The
British Commandos were
first formed by the
British Army during World War
II in June 1940, as a well-armed but non-regimental raider
force employing unconventional and
irregular tactics to assault, disrupt and
reconnoitre the enemy in mainland Europe and Scandinavia.
Four
current units of the UK Armed Forces, the Royal Marines Commandos, the Parachute Regiment, the
Special Air
Service
and the Special Boat Service
all share this same origin.
Initially raids were typically made by comparatively small numbers,
of short duration and at night, later growing in complexity and
size. The Commandos were formed and operated in secrecy and
produced a demoralising effect on German coastal forces while
achieving celebrity status among the British public, comparable
with that attached to fighter pilots and shrouded in myth. As the
war progressed commandos operated increasingly in the role of
shock troops, sometimes up to
brigade strength and sometimes in conjunction with
infantry.
Formation
Following
Sir Winston Churchill's
instruction to form a "butcher and
bolt" raiding force as a means of continuing the war against
Nazi Germany after the evacuation of most of the British Expeditionary
Force at Dunkirk
, a format
for the new force was put forward by Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke (Royal Artillery) during his time as Military
Assistant to General Sir John Dill, the
Chief of the
Imperial General Staff. He penned his proposals on 5 June 1940,
just two days after the evacuation, which was approved at a meeting
between Dill and Churchill on 8 June, and department M.O.9 of the
War
Office
was created the following day to pursue the
idea. M.O.9 continued to foster the Commando idea until
disbanded with the creation of the Tri-service organisation known
as
Combined
Operations, encompassing all three services. On Churchill's
orders the units were to be armed with the latest equipment and
were to launch an attack at the earliest opportunity,
In 1940, volunteers were called for from serving Army soldiers
within certain formations still in Britain and men of the
disbanding Divisional
Independent
Companies originally raised from
Territorial Army Divisions
and who had seen service in Norway. Some later recruiting was
conducted in the various theatres and among foreign nationals
joining the Allies. In 1942 the
Admiralty agreed to volunteers being
sought from the
Royal Marines
Division and the first
Royal
Marines Commando, No.40, was formed in mid February. The same
year, recruits were also called for from the British police forces.
Some 400 men passed Commando training and were then assigned to
various battalions.
Dudley Clarke proposed the name "
Commando"
after the raiding and assault style of Boer Commando units of the
Second Boer War. Despite Churchill's
liking for the name, some senior officers preferred the term
"Special Service" and both terms coexisted until the latter part of
the war.
Persistence of the term "Special Service"
derived the terms "Special Air
Service", for the original No. 2 Commando
parachutists, and longer term the "Special Boat
Service" whose origin lays in Lt. Roger Courtney's Folbot Troop, later "Special
Boat Section" of
No. 8 Commando and "101 Troop" of No.6
Commando.
Each Commando was to consist of a headquarters unit plus ten troops
of 50 men including three officers (changed in 1941 to six troops
of 65 men per Commando including a Heavy Weapons Troop). Some
thirty Commando units were formed during the war within the
Army,
Royal
Marines,
Royal Navy and
Royal Air Force, together with a number of
other
Special Forces units. Army
Commandos and Royal Marines Commandos were eventually formed into
four brigades.
Each Commando was initially responsible for the selection and
training of its own officers and men. Commando troops received
extra pay from which they had to find their own accommodation
whenever in Britain. They trained in physical fitness, survival,
orienteering, close quarter combat, silent killing, signalling,
amphibious and cliff assault, vehicle operation, weapons (including
the use of captured enemy small arms) and demolition. Live
ammunition was used at all times during training, which resulted in
some casualties.
Many officers, NCOs and trainee instructors
initially attended various courses at the all forces Special
Training Centre at Lochailort
, Scotland
.
Also in
the Scottish Highlands, Combined
Operations established a substantial all forces amphibious training
centre at Inveraray
, and in 1942 a specific Commando Training Centre at
Achnacarry
near Spean
Bridge
. All field training was conducted with live
ammunition.
Notable World War II operations
Northwest Europe
The first attack - though not very effective except in respect of
its propaganda value - was made by 120 men of the 375-strong No.11
Commando/Independent Company commanded by Major
Ronnie Tod on the night of 23 June 1940.
The attack
- code-named Operation
Collar - was an offensive reconnaissance on the French
coast south
of Boulogne-sur-Mer
and Le
Touquet
. The only British injury was a bullet graze
to Dudley Clarke's ear (Clarke was there as an observer), while at
least two German soldiers were killed.
A second
and similarly inconsequential attack, Operation Ambassador, was launched on
the German occupied island of Guernsey
on the night of 14 July 1940, by men drawn from H
Troop of No. 3 Commando under
John Durnford-Slater and No. 11
Independent Company. The raiders failed to make contact with the
German garrison.
Norway
After intensive training and a number of cancelled operations over
the following months, a major raid,
Operation Claymore, was launched on the
morning of 3 March 1941, by No. 3 and No.
