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The Birth of Hostage RESCUE UNITS

The murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany, prompted many Western governments to create special hostage-rescue units. In Britain, the SAS refined its hostage-rescue tactics to prepare for any eventuality. Today, many countries face the threat of hostage-taking and terrorist attacks against their citizens. For this reason, many governments have established expert counter-terrorist units. Each unit is ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice to combat the menace of hostage-taking. The American Special Forces have a secret force, the British have the Special Air Service (SAS), and other European countries have created their own elite teams. There are currently more than 90 counter-terrorist/hostage-rescue units (CT/HRUs) around the world. Many of these have been established and trained by the SAS and other leading CT units. The need for such units became apparent in the 1960s, when many international terrorist groups began to attack places and people around the world. These attacks ranged from bombings to hostage-taking. The incident above any other that led to the creation of Western counter-terrorist units was the horrible massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.

Elite troops have special training facilities for abseiling. The Austrian GEK unit uses a 300-foot (91-m) tower at Wiener Neustadt.