The SF Jedburgh Teams: History, Mission & the Patch That Honors Them

Some patches carry more history than others. The SF Jedburgh Teams patch is one of them — a direct link to the origins of American unconventional warfare and the men who wrote the playbook that Special Forces still follows today.

Who Were the Jedburgh Teams?

The Jedburgh Teams — nicknamed "Jedburghs" — were three-man teams of Allied special operators inserted behind enemy lines in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. Organized under the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) — the wartime predecessor to both the CIA and U.S. Army Special Forces — each team typically consisted of:

• One American officer
• One British officer
• One officer from the occupied nation (French, Belgian, Dutch, or Norwegian)

Their mission: link up with local resistance forces, organize and train partisans, conduct sabotage, gather intelligence, and disrupt German operations ahead of the Allied advance.

The Mission

Between June and November 1944 — following the D-Day landings — over 100 Jedburgh teams were deployed across France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway. They operated in small cells, living off the land and relying on local networks, often with minimal resupply.

The tactics they used — foreign internal defense, unconventional warfare, working by, with, and through indigenous forces — are the same core competencies that define U.S. Army Special Forces today. The Jedburghs didn't just fight in WWII; they established the doctrine.

The Legacy in Special Forces

Many OSS veterans went on to form the nucleus of the early Special Forces groups in the 1950s. The lineage is direct: the Jedburgh Teams → OSS → 10th Special Forces Group (1952) → the modern SF community.

Wearing the Jedburgh patch is an acknowledgment of that lineage — a recognition that the mission didn't start in Vietnam or Afghanistan. It started in the forests of occupied France.

The Patch

The SF Jedburgh Teams patch features the wings and insignia associated with the original teams' airborne insertion capability — a nod to the fact that most Jedburghs parachuted into their operational areas.

We produce it in two versions:

• SF Jedburgh Teams Embroidered OD Patch — subdued OD green for a low-profile, field-authentic look
• SF Jedburgh Teams Embroidered COLOR Patch — full color for display, collections, or dress wear

Both are embroidered to the same standard we apply to all American Marauder insignia: accurate, durable, and built for people who know the history.