Spetsnaz: Russia’s Special Forces (Elite, 206)

I read this book now (in March 2022) because of the role of the Russian Spetsnaz in Russia's ongoing brutal invasion of an independent Ukraine. The spetsnaz, in Russian spetsialnovo naznacheniya voisko, "the troops of special duty," serve the Fifth Directorate, operations, of the GRU, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff. In the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the spetsnaz who the first week attempted to sabotage the Ukrainian communications and infrastructure. Clearly, there is no other book on the spetsnaz that has half the information as Dr. Galeotti's book here; it is truly required reading on the subject. However, there is the feeling that in studying spetsnaz, and getting material to write the book (most of the photos come from one source, the Russian Vitaly Kuzmin), he perhaps unwittingly drew too close to his subject. Dr Galeotti was writing in 2014, when Russian President Vladimir Putin was prosecuting his bloody proxy war to detach the Ukrainian Donbas region, with its many ethnic Russians, from Ukraine. He did not even touch on the suffering of the people. According to The Washington Post on January 22, 2022 in a piercing pictorial essay by Ruby Mellen: "approximately 14,000 people have been killed in the conflict, more than 3,000 of them civilians, according to the United Nations. More than 2,000 deaths occurred in 2014, when the fighting was most intense." Although Dr Galeotti wrote about Russia's wars in Chechnya, he omitted the horrible suffering that President Putin's Russian Red Army visited on the Chechen civilians. Once again, the Russians proved the ugliness of the old saying: "scratch a Russian, find a Tartar (Mongol)." After the Russian bombardment of the Chechen capital of Grozny in 1999, the United Nations declared Grozny "the most destroyed city on earth." Now, as we see the historic cities of Ukraine like Kharkhiv and Mariupol pounded into clouds of dust before our horrified eyes on television, Dr Galeotti's lack of a moral perspective is even more tragic. As the great British member of Parliament Edmund Burke wrote at the time of the brutal French Revolution, "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do [or to say!] nothing." Cheers, Professor John F Murphy

Another good title from Osprey. This Osprey Elite #206 does a good job of introducing the reader to the Spetsnaz, the Soviet/Russian special forces units long compared to those of the West.The author gives the reader an extensive history of the roots of the Spetsnaz units, going back to the days of the Bolsheviks and the Russian Civil War. Normally this would be a good thing, but in this case, it actually took space in this small volume from more recent information and, frankly, I saw as filler.The author does a decent job of evaluating the Spetsnaz in terms of Soviet requirements during the Cold War and how they viewed the Spetsnaz units differently than Western armies viewed their "special forces" units. Again, the author does a good job of briefly looking at the Spetsnaz actions in the Czech crisis of 1968, then looks at their operations during the Afghan War where their reputation was put to the test and, for the most part, showed themselves to be very effective in anti-mujahideen operations.Operations by Spetsnaz after the fall of the "Evil Empire" and subsequent wars in the Caucasus (particularly in Chechnya) are summarized. I found it interesting that some on the muslim side in the Chechnyan conflict had been former members of Soviet Spetsnaz units fighting members of the Russian Spetsnaz!There's a lot of good here including weapons and equipment as well as operations histories and training. It's not perfect and, as stated earlier, spends too much time for my taste on largely irrelevant roots and not enough on more specifics of modern operations. But, all in all, a good Osprey summary on the subject with the usual excellent Osprey photos, illustrations and color plates. Four stars.

As author Mark Galeotti points out, the Spetsnaz, Russia's much-vaunted military special forces, have been the subject of a certain amount of mythologizing over the years, inside and outside Russia. This Osprey Elite Series book is meant to be a corrective as well as a well-written history of Russia's Spetsnaz, including their roles in recent conflicts in Chechnya, Georgia and Ukraine.The introduction makes the crucial point that the Spetznaz are not strictly speaking analogous to U.S. or other Western special forces units. They are special purpose units, meant for reconnaissance and specialized battlefield tasks, although their professionalism in comparison to the rest of the Russian military has often led to their being used in other roles, such as conventional infantry and for stability operations. The bulk of the narrative is a very readable history of the Spetsnaz, from their roots in the Bolshevik Red Army up through the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, the Cold War, Afghanistan and the conflicts of modern Russia. The text makes the point that the Spetsnaz have often inspired both imitation and competition from other elements of the Soviet/Russian military, especially the Airborne Troops. The text is very nicely supported by an excellent collection of photographs, illustrations, and maps. Some coverage of uniforms and weapons is included. The concise nature of the book (62 pages of text) limits the amount of detail that can be included. The author has a strong background in the subject and is not shy about sharing his knowledge and his opinions. Recommended as an excellent introduction to the topic.

Interesting and informative description of modern day Russian special forces, with quality illustrations and photographs. Also goes over the important historical context of the formation of these special forces

I recommend this book. Excellent overview of known facts on Soviet and Russian Military Special Forces (Spetsnaz) from the Russian Civil War to the intervention in the Crimean Peninsula. Excellent illustrations, very good facts, very good overview.

One of the very few detailed books about the Spetsnaz in English out there. Succinct and easy to read, the text is accompanied by some nice pictures and is laid out in a way that makes the whole thing comprehensible. Another great publication in the series.

another very good osprey book

Traces the history of the Russian special forces covering many conflicts. The art work is detailed with description to match.

Very pleased