National Archives and Records Administration
ARC Identifier 2569708 / Local Identifier 111-TV-448
Big Picture: Phantom Fighters
DVD Copied by Timothy Vollmer. Former secret military force shown for first time on "THE BIG PICTURE" -- "Phantom Fighters" (TV-448) is good strong film entertainment, worthy of the attention of every thoughtful viewer. It is a documentary about the Army's Tenth Special Forces Group in Europe, until recently a secret military force, now shown for the first time on THE BIG PICTURE. The story setting is in the vicinity of Bad Tolz which lies in an alpine valley near the German Swiss border. Resourcefully put together from film made in Germany by the Army Signal Corps, "Phantom Fighters" is a movingly meaningful television documentary about American soldiers trained to organize guerrilla resistance in enemy occupied territories. In a field training exercise, the many and varied skills of the Tenth are put to the test. They include a parachute jump, a mountain climb on skis, destruction of a bridge on the River Ammer, and a race to outdistance the enemy. It's a rugged, exciting life as evidenced on film and no soldier with Tenth Special Forces would have it any other way. Every man is a volunteer qualified to carry out hazardous and adventurous assignments. In no other branch of the United States military services is the standard of physical fitness higher than in Special Forces. Among the groups at Bad Tolz, a man's hand is as deadly a weapon as a rifle or hand grenade. Credit goes to the Tenth Special Forces for having accomplished the difficult task of staging a part of their mission before the motion picture cameras.