The Mammoth Book of Secrets of the SAS & Elite Forces

by Jon E. Lewis

  The spear trap is another method of catching larger mammals but requires very careful construction to be effective.

  Trip deadfall

  A rock deadfall of this type stretched across an animal trail is effective as long as you are able to canalize the animal into the trap.

  Harpoons and spears

  You can make these from a piece of stout timber, their tips hardened in a fire, or with a knife or suitably shaped stone or bone bound on to one end. They are best used to finish off an animal that has already been caught in a trap.

  If you are near shallow water (waist deep) where fish are large and plentiful you may be able to spear them. Try to find a straight sapling with a solid core that you can sharpen to a point. If not, tie a bayonet or pointed piece of metal or sharp bone to the end. Next, find a rock or bank which overlooks a fish run and wait for the fish to swim past.

  The Arctic is harsh but you can still live off the land as long as you have one or two basic items with you. Go for what seems to be plentiful; don’t waste time or energy; and above all be patient and determined.

  TRAVEL IN THE ARCTIC

  Deep snow means deep trouble if you’re on the move. On foot or in an ordinary vehicle, you’ve got very little chance unless you’ve taken precautions beforehand. As well as the difficulty of moving through the snow itself, there are other less obvious things to worry about.

  To start with, deep snow will change the appearance of the countryside, turning navigation by map into a nightmare. Secondly, the snow will hide all sorts of obstacles and dangers. Falling into a ditch filled with three metres of soft snow may sound like it could be fun, but the reality is deadly. You would find it very difficult to climb out before you were overcome by exhaustion and died of exposure. That is unless you drowned in the snow first.

  CONSIDER AND CONSERVE

  So what can you do to make your way through Arctic, sub-Arctic or Alpine conditions?

  Firstly you must stay calm and conserve as much energy and body water as possible. If you’re carrying a heavy load of equipment, weapons and ammunition you’ll be unable to travel far if there’s more than half a metre of untrodden snow on the ground – even if the country is flat.

  You have to spread the weight of your body and your load. The two most usual ways of doing that both have their drawbacks – skis are hard to control unless you know how and anyway, are almost impossible to make from the sort of material you’ll be able to gather. Snowshoes, the other real way to get about, are very tiring unless you’re used to them, but they can be improvised using natural materials.

  If you’re properly equipped, of course, you’ll have both available; skis to use when you’re travelling any distance, and snowshoes for use in camp, where there are lots of people about – or in heavy brush or undergrowth, where two metres of ski on each foot would make you a little clumsy!

  Ski into battle

  A fit experienced skier can keep up a solid 10 kilometres an hour for days on end, even when carrying a full load of equipment. That’s an awful lot more than you could manage on foot, and it requires a lot less effort, so there is much to be said for learning how to do it.

  There are two main types of ski; Alpine skis are the shorter of the two types, and have fastenings for both the toe and heel of the boot; cross-country or Nordic skis are longer and narrower, with a hinged fastening at the toe only, so that the heel can be raised. This allows you to do a push/step movement that covers the ground remarkably quickly.

  Military cross-country skis

  The standard military issue ski is 208 cm (6ft 10in) long (big by alpine standard). They have holes in the tips to allow you to tow them in an improvised sledge, and are grooved at the heel to accept mohair “climbers”.

  To the non-skier it may come as a surprise to learn that you can actually walk uphill wearing skis.

  Originally, people stuck strips of sealskin onto the soles of their skis, with the pile of the short, stiff hairs pointing backwards. The British Army uses mohair instead, but the effect is the same.

  The length of a pair of skis isn’t terribly important but the length of the poles is. They’re much longer than the poles used in downhill skiing, coming to just below the shoulder. In the British forces they come in three lengths; 51 inches (130 cms), 54 inches (137 cms) and 58 inches (147 cms). Don’t damage the points of your poles. They are intentionally sharp to allow you to get a purchase on hard ice.

  Improvising snowshoes

  Improvised snowshoes

  The traditional snowshoe looks a bit like a big tennis racket, but more modern versions are a rounded oblong shape, around 50 cm long and 25 to 30 cm wide, made up of a lightweight frame interlaced with straps of some sort.

  Lashings for straps

  These straps can be made from any suitable material, and so can the frames, which means that at a pinch you can make a pair of snowshoes for yourself. Use stripped straight branches for the frame and webbing, animal hide cut into strips or even bark for the cross straps.

  Conventional snowshoe and binding. The toe-hole allows the heel to lift freely

  Improvised binding

  You don’t need clever bindings on an improvised snowshoe, a single piece of rope, doubled and knotted twice around the foot and ankle will do fine. Do not bind the ankle to the snowshoe – allow it to lift in the same way as your heel lifts while walking normally.

  Walking at night

  In an operational or hostile situation, travel during darkness, unless the weather has closed in sufficiently during the day to hide you in low cloud or fog. Even then take care; bad weather can lift very quickly, leaving you exposed and unprotected.

  And beware travelling in “whiteout” conditions; the lack of contrasting colours makes it impossible to judge the nature of the terrain. And do not travel during blizzards – they are deadly.

