 These men on skis are soldiers in the United States Army. They are members of a special military organization which was until recently highly classified. Today for the first time, their story will be told on the Big Picture. The States Army presents the Big Picture, an official report produced for the armed forces and the American people. One of the great mountain chains of Europe, the Alps, stretch from the Gulf of Genoa to Vienna, rising between the plains of northern Italy and southern Germany. The town of Bad Tolls lies in an alpine valley near Germany's Swiss border. Here is the American Army's Flint Cousin, the home of the 10th Special Forces Group in Europe, until recently a secret military force. The 10th is one of three special forces groups located in Europe, in the continental United States, and in the Far East. The primary mission of all special forces units is to train and organize guerrilla resistance in enemy-occupied territories. This mission, of course, extends to enemy-held terrain where and when liberation movements develop. The role of the men of a special forces group is unique and its members are uniquely trained and qualified to carry out their hazardous and adventurous assignments. Every man is a volunteer who has passed rigorous testing. The average special forces team is composed of two officers and 13 enlisted men. Every member of the team is first trained in a particular specialty, demolition expert, communication specialist, and the like. Every member of the team is then cross-trained. Should the demolition expert on a team be injured or captured, every other member of the team could handle the missing man's assignment. Actually, a special forces team member combines all the attributes of an instructor, a paratrooper, light and heavy weapons expert, and medical specialist. Operating behind enemy lines in hostile territory, communications play a vital part in the working life of a team. Communications must be maintained between the team and the partisan with whom they work and between the team and its headquarters. Every team member is a trained radio or wireless operator. Because the job calls for rugged men with great physical endurance, calisthenics are not only an important part of the initial training period, but a day-to-day, year-round activity. At least an hour a day is spent in muscle building. Periodic physical fitness tests guarantee that the team members are always in top shape. In no other branch of any of the United States military services is the standard of physical fitness higher than in special forces. Because the teams are trained as experts in guerrilla warfare, a thorough knowledge of judo is required of the men. Among the groups at Bad Tolls, a man's hand is as deadly a weapon as a rifle or hand grenade. It takes a year to develop an adequately trained member of a special forces group. Language training is also included. Additional months are spent in achieving the razor sharpness required in all the skills essential to the general mission. Although the study of underwater diving techniques is not a required part of the training program at Bad Tolls, 100% of the men here have volunteered to add skin diving to their list of specialties. Strong lungs are essential in mountain climbing, cross country skiing and any sort of airborne operation. Practice with aqua lungs helps to develop lung power. Underlying the entire special forces training program is the cardinal rule learned to operate in any and all physical environments. In mountains, in snow, in the desert, the jungle, even underwater. Opportunity is lost in putting the men under conditions of hardship and stress. Practice in switching aqua lungs underwater helps to develop a sense of discipline under artificially severe conditions. It also makes for calm nerves in times of crisis. Because of their alpine setting in the area of their operations in southern Germany, mountain climbing skills are demanded of the tenth special forces group. Muscles conditioned by rope climbing in the gymnasium are put into use here on a nearly vertical cliff face. Team members must be as adept at descending mountains as they are at ascending. Although they are paratrooping mountain climbing skin divers, the incidence of accidents in special forces groups is no greater than that throughout the army in general. This is solid evidence of the high degree of skill attained by these guerrilla warfare specialists. It takes two months to train a novice in snow techniques. Additional months of practice are needed to make these men experts. To develop endurance among the special forces teams, 20 or 30 mile cross country hikes on snowshoes are routine. The ability to move fast through any kind of terrain is a prime requisite of the special forces soldier. In future operations, his life may well depend on such versatility. Every team member is taught the basics of first aid and emergency medical treatment. More than that, one member of the team is a medical specialist. His rating is far higher than that of the ordinary medic. He is qualified to perform simple operations in the field such as an appendectomy. The knowledge that his team possesses a field doctor is reassuring to the special forces soldier. So far as possible, each team is prepared to be completely self-sufficient while operating in enemy territory. Although there are parachute rigging experts attached to the special forces group, every team