Special Forces Raids: Courageous Assaults of the Twentieth Century

An Army, 15,000 strong, reached the river barrier only to discover that the bridge had been broken. Engineers bridged the gap and an advanced force established a bridgehead. it was planned to move the entire army across and march to meet the enemy the next day. During the night a fast moving elite unit, numbering approximately 500, descended on the bridgehead encampment wiping it out. Again the bridge was destroyed and for many hours the raiders, dubbed the Flower of Craven, denied the crossing to an army outnumbering them 30 to 1. This action, which occurred 548 years ago during Wars of the Roses, well illustrates what a small, well-equipped, well-led and highly motivated force can achieve  - a result out of all proportion to its size. This has been the case throughout man's blood-soaked history to which to which these accounts if the twentieth century conflicts testify.