4 Commando on the
practically undefended Norwegian
Lofoten Islands,
successfully destroying fish-oil factories,
petrol dumps, and 11 ships, capturing 216 Germans, and recruiting
315 Norwegian volunteers. Encryption equipment and
codebooks were also seized during this
operation.
Middle East
In an attempt to help stem the early successes of
Rommel's Afrika
Korps, a force derived from Troops of Nos. 3, 4, 7, 8, and 11
Commando, organised as three 'Special Service' Battalions, with the
addition of another 'Special Service' Battalion drawn from the
locally raised '50' series Middle East Commando (together known as
Layforce after their commander Colonel
Robert Laycock) were attached to
General Sir
Archibald Wavell's army
in February 1941.
Their first raid was made on 20 April on the
port of Bardia
; although
little damage was caused, Rommel temporarily recalled a brigade
sized battle group from the front to defend against subsequent
raids. The Commandos were then used to help defend the
island of
Crete, and covered the
eventual evacuation, with the exception of No.
11 Commando, which
was reinforcing Cyprus
.
Following the British
invasion of
Syria (Operation Exporter) on 8 June 1941, No. 11 Commando
participated in the
Battle of
the Litani River.
The unit successfully led the crossing of
the Litani River in Lebanon
, fighting against troops of the French Vichy Régime.
On November 18, 1941 No. 11 Commando
raided Libya in an attempt to kill
Erwin Rommel
Return to Norway
The minor
Norwegian port of Vågsøy
(Vaagso in English) was to be the main target of
one of the first raids under Louis
Mountbatten's Combined Operations
organisation. Operation
Archery involved Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 6 Commando, a
flotilla from the
Royal
Navy, and limited air support. The raid took place on the
morning of 27 December 1941, causing significant damage to
factories, warehouses, the German garrison, and sinking 8
ships.
The raid
prompted Hitler to divert 30,000 troops
to Norway, upgrade coastal and inland defences, and send the
battleship Tirpitz
, the battlecruiser (or
light battleship) Scharnhorst, the
"pocket battleship" Lutzow and the
heavy cruisers Hipper and
Prinz
Eugen
to Norway—a major reorientation of effort away from
the North Atlantic convoy routes for the protection of Norway.
Hitler
was led to believe that the British might invade northern Norway to put pressure on Sweden
and Finland
. As a diversion
Operation Anklet was launched on the
Lofoten Islands at the same time.
In 1942 the Commandos supported the
Norwegian heavy water
sabotage operations led by
Special Operations Executive
(SOE) trained
Norwegian
commandos.
France
St Nazaire
180px-Bundesarchiv_Bild_101II-MW-3724-03,_St._Nazaire,_Zerstörer_"HMS_Campbeltown".jpg"
style='width:180px' alt="" />
The
French port of St.
Nazaire
contained the Louis Joubert Lock
, then the largest dry dock
in the world, built for the passenger liner SS Normandie. It was the only dry
dock on the French Atlantic
coast
capable of berthing the German battleship
Tirpitz for repairs, and thus enable it to operate
against convoys from there.
No.
2
Commando plus demolition experts from Numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and
12 Commandos launched a Combined Operations
raid, Operation Chariot
, with the Royal
Navy on 28 March 1942, which became known in Britain thereafter
as 'The Greatest Raid of All'.
The destroyer
HMS
Campbeltown (formerly the 1919 decommissioned
USS Buchanan) had 24 Mark VII
depth-charges (4 1/4 tons) cemented
below decks behind the forward gun support.
Accompanied by 18 smaller ships, the
Campbeltown sailed into port where she was rammed directly
into the Normandie
dock
gates. The Commandos engaged the German
forces and destroyed the dock facilities. Eight hours later,
delayed-action fuses set off the explosives in the
Campbeltown which wrecked the dock gates and killed some
360 Germans and French.
The dock
remained out of action for the duration of the war and the
Tirpitz was never sent south to France, eventually being
destroyed by British bombers while at anchor off Tromsø
, Norway. A
total of 611 soldiers and sailors took part in Chariot; 169 were
killed and 200 (most wounded) taken prisoner. Only 242 returned
immediately. Of the 241 Commandos who took part 64 were posted as
killed or missing and 109 captured. Among participants in the raid
two commandos and three members of the
Royal
Navy were awarded the
Victoria
Cross, while 80 others received decorations for
gallantry.
Dieppe
On 19
August 1942, Dieppe
was the site
of a bloody landing by 4,965 Canadian
troops and 1,075 men of No. 3 and No. 4
Commando, and the newly formed No.
40 Commando
Royal Marines,
designated A Commando (RM) at that time. Among them were
distributed 50 U.S.
Rangers and members of 3 Troop,
No. 10 (Inter Allied) Commando (German-speaking, many Jewish) and
some of the embryonic No. 30 (Assault Unit) Commando.
