In a forgotten back corner of the continent, two little-known European countries are still locked in their very own, and very real, miniature “Cold War”. The animosity between these two states stretches back so far into their histories that most citizens simply believe that ”it has always been this way”.
On the one hand is the Anglo-Germanic Duchy of Grand Fenwick.
On the other is the secretive People’s Republic of Katatonia.
However, although both countries are so small that they barely register on most maps, they both possess quite modern looking and decently equipped special operations forces.
PRK “Katatonic Operations Division” (KOD) – The origins of KOD appear to have been within the secretive Order of the Katatonic Knights; which was a kind of “Preatorian Guard” type unit first created in the Middle Ages in order to provide palace and court security for the Crown Prince.
Chairman Meow – the Supreme Dear Leader of the People’s Republic of Katatonia
After the Katatonian Socialist Movement siezed power in 1968, the Order of the Katatonic Knights was officially disbanded and those members deemed to be “politically correct” were ‘invited’ to join a new organization called the Katatonic Guards Brigade, which later became the Katatonic Operations Division.
Unlike Western special operations units, KOD appears to have quite a broad remit ranging from covert internal security and overt stabilization operations to covert external destabilization, sabotage and psychological operations to overt reconnaissance and raiding operations.
On overt operations, KOD troopers are usually seen wearing a Tigerstripe type camouflage uniform – nicknamed KATPAT® – and using locally-made, unlicensed copies of the HK G36 assault rifle and the Rheinmetall MG3 machine gun.
DGF “Special Operations Brigade” (SOB) – The Duchy of Grand Fenwick takes its name from its founder, the English nobleman Sir Roger Fenwick (picture below) who, while employed by a minor German duke, settled there with his followers in 1770. Thanks to Sir Roger, the national language to this day is English.
The overall purpose of the Special Operations Brigade is to provide the Duchy of Grand Fenwick with a rapidly-deployable unit fully trained and equipped to conduct special operations from the moment of insertion by land, air or maritime assets.
In particular, the unit is tasked to perform the following missions:
- tactical reconnaissance and observation
- intelligence and counter-intelligence operations
- strikes, raids, search-and-destroy missions
- interdiction and disruption operations
At the present time, the exact number of troops in the Duchy of Grand Fenwick Special Operations Brigade is a closely guarded secret. However, from the photos that have been seen of the unit in training, they appear to operate in 3 or 4 man teams at a basic level.
The SOB’s have recently adopted PenCott-GreenZone™and PenCott-SnowDrift™ camouflage uniforms – known as FENPAT® locally.
The SOB appears to use a variety of modern small arms, such as the SOPMOD M4, FN SCAR and FN MINIMI. The FN F2000 also appears to have been trialed as well…
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Photo credits:
BE-X / Begadi GmbH
UF PRO
MILSIG Canada