  Moving at night can be tricky, as any light from stars and the moon is made even brighter when reflected off the snow.

  Plan your moves

  Make a plan to work from one feature to another, for shelter and concealment, rather than to trek straight out into open country.

  Sound travels easily in cold climates, so you should keep very quiet and stop to listen every so often.

  Always cross a snow bridge at right angles to the obstacle it crosses. Find the strongest part of the bridge by poking ahead with a pole or ice axe. Distribute your weight by crawling or by wearing snowshoes or skis.

  Cross streams when the water level is lowest. Normal freezing and thawing action may cause a stream level to vary as much as 2 to 2.5 metres per day. This may occur at any time, depending on the distance from a glacier, the temperature, and the terrain. You should also consider this variation in water level when selecting a campsite near a stream.

  Choosing your course

  Consider rivers, frozen or unfrozen as avenues of travel. Frozen rivers are frequently clear of loose snow, making travel easier than on the land. Avoid snow covered streams, the snow, which acts as an insulator, may have prevented ice forming over the water.

  Your course should be determined by your location and the terrain. In mountainous or wooded areas, it is advisable to follow rivers downstream towards populated areas (Siberia, where rivers flow northward to the high Arctic, is an exception),

  When travelling cross-country, try to follow the contour of the land; however, note that valley floors are frequently colder than slopes and ridges, especially at night. Head for a coast, major river or known point of habitation.

  Going the right way

  Navigation is tricky in the Arctic. You’re near the magnetic pole, so compass readings may be erratic; take more than one, and average them out. Use the shadow tip method or use the sun and stars to show you in which direction north and other points of the compass lie.

  Nature itself can give you a few clues:

  1 A solitary evergreen tree will always have more growth on its south side.

  2 Bark on poplar and birch t
rees will always be lighter in colour on the south-facing side.

  CROSSING THIN ICE

  If you have to cross thin ice, remember these rules:

  1 One man at a time

  2 Take your hands out of the loops on your ski poles

  3 Put your equipment over one shoulder only, so you can shrug it off

  4 Think about distributing your weight by lying flat and crawling

  5 Bear in mind these thicknesses of ice and their corresponding capabilities:

  5cm supports 1 man

  10cm supports 2 men side by side

  20cm supports a half-ton vehicle

  If you fall through the ice, get your kit off and up onto the ice; use your poles to help you out. Don’t get too close to a team mate who has fallen through; you’ll only end up in there with him. Throw him a line so that you can help him out from a safe distance. Hypothermia will set in very quickly after immersion, so carry out emergency re-warming straight away.

  3 Trees and bushes will be bent in the direction that the wind normally blows, so if you know the direction of the prevailing wind you can work out north and south.

  4 The snow on the south side of the ridges tends to be more granular than on the north.

  5 Snowdrifts usually are on the downwind side of protruding objects like rocks, trees or high banks. By determining the cardinal points of the compass and from them the direction of the drifts, the angle at which you cross them will serve as a check point in maintaining a course.

  In the Southern Hemisphere of course, the opposite polarity applies.

  Pay attention to staying on the right track. You’ll get some help in this during clear weather by looking back at your tracks in the snow.

  But, of course, that’s a sure sign to enemy forces that you’re around. You have to be very cunning in the snow to cover up your tracks; stick to the treeline wherever possible, or use existing tracks and patches of broken snow. If you’re travelling as a team keep in each others tracks.

  Be careful how you plant your poles; always put them in the same holes as the guy ahead of you, then the enemy won’t know how many there are of you. Alternatively, make lots of holes to confuse them.

  Distance

  It’s very difficult to judge distances in the Arctic as there are so few visual clues, and the clear air makes estimating distances difficult; they are more frequently underestimated than overestimated.

  The simplest way of estimation is to pace out a given distance yourself, but this must be practised to be anywhere near accurate.

  Another method is for rope or some signal wire of a given length (say 50 metres) to be strung between two men. The first man moves off, and when the slack is taken up the first man stops and the second man joins him, then repeats the exercise. Simple mathematics can be used to estimate the distance achieved after a number of repetitions.

  Weather patterns

  There is no fixed weather pattern in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions but the west coast of Scandinavia is affected by the meeting of the warm air masses off the Gulf Stream (which keeps most of Norway’s ports ice-free) and the cold polar winds from the polar icecap and the land mass of the USSR. This leads to great instability along the coast, with considerable variations in temperature, high snowfall, rain and fog. Mountain flying is impeded by poor visibility, white-out and icing of rotor blades. High winds lead to drifting and snow builds up on downwind (lee) slopes, with a strong possibility of avalanches.

  When planning an operation, try to build up a picture of the weather you are likely to meet. As well as checking with weather stations, get the feel of local conditions. Observe the clouds; watch for a build-up in the mornings – particularly of layers of cloud on the mountain tops. Snow clouds are generally light in colour, with a slight yellow tinge. A watery moon or sun can also indicate poor weather to come. If the mountains look hard and clear, this too is a bad sign. A south or south-westerly wind or wind moving anti-clockwise towards the south, also portends bad weather. There are many other smaller indications, but these are the main ones and should influence your plans.