Nos.3 and 4 (with those of No. 10 (IA) and most of the Rangers)
were to destroy batteries to the north and south respectively which
overlooked the harbour. No. 40 Commando (RM) and some Rangers were
to land with the Canadian infantry and armour. No. 30 (AU) was to
race through to the Dieppe Town Hall/Headquarters and capture
whatever intelligence documents could be found. An RAF
radar expert had a mission to search for and take
German radar documents believed to be at Dieppe. Unknown to him,
his
bodyguards had orders to kill him in
the event his capture seemed imminent.
The boats carrying
No. 3 Commando ran into a German convoy and the
ensuing sea battle scattered their formation and prevented the
landing and attack going to plan. Though only 18 men succeeded in
reaching their objective and were unable to destroy the guns,
determined sniping prevented the German gun crews from firing on
the invasion force. No. 4 landed successfully and destroyed their
target battery.
The raid lasted only nine hours but claimed 907 Canadian dead and
1,946 taken prisoner. The Royal Air Force lost 106
aircraft and 153 men in the air battle above Dieppe
(the largest air battle of the European war in terms of sorties
flown), while the Royal Navy lost a destroyer, several landing
craft and 550 men. While Germany suffered several hundred
casualties, the overall operation was widely criticised as poorly
conceived, although it did lead to the decision not to attempt to
capture a port by way of head-on assault during the invasion of
Normandy in 1944 —
Operation Overlord.
D-Day and Normandy
1st Special Service
Brigade comprising No. 3, No. 4, No.
6 and No.
45 Commandos
landed at Ouistreham
in Queen Red sector of Sword Beach
. No. 4 Commando were augmented by 1 and 8
Troop (both French) of No. 10 (Inter Allied) Commando and were
committed for two months to hold the left flank of the
D-Day landings.
No.
41 Commando (part of 4th Special Service Brigade)
landed on the far right of Sword Beach, where 29,000 men would land. No.
48 (RM)
Commando landed on Juno
Beach
, from Saint-Aubin-sur-Mer
to Courseulles-sur-Mer
, where 21,400 troops would land. No. 46(RM)
Commando (part of 4th Special Service Brigade) at Juno to scale the
cliffs on the left side of the Orne River estuary and destroy a
battery. No.
47(RM) Commando (part of 4th Special Service
Brigade) landed on the West flank of Gold Beach
.
Netherlands
In
November 1944 British Commandos of the 4th Commando Brigade and
41(RM) Commando were involved in the Battle of
Walcheren Causeway
, attacking from seaward at Flushing and Westkapelle.
Italy
On 1 April 1945 the whole of
2nd
Commando Brigade, Nos.
2, 9, 40 (RM)
and 43 (RM), under Brigadier Ronnie Tod
were engaged in Operation Roast at
Comacchio
lagoon, north east Italy
.
This was
the first major action in the big spring offensive to push the
Germans back across the River
Po
and out of Italy. After a fierce
three-day battle, the Commandos succeeded in clearing the spit
separating the lagoon from the Adriatic
, so securing the flank of the 8th Army and fostering the idea the main
offensive would be along the coast and not though the Argenta
Gap
.
A total of 946 prisoners were taken, while three battalions, two
troops of
artillery and a company of
machine gunners were wiped out. In the
course of the operation 20 field guns and a number of mortars and
rocket launchers were also captured. During the operation, Cpl
Tom Hunter of No.43 Commando (RM)
earned a posthumous
Victoria Cross
for conspicuous gallantry in single handedly clearing a farmstead
housing three
Spandau machine guns, then
engaging further Spandaus entrenched on the far side of the canal
from open ground.
Burma
In
Burma
142 Commando Company formed part of the Chindits (the 77th Indian Infantry Brigade), and
fought in the first long-range Chindit operation behind Japanese
lines, codenamed Operation
Longcloth. The raid began on 8 February 1943 and lasted
for about three months. It inflicted little damage on Japanese
supply lines but it did show that British and Indian Army and
Indian forces could fight in the jungle as well as or better than
the Japanese; this gave a boost to the morale of the Allied forces
fighting in the
South-East Asian
Theatre.
In the India / Burma theatre 142 Commando Company also operated in
conjunction with the U.S. unit
Merrill's Marauders.
Later in
the Burma Campaign 3 Commando
Brigade
comprising No. 5 Army Commando, No 44 RM
Commando, No. 42 RM Commando, and No.1 Army Commando took part in
the coastal landings during the Allied
Southern Front
offensive of 1944/1945. Culminating in the battle of Hill 170 at
Kangaw. Here
Lt G Knowland of
4 Troop No 1 Army Commando was awarded the Victoria Cross.
The battle of Kangaw was the critical battle of the second Arakan
campaign.
Hitler's Commando Order
On 18 October 1942 Hitler issued his
Kommandobefehl, or
Commando Order. In this order, Hitler
required that British or Allied soldiers participating in Commando
operations should be "annihilated to the last man", even if in
uniform, escaping, or surrendering — contrary to the stipulations
of the
Geneva Conventions.
This was
prompted by his rage at the success of the Commandos and their
effect on the morale of his men, and an incident on the Isle of Sark
, Channel Islