Special forces, or special operations forces are military unitshighly-trained to perform unconventional, often high-risk missions.Special forces, as they would now be recognised, emerged in theearly 20th century, with a significant growth in the field duringthe Second World War. Special forces have played an important rolethroughout the history of warfare whenever the aim has been toachieve disruption by "hit and run" and sabotage, rather than moretraditional conventional army combat. Other significant roles layin reconnaissance, providing essential intelligence from close toor among the enemy, and increasingly in combating irregular forces,their infrastructure and activities. Chinese strategist Jiang Ziya,in his Six Secret Teachings, describes recruiting talented andhighly-motivated men for serving in specialized elite units withsuch functions as commanding heights and making rapid long-distanceadvances.[1] Hamilcar Barca in Sicily (249 BC) had specializedtroops trained to launch several offensives per day. In the lateRoman or early Byzantine period, Roman fleets used small, fastcamouflaged ships crewed by selected men for scouting and commandomissions. Similarly, Muslim forces also had several naval specialoperations units, including one which used camouflaged ships togather intelligence and launch raids, and another which consistedof soldiers who could pass for Crusaders who would use ruses toboard enemy ships and then capture and destroy them.[2] In Japan,Ninjas were used for reconnaissance, espionage and as frontlineassault troops, bodyguards or fortress guards, or otherwise foughtalongside more conventional soldiers.[3] During the Napoleonicwars, rifle and sapper units were formed who held more specialisedroles in reconnaissance and skirmishing and were not committed tothe formal battle lines. The British Indian Army deployed twospecial forces during their border wars the Corps of Guides formedin 1846 and the Gurka Scouts (a force that was formed in the 1890sand was first used as a detached unit during the 1897–1898 TirahCampaign).[4] For the British Army, it was during the Second BoerWar (1899–1902) that the need for more specialised units becamemost apparent. Scouting units such as the Lovat Scouts, a ScottishHighland regiment made up of exceptional woodsmen outfitted inghillie suits and well practised in the arts of marksmanship, fieldcraft, and military tactics filled this role. This unit was formedin 1900 by Lord Lovat and early on reported to an American, MajorFrederick Russell Burnham, the Chief of Scouts under Lord Roberts.After the war, Lovat's Scouts went on to formally become theBritish Army's first sniper unit.[5] Additionally, the BushveldtCarbineers, formed in 1901, can be seen as an early unconventionalwarfare unit. During World War I the Anzac and Canadian divisionsdeployed amongst British forces in France quickly came to beregarded as the best shock troops in the Allied ranks due to theirferocity in battle and their unconventional warfare techniques, andwere employed accordingly. The successes during trench raids, andkill or capture missions can be seen as early forerunners ofspecial operations.