Ritchie Boys, a secret U.S. WWII unit bolstered by German-born Jews | 60 Minutes Extended Stories...

Another great historical share, thanks Dale!

The Richie Boys was one of several classified projects that leveraged the language and cultural skills of German immigrants and refugees and turned them against the Nazis. The Richie Boys were mostly German-born Jewish immigrants and refugees who were trained to perform several intelligence-related missions, including interrogation of German prisoners and evaluation of raw intelligence materials collected in the European Theater.
Another mission with German-born refugees, led by COL Aaron Bank, was preparing a special operations unit to infiltrate the German Army and conduct a variety of direct action missions. Although highly trained, they did not deploy, as the end of the war in Europe came more quickly than many expected.
The mission led by COL Aaron Bank, widely regarded as the Father of Special Forces, foreshadowed the approach employed to build the first Special Forces organization in Europe. After WWII, the Lodge Act enabled the U.S. Army to enlist Eastern European refugees to build Special Forces units manned with native-speaker operators who could return to their former home nations and fit into their societies to conduct covert missions.

Great share