Second-in-command of the OG (1)
Section leader (2)
Technical sergeant (2), including:
Second-in-command of sections (2)
Staff Sergeant (6), including:
Squad leader, (4)
Squad leader, (4)
Medical technician (2)
Corporal or technician fifth grade (22), including:
Scout (16)
Code clerk (1)
Courier (1)
Radio operator (4)
Aggregate (all ranks(: 34
2.
TABLE OF EQUIPMENT
In
addition to standard Army clothing, OG members are issued special garments
appropriate to the climate and terrain in their country of operations. Each
Operational Group has a special Table of Equipment (T/E), showing the arms and
other articles to be carried. This T/E varies with the theater for which the OG
is bound and the missions it is expected to accomplish.
3.
SS EQUIPMENT
(a)
SS weapons and demolition equipment are issued to OG’s through SS supply
channels in the theater, as required by their mission.
(b)
Communications equipment carried by OG’s consists of SS radio sets which are
issued through SS supply channels in the theater.
4.
MOTORIZED VEHICLES
Although
motorized vehicles are no part of the organic equipment of an OG, they may be
issued in the theater when required by a mission and when it is feasible to
introduce and maintain such vehicles in the area of operations.
b.
THE FIELD SERVICE HEADQUARTERS
(1) TABLE
OF ORGANIZATION
The
Field Service Headquarters (FSHQ) is the next higher echelon of command above
the Operational Group. An FSHQ is roughly comparable to the Army’s battalion
headquarters, and the FSHQ commanding officer directs the operations of from
two to five OG’s. An FSHQ is normally located outside of, but in proximity to,
the enemy-held territory in which several OG’s are operating. However, when
conditions permit, FSHQ will be established in the areas of operations. The T/O
consists of the following:
Major
(1), commanding
Captain
(1), medical officer
First
lieutenant (3), including:
Adjutant
(1)
Communications
officer (1)
Supply
officer (1)
First
sergeant (1)
Technical
Sergeant (6), including:
Signal
non-commissioned officer (3)
Supply
non-commissioned officer (2)
Replacement
(1)
Corporal
or technician, fifth grade (16),
Aggregate
(all ranks): 28
SECTION III – PERSONNEL
6. ORGANIZTION FOR RECRUITMENT
a. Members of OG’s procured in the United States are
officers or enlisted men who have been inducted into the Army through regular
channels. Under War Department approval, and within War Department allotment of
grades and ratings, selection is made of such personnel by trained interviewers
of the Personnel Procurement Branch (PPB), OSS, according to specifications
submitted by Headquarters, Operational Groups Washington. PPB interviewers
examine the civil and military records of likely candidates and hold personal
interviews. Candidates who are acceptable are ordered to an SS area to begin
training, pending security clearance. This procedure in no way violates
security, as the training initially given is an extension of Army training. No
specialized strategic services instruction is given until the security check
has been completed.
b. It will sometimes be necessary to procure OG
personnel directly in the theater where they will operate. This procedure is
applicable when persons cannot be found in the United States who are qualified
in a particular language, knowledge of a certain locality, and other
essentials. When an OG must be staffed in the theater, the work of procurement
will usually be done by a cadre from the U.S. consisting normally of 2 officers
and 5 men,…..
……
d. SKILLS
As
many men as possible in each OG should be qualified in certain specialized
fields. Previous training on radio, demolitions, weapons, scouting, or field
craft is a particularly desirable qualification in a candidate.,,,,
……f….POLITICAL SYMPATHIES
Persons charged with procurement of OG personnel
must use great care in the case of individuals who are sympathetic to
particular political movements or factions within the country of their origin.
The readiness and ability of such individuals to get along harmoniously with the
movement or faction in the area of operations must be carefully determined in
advance. In certain areas, however, where disputes are bitter, and the areas of
rivals are not delineated, it is more desirable to staff an OG with American
citizens whose language ability is somewhat imperfect rather than with
ex-natives of the area who have pronounced political attachments.
g. CHARACTER TRAITS
While the risks involved tend to make OG work appeal
to young men, the success of OG assignments is not the result of daring and
bravado alone. Accordingly, candidates will be selected whose past records,
civilian and military, give evidence of stability and good judgement.
h. ARMY TRAINING
Except for certain specially qualified persons
recruited in the field (see paragraph 6. b.) candidates must have completed
basic training before being accepted for OG work. Candidates who have also had
combat training are preferable.
SECTION IV – TRAINING
8. GENERAL PROCEDURE
OG training is an intensive course of specialized
instruction in the weapons, techniques, and methods of operation appropriate
for a small, self-sufficient band of men who may be required to live and fight
in the manner of guerrillas….The training period in the U.S. is normally three
weeks…..
