Classified Patrols Against the Soviets?

Hello all. This question has been bugging me for some time. Would it be possible that the United States had military units located in Europe in the '50s and '60s that engaged in classified activity (ground reconnaissance, refugee evacuations) against the USSR?

 

Anything is possible - However this would be unlikely. Ground recon would be done with aircraft, satelites and agents. Refugee evacuations? Not sure what you mean. Any "extractions" would be done throught the correct government channels and require payment - either a swap or concessions or a straight payment. Who would be important enough to risk starting a war? (US fighting in USSR territory).
Would there be Russian soldiers in the US gathering ground recon or refugee evacuations? (Smuggling south to Mexico) Sounds like a good plot for a movie...but thats it. If this did ever happen i would slap the man responsible.

 

I'm sorry, allow me to rephrase this. I have reason to believe that a special operations unit saw covert employment against the Soviets in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The first modern LRRP unit, and hence the first modern Ranger unit, was converted from an armored infantry company. This company was commanded by Ranger legend Phillip D. Grimm, a decorated Korea veteran. My grandfather was an original member of the unit, where he was a team leader and good friend of Captain Grimm. My grandfather, though he does not talk about his time in the Army, has given me many mementos and photographs from his time there. One such item is a Presidential Unit Citation, only given to units distinguished in action against an enemy. He also has a photo of men in his company all wearing the ribbon on their uniforms. My grandmother believes that he did conduct patrol missions in places such a Czechoslovakia and other Eastern Bloc countries, and I have no reason to doubt her suspicions. I came here wondering if it was possible that he did.

 

As i said, anything is possible. Im not sure they would be "patrols" though...a serious reason for being there would be a better excuse. Perhaps a "probe"...

 

Don't know if they actually crossed the Czech border, but they were occupying a tower on the border observing rail traffic coming and going from Eisenstein, also sound like they may have been doing some ELINT work too.

Pg 16-17: http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/gebhardt_LRRP.pdf

 

My grandfather was never a member of the official VII Corps LRRP Company, only the Provisional one (to my knowledge). He mentioned doing reconnaissance work with the Green Berets, as well as Italian Special Forces. While working with the Italian SF, he was given a customized Carcano folding bayonet, made into somewhat of a fighting knife. Nothing explains the PUC though. There's a database of all recipients, but the 4th Armored nor the 51st Infantry were authorized the PUC after WWII. My best guess is a classified award.

 

Patrols along the German border would have a very high risk of escalating to a large scale incident, it would make more sense to rely on stealth exclusively and take the risk of capture if discovered. But considering the US intelligence agencies "attitude" I wouldn't rule them out completely.
On the other hand there probably were armed missions along the less populated borders like the ones with Turkey, Norway or Iran, having weapons in those environments is often a necessity and as troop density is lower you might risk a firefight to get away. The border with Yugoslavia is also a possibility, would not be too surprised if there was some "foot recon" going on there.
Generally ground based patrols are not likely to be worth the risk, observation from outside the border, balloons (and now drones), and the occasional "accidental overflight" by manned planes are likely to get you all the information you need on border positions, but there may be circumstances where they make sense, so more than patrols I would expect targetted missions.
IIRC the two regulus submarines were converted for landing "recon teams", were they ever used ?

 

Several Finnish ex-WW2 longe-range patrol men spied in the USSR for USA in the 40' and 50's.

"After war NATO hired a former members of 4th Detached Battalion to spy Soviet Union military bases on Kuola and Karelia. NATO ended the spy operation in 1957 Espionage data were obtained from the forward satellite.[2] Former President of Finland, Mauno Koivisto, served in Lauri Törni's specially designed Jäger Company (called 'Detachment Törni') in the Finnish 1st Infantry Division. Lauri Törni became a US citizen and entered the US Army Special Forces. He gave important knowledge in long-range patrolling and was declared MIA during the Vietnam War in 1965, until his remains were found and were buried in Arlington on 26 June 2003."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_reconnaissance_patrol

 

There were also US military that by treaty were allowed to inspect some facilities I believe. They tried to see as much as they could during those trips and would occasionally get in trouble for it.

 

Thank you all very much. My grandfather is very quiet about his time in the Army, and I have to go by what my grandmother tells me, the occasional hints of information my grandfather lets out from time to time, and my own inferences.

