The Special Operations Groups ( es, Grupos de Operaciones Especiales, GOE) are the
special operations forces of the
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century.
The ...
.
These units should not be confused with the similar-sounding ''
Grupo Especial de Operaciones'' (GEO) and ''
Grupos Operativos Especiales de Seguridad'' (GOES), two police forces, or the Spanish Navy's ''
Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE)
The (''Special Operations Unit'' – UOE) was the elite special operations force of the Spanish Navy and marines from 1967 to 2009. In June 2009, the unit was absorbed into the newly formed Special Naval Warfare Force (), which inherited the re ...
''.
Organization
The three Special Operations Groups are subordinated to the
Special Operations Command (''Mando de Operaciones Especiales
'' - MOE).
Units in 1989
The Special Operations Groups were
Ranger type units that specialized in
counter-insurgency
Counterinsurgency (COIN) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the activities of guerrillas or revolutionar ...
and
guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...
tactics.
* 1st Special Operations Group ''"Ordenes Militares"'' (in
Madrid)
* 2nd Special Operations Group ''"Santa Fé"'' (in
Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
)
* 3rd Special Operations Group ''"
Valencia"'' (in
Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in th ...
)
* 4th Special Operations Group ''"
Almogávares"'' (in
Barcelona)
* 5th Special Operations Group ''"
San Marcial
San Marcial was a community in Socorro County, New Mexico, United States, founded in 1854 and survivor of two floods and a fire, but is now a ghost town, a deserted site with little left of the original town, destroyed in a great flood in 1929. Sa ...
"'' (in
Burgos)
* 6th Special Operations Group ''"La Victoria"'' (in
A Coruña)
* 7th Special Operations Company (in
Palma de Mallorca
Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...
)
* 81st Special Operations Company (in
Tenerife)
* 82nd Special Operations Company (in
Las Palmas)
Notes
External links
Mando de Operaciones Especiales(official site)
Army units and formations of Spain
Special forces of Spain
Military units and formations established in 1977
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