Editing Spetsnaz (section)

===Second World War and Spanish Civil War===

[[GRU (Soviet Union)|GRU]] and [[NKVD]] derived from the ''[[Cheka]]'' and participated in the [[Spanish Civil War]] fighting fascists behind their lines using guerilla strategies. Fighting Germany, Japan, Poland and Finland in the [[Second World War]], new units of storm pioneers, parachuters, NKVD and GRU were set up. Thereby the soviets merged existing experiences and started to unify different [[military branches]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |title=Eliteverbände der Welt Ausbildung, Bewaffnung, Einsätze |author=Terry White |translator=Karl P. E. Veltzé |year=1995 |isbn=978-3-613-01688-0 |location=Stuttgart |pages=119–121 |oclc=75619581 |language=de}}</ref>

==== Navy ====
The Soviet leadership had an urgent need for intelligence on German land forces in [[northern Norway]] and [[Finland]]. On 5 July 1941 Admiral [[Arseniy Golovko]] of the [[Northern Fleet]] authorized the formation of a ground reconnaissance detachment. This unit, the [[Russian commando frogmen|4th Special Volunteer Detachment]], was to be recruited from the fleet's athletes and have an initial size of 65 to 70 personnel. Later the unit was renamed the 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment. They were trained as frogmen.<ref name="ReferenceA">Spetsnaz:Russia's Special Forces by Mark Galeotti</ref> The most prominent of these new recruits was [[Viktor Leonov]], who joined the [[Soviet Navy]] in 1937. He was assigned to a submarine training detachment and then transferred to a repair station in the Northern Fleet at [[Polyarny, Murmansk Oblast|Polyarnyy]].<ref name="Leonov">{{cite book|last=Leonov|first=Viktor|title=Blood on the Shores|date= 2011|publisher=Ballantine Books|isbn=978-0-8041-0732-7}}</ref> Leonov had trained as a [[scuba diver]], after which he joined 4th Special Volunteer Detachment, where he proved his daring and leadership skills conducting numerous clandestine operations and twice being awarded the title of [[Hero of the Soviet Union]].<ref name="ReferenceA" />

Initially the unit was confined to performing small scale [[reconnaissance]] missions, platoon sized insertions by sea and on occasion on land into Finland and later Norway.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> They began conducting sabotage missions and raids to snatch prisoners for interrogation.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> They would also destroy German ammunition and supply depots, communication centers, and harass enemy troop concentrations along the Finnish and Russian coasts.<ref>Heroes of the Soviet Union 1941–45 by Henry Sakaida</ref> When the European conflict ended, the Naval Scouts were sent to fight the Japanese. Leonov along with Capt. Kulebyakin and 140 men, landed on a Japanese airfield at [[Port Vonsan]], unaware that they were opposed by over 3,500 enemy soldiers. A tense standoff ensued, until the commanding officers of the unit managed to bluff the Japanese forces into surrendering.<ref>Hardcore Heroes 1 Season 2014</ref>

==== Army ====
Each Soviet front/army up to 1942 had their own independent guard-battalion (''Otdelnly Gwardieskij Batalion Minerow), OGBM,'' so called miners, for [[reconnaissance]] and [[commando]] missions. The soldiers had to be younger than 30, were mostly [[athlete]]s or [[Hunting|hunters]] and had to identify 100% with their mission. Many exhausted and wounded soldiers were, even in training, left to their own devices. The selection methods qualified the troops as elite but caused high numbers of casualties. The "miners" infiltrated foreign-occupied areas by air and land, and cooperated with, and trained, local [[Partisan (military)|partisans]].

Immediately before the major Russian offensive at [[Smolensk|Smolesk]] in 1943, 316 ''OGBM'' were dropped by parachute in nine groups. Up to 300&nbsp;km behind the enemy lines, they blew up 700&nbsp;km of railways in cooperation with local partisans, using 3,500 explosive charges.<ref name=":1" />