Everything I know to be recorded fact is as follows:

-My grandfather was a member of the VII Corps LRRP Co (Provisional) from its inception in 1959 to its deactivation in 1960.
-This detachment was commanded by Captain Phillip D. Grimm, a Korea veteran.
-The company was often loaned to bigger units as a recon element, and was one of the first helicopter-borne units in the Army.
-It invented the six-man LRRP team concept: team leader, assistant leader, RTO, assistant RTO, gunner, point man.
-The unit called themselves Rangers, as they were an elite unit with months of specialized training, and wore the black beret
-They worked closely with the SAS, Italian SF, and other foreign special operations units.
-Many of their men trained with the 10th Special Forces Group to gain experience and skills such as radio operation and skiing.

Everything I've gleaned from my grandfather and grandmother are as follows:

-My grandfather was trained as a sniper using the '03 Springfield, and the LRRPs had access to many different kinds of weapons.
-My grandfather said they had to make their own camouflage, as they were never issued any (I have a photo of him wearing the custom camouflage).
-They were dropped by helicopter on patrols, often with the .45 ACP submachine gun, but sometimes with no more than a 1911 and knife.
-The company was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation, as proven with a photograph of the men in the unit.
-My grandfather was temporarily sergeant and held the position of team leader, being demoted when shipped back overseas.
-My grandmother believes they saw combat, and that they penetrated Communist countries on reconnaissance missions.
-My grandfather's team was given the radio call of "Red Dog", with him being "Red Dog Leader."
-My grandfather once remarked that all the men in his company who stayed on active duty (my grandfather was discharged from the reserves in 1964, from active duty 1960) were sent to Vietnam. He's still friends with another man from his company who became a Ranger Sniper in Vietnam, where he would set up a post above a river crossing the Ho Chi Minh Trail. My grandfather said his friend would pop off the NVA as they crossed the river with their weapons over their heads, like shooting fish in a barrel.

There you go. Dissect and go over the information as you please, I will add more if I think of anything. Please give me some suggestions if you feel so inclined, I'm dying to figure this all out.

 

The PUC is a unit award and in the US Army you wear the award when assigned to the unit. You cease to wear the award once you cease to be in the unit. If you were a member of the unit during the time period for which the unit earned the award you are always entitled to wear it. So any one serving in the 4th Armored Cavalry Regiment post WWII wears the PUC for Bogheim Germany (the unit received a second PUC for Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam). Once they transfer out of the 4th ACR they are not entitled to wear the award any longer. If they were in the 4th ACR at Bogheim in WWII, when the award was earned, then they transfer to any other unit, they are authorized it's continued wear.
So in order to determine if the reason all company members was for some covert action as you suspect, look for pictures taken of individual members after that time. If you have a picture of your grandfather, in say '64, when he was in the reserves and he's not wearing the award, he was wearing it because he was in the unit. If he's still wearing the award in the later picture, and the reserve unit does not rate it, he's wearing it because he was a member of the unit during the time period the unit was awarded a PUC for.

 

Personnel Eligible:
Soldiers that are assigned, attached, and present for duty may wear unit awards in one of the two following categories.

• Permanent Wear: A soldier may wear the unit award permanently if the individual was assigned to, and present for duty with the unit any time during the period cited; or who was attached by competent orders to, and present for duty with the unit during the entire period, or for at least 30 consecutive days of the period cited. When a soldier is permanently awarded a unit award and is subsequently assigned to a unit that has received the same unit award, the soldier will wear the permanent award in lieu of the temporary unit award.
• Temporary Wear: A soldier may wear the unit award temporarily if the individual was not present with the unit during the period cited but was subsequently assigned to the unit. Soldiers may wear the unit award only while assigned to the cited unit. For elements of regiments organized under the New Manning System or Combat Arms Regimental System, only personnel of the earning unit wear the emblem temporarily.

A unit award is awarded to a designated unit and is worn by members of that unit who participated in the cited action. Personnel who did not participate in the cited action, but who are assigned to the cited unit, are authorized temporary wear of the unit award. Please refer to AR 670-1, Chapter 29 for additional information.

 

Thank you USMCPrice! I'm looking into that right now.