  Avalanches are likely to occur after heavy snowfalls, often backed by a wind, or after a period of rising temperatures. Sometimes they happen for no apparent reason. “Slab” avalanches consist of wet snow that has been heavily compacted by wind; soft snow avalanches involve loose powder snow travelling at up to 400 kilometres per hour and creating enormous pressure waves in front of them. Avalanches occur on slopes greater than 15 degrees and up to about 70 degrees. A powder avalanche may occur with as little as a third of a metre of snow at about 20–25 degrees, and wet avalanches on slopes as low as 15 degrees.

  Arrive and perform

  Special operations often take place far from any means of support. You may have to travel long distances in the harshest of conditions to reach your objective and you must be fit enough to do the job when you get there. Arriving as a casualty puts the whole team at risk, and not arriving at all means that the operation will fail. To be a successful Arctic warrior is more than survival; you have to be able to travel, fight and win.

  AVALANCHES

  Avalanches are difficult to predict, so avoid any slopes that look suspicious, especially when the temperature is rising or after blizzards. Avoid skiing in a traverse across the face, but if you have to, go as high as you can, and only one person at a time. Try to move from firm ground to firm ground if possible, to reduce the risk for example from a boulder to a clump of trees. Appoint someone as sentry to observe the crossing, at the bottom of the slope and to one side if possible, although this may not be tactically permissible.

  AVALANCHE AWARENESS

  Avalanches come in four different types:

  1 Soft slab; snow fallen on lee slopes which fails to bond with older snow.

  2 Hard slab; a deceptively hard surface formed by high winds and cold air temperature.

  3 Airborne; new snow falling on an already hard crust.

  4 Wet snow; usual in spring thaw, often after a rapid temperature rise.

  Some avalanches can reach 200 miles per hour and carry with them thousands of tonnes of snow, ice and rock debris, burying a victim up to 10 metres below the surface. Here are some basic precautions to keep you away from danger areas.

  1 Stay high

  2 Don’t ski across rotten snow, new falls or very steep slopes.

  3 Don’t travel alone, but do keep a safe distance between group members.

  4 Stay out of gullies – you never know what will come down from above.

  5 Keep a close watch on the temperature, both of the air and of the snow; check them often, especially in the spring. Sudden changes bring about avalanches.

  6 Dig pits from time to time to check on the condition of the snow lower down.

  7 Watch for recent avalanche signs; they often come in groups.

  8 Keep a very, very careful listening watch.

  9 Don’t assume, because one group’s got across, that it is safe. They could have triggered an avalanche.

  10 Avoid convex parts of a slope; this is where fracturing of the slab commonly occurs.

  11 Keep below the treeline, it’s generally safer.

  12 Keep away from slopes of angles of between 30 and 45 degrees, which are often the most dangerous.

  13 The deeper the snow, the greater the danger.

  14 Avoid new snow, it takes a minimum of 2–3 days to settle.

  15 Travel in the early morning before full sun up.

  16 Do not adopt a “lightening never strikes twice” attitude, or assume that if there’s been an avalanche the danger is past. Avalanches occur in the same place all the time.

  17 On ridges, snow accumulates on the lee side in overhanging piles, called cornices. These often extend far out from the ridge and may break loose if stepped on, so do not stray unless you are sure of your ground.

  Crossing a danger area

  Do everything you can to stay away from areas that look or feel like they might be about to avala
nche. There may come a time however when you just have to go through one!

  Before you cross, loosen your bindings, hold your ski sticks in your hands only (no straps around your wrists) and be prepared to unclip your Bergen in a hurry. Do not rope up with your colleagues, but unravel your 30-metre avalanche (lavine) cord if available or your five metre cord. If you are buried, the cord may float on the surface and indicate your position.

  Here are some rules that will increase your chances of making it safely – and some hints as to what to do if you get caught.

  1 If you have to cross an avalanche area, travel across the slope one at a time.

  2 Follow in the same tracks as the man in front of you.

  3 Loosen your ski bindings and take your hands out of the loops on your poles.

  4 Slip any rucksack straps off your uphill shoulder so that you can ditch it easily.

  5 Fasten you smock hood over your nose and mouth to reduce the chances of drowning if you go down in powder snow.

  6 Walk downhill; don’t ski!

  7 Go straight down, not in a traverse.

  8 Keep high and stick to concave slopes.

  Caught in an avalanche

  If you feel or hear an avalanche coming, you must move fast but carefully – a fall now will almost certainly mean your death. Don’t panic. If you stay calm you have a good chance of coming out of it unscathed.

  1 Ditch your kit

  2 Find out where you are in relation to the avalanche. You may not be in its path. If it’s going to miss you, don’t move.

  3 Look out for your team mates. Remember their positions. You may have to dig them out.

  4 Ski away in a steep traverse. Don’t go straight down the fall line. The avalanche may be travelling at anything up to 200 miles per hour.

  If you are in the path of an avalanche and cannot ski out of the way, try to find an anchor point (a boulder or tree) or sit down with your back to the slope, Bergen behind you, having kicked off your skis and sticks. Immediately the snow hits you, begin swimming, and try to stay on the surface.