When looking at the U.S. elite battalions in World War II it seems like their use was weighted heavily to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations & Pacific versus the European Theater of Operations.

Note, Italy is obviously in Europe. The U.S. used Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) to describe Italy and North Africa. This differentiates from forces that were in France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany that were European Theater of Operations (ETO). When I refer to the Pacific I am including China and Burma.

My nomenclature Elite U.S. forces includes:

U.S. Army's Ranger Battalions

The U.S. Army's contribution to the First Special Service Force

U.S. Army's Merrill's Marauders (5307 Composite Unit)

USMC Raider Battalions.

The U.S. Army in the MTO at one time or another had the 1st, 3rd & 4th Ranger Battalions plus the joint U.S. Canadian First Special Service Force. Looking at the First Special Service Force's TOE it looks like there was around two battalions worth of U.S. troops. That would be FIVE battalions of U.S. elite troops in the MTO.

In the Pacific the U.S. had the U.S. Army's Merrill's Marauders (5307 Composite Unit) & U.S Army 6th Ranger Battalion, the 4 USMC Raider Battalions. The U.S. Army's Merrill's Marauders (5307 Composite Unit) would be the equal to around 3 battalions. EIGHT battalions in the Pacific.

In the ETO 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions. ETO TWO battalions. There was the 29th Ranger Battalion, but from what I've read they were disbanded prior to ever seeing action as a Unit.

It is debatable how many battalion equivalents the First Special Service Force and Merrill's Marauders should count for:

The First Special Service Force per the net had three regiments. But they were small, about the size of a ranger battalion so I would count them as three battalions. I'm not sure if it was two U.S. and one Canadian regiment or if the regiments were mixed Canadian and U.S.

The net says Merrill's Marauders was "regimental size". So I'll assume three battalions. It looks like they had a good sized support element, which makes sense because of the detached nature of their service.

Undoubtedly the U.S. Army's Ranger Battalions, the First Special Service Force and USMC Raiders were elite formations. Some would argue whether Merrill's Marauders were.

The Marauders appeared to draw off of men who had been trained in Jungle warfare or had experience in Jungle campaigns,. Were volunteers and received additional training for their mission. So I would call them elite.

The MTOUSA was designated 26 October 1944. Prior to that it was NATOUSA - North African Theater of Operations US Army.

Not really but its late and I'm tired and don't quite see the point you're trying to make. Sorry.

I used MTO to simplify North Africa and Italy versus France and other areas of Northern West Europe.

My point is that it seems there was more of a use by the U.S. of "special forces" in Africa & Italy and the Pacific versus France and the rest of Europe.

Part of this may have been due to the time line.

Per this article there were four Marine Raider Battalions. I had thought there were only 2. Per the article all four were in combat.

Quote:

My bad, I had forgotten about those. However, the point was the Marines did not keep commando-type units long as they did not see a strong requirement for them.

The bane of light elite infantry in WWII was armored divisions. The US had Rangers fighting at Anzio that sustained heavy losses from Panzers. The British paratroopers at Arnhem were dropped almost on top of an armored division, and they lost most of their men and failed to achieve their objective. It made sense to deploy special forces against softer targets or behind hard targets, such as the paratroopers dropping behind the beaches at Normandy. Putting them in direct contact with armored divisions was a misapplication of force. The Vichy French, Italians, and Japanese had relatively few and relatively weak armored divisions, as those nations either were banned from operating tanks by the Nazis (Vichy) or had a weak industrial base that could make only limited numbers of light tanks. The special battalions were useful in the Med and Pacific but not so much in Europe, with a few exceptions such as D-Day.

It is a military axiom that the proper deployment of forces is critical to success. The special battalions were good at raiding or surprise attacks against normal infantry, but were not well matched for the grinding attrition warfare that was required to force the Germans back once the Allies had the strategic initiative.