Elite Units of Trench: The Fictional Special Forces of the Great War

⚔️ Before the Term “Special Forces” Ever Existed...

The Great War had already laid the foundation for elite, unconventional warfare. In the Trench series, this reality is expanded and stylized — not as alternate history, but as fiction within historical truth. These fictional elite units — from Germany’s K.W.S. to Russia’s I.T.B. — represent a world of classified missions, hidden technologies, and prototype warfare that was always one decision or deployment away from being real.

🧠 The Origins of Specialized Warfare in Trench
The inspiration for these groups comes from real-life historical counterparts:

British colonial veterans and raiding units

French Chasseurs Alpins (Blue Devils)

Russian Shock Troopers

German Sturmtruppen

These were the precursors — the raw material.

But Trench imagines what could’ve happened if nations had fully embraced the tactical evolution of war in 1914–1918.
Each elite faction in Trench is tasked with handling prototype weapons, vehicles, and gear — items too unreliable or experimental for regular armies.

Whether it’s storming an armored train in Romania, disabling a prototype tank, or sabotaging a chemical weapons lab in Persia, these forces don’t rewrite history — they add another layer to it.

🏷️ Fictional Units in Focus
Kaiserliche Waffenspezialisten Battalion (K.W.S.)
“Immer mit Präzision” (Always with Precision)

Germany’s elite, multi-theater strike force using advanced equipment across land, sea, and air.

Imperskiy Tayna Brigada (I.T.B.)
“Tsar i Bog” (Emperor and God)

The Tsar’s hidden hammer — operating with brutality and foreign-funded equipment in defense of the Empire.

Spéciale Hasardeux Division (S.H.D.)
“Toujours prêt” (Always Ready)

France’s secret doctrine experiment — forging new weapons, new tactics, and elite units far from the public eye.

Regiment of Britannia (R.O.B.)
“Advance, we dare!”

An Empire’s hybrid task force. Loyal and battle-hardened but challenged by politics and control struggles.

A.T.O.G. – American Tactical Operations Group

A ghost division. Covert, intelligent, and operating more like black-ops than boots-on-the-ground.

Each group acts with full autonomy and a chilling understanding:
☠️ If you’re caught or killed… you never existed.

🗂️ Classified Operations, Forgotten Fronts
In Trench, you’ll see phrases like:
🕵️♂️ “This mission never happened.”
📜 “This is a classified operation.”
⛓️ “Today never existed.”

These aren't throwaway lines — they define the identity of these units.

The missions in Trench run parallel to real events, threading fictional black-ops and sabotage through true historical campaigns.

Examples:

📌 In Book One, a covert mission surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania introduces a fictional false flag operation — without rewriting the historical fact.
📌 In later volumes, operations run during major offensives like Gorlice–Tarnów and the Somme, adding secret sabotage and infiltration without erasing the real battles.

These are not alternate history missions — they’re hidden history.
The whispers. The sealed records. The stories that never made the front page.

🧬 Why Specialized Units?
Because WWI was more than trench warfare.
It was a crucible of innovation — and chaos.

These elite units allow Trench to:
✅ Introduce real experimental weapons
✅ Explore weird armored vehicles like the Tsar Tank and Burstyn Motorgeschütz
✅ Depict covert missions that could’ve realistically happened in the fog of war

They exist because the regular army couldn’t risk fielding untested technology — but in the shadows, anything is possible.

🧾 Final Thoughts
These factions, while fictional, stay grounded in World War I reality.
They give voice to the forgotten weapons, the impossible operations, and the classified soldiers who might have fought behind the lines — their names never recorded.

They show that in the Great War…
📍 not all battles were fought in daylight,
📍 and not all stories were ever told.

Welcome to the shadows.
Welcome to Trench.