member is also taught to rig a chute. Should his unit be sent away from home base, each individual will be fully qualified to repack his own parachute. No understanding of how his parachute works gives the jumper added confidence just before diving out of the plane into space. Each man will be equipped with two chutes, the emergency chute and the larger backpack T10. This is an improved model of the parachute worn by airborne troops in World War II. Its larger canopy and improved design make for easier descent and the increased maneuverability reduces the chances of mid-air collisions. During field training missions, the many and varied skills of the special forces teams are put to test. A typical mission involves three different groups from bad tolls, the attack unit being briefed here, another group who will play the role of partisans and a third unit which will act as an aggressor force. At this joint briefing, the drop zone is described and important landmarks pin pointed. Group leader First Lieutenant Thorn will describe the mission in his own words. At 0400 hours, my team, killer group Wolfhound, was shooted up and ready to board. Our mission was to meet with an underground partisan band and to help them destroy a vital railroad bridge in aggressor held territory. The bridge was nestled in a narrow valley which the Air Force hadn't been able to bomb. Just getting to the bridge site was going to be tough enough. To really make things interesting, we've been ordered to accomplish our mission within a limited time period. The partisans had been told by radio to expect us to land shortly before dawn. We were counting on their meeting us near the drop zone. At 0500, we were nearing the drop zone. From drop time, we had only seven hours with a lot to do. We hit the drop zone on time. So far, so good. The partisans are right on the spot, ready to give us a hand when we land with our supplies and equipment. With us, we've brought skis, radios, weapons, demolitions, and medical supplies for ourselves and the partisans. Because the enemy forces no partisans are operating in this area, we can't waste time out in the open. The mountains will give us the cover and concealment we need. By ski, we head for our first destination, partisan headquarters, a few kilometers up the mountainside. For their headquarters, the partisans have selected an abandoned woodcutters hut. From the drop zone to here, we haven't passed another building or another person. The hut looks like a perfect jumping-off spot for our mission. The partisan leader in the beret goes under the cover name of Eric. As well as demolitions for our primary target, the bridge, we've brought along anti-personnel mines. Because part of our job is teaching, we give the guerrillas a brief course in how the mines operate. All but two of killer group Wolfhound will be heading for a highway near the bridge. They'll plant the mines there as a diversion, while two of us with the partisans hit the key target. It's 0700 hours when we're ready to leave the hut. Five hours left to complete the mission. And according to Eric, who speaks English and German, we've got nearly 20 kilometers of rugged country to cover in that time. Eric also tells us that the bridge will probably be heavily guarded. We're within a few hundred meters of the bridge. We place our skis facing the way we've come. Once we hit, we want to get out of there fast. The time is now 1145 hours. The cross-mountain hike took longer than either Eric or I figured. Now we have less than 15 minutes to line up our operation, strike, and be on our way. Here it is, the bridge on the river Ammer. A rail link over which the aggressor forces have been moving the bulk of their men and supplies into this part of Bavaria. It is heavily guarded. After discussing the bridge structure and demolition capabilities with me, Eric, the partisan leader, outlines the plan of attack to his men. They'll split into two groups, one for the guards, the other to ready the M3 explosive charges and wiring. Before they can sound the alarm, is going to be one of the ticklish parts of our assignment. If the rest of my team and the other partisans have done their job, a large part of the aggressor's forces will be off on a wild goose chase. Those aggressors remaining at the command post are still too close for comfort, just up the hill beyond the bridge. We can't make a sound until we actually blow the bridge. Time's running short. If we're going to meet the timetable laid down by the command at Bodd Toads, less than eight minutes. Should they overtake us, our mission will only be partly successful. We've got to move fast and keep distance between them and us. We can't slow down. This is when our endurance and training must pay off. Eric can still see aggressor patrols in close pursuit, managed to out-distance the aggressors. They'll be forced to withdraw and give up the chase. And so, mission accomplished, successfully. The team has a right to feel proud, but that doesn't mean they'll be resting on their laurels. Flint Cassar and at Bodd Toads will be out for more training, climbing mountains or making practice jumps. It's a rugged, exciting job, and no soldier with 10th special forces would have it any other way. Big Picture is an official report for the armed forces and the American people. Produced by the Army Pictorial Center. Presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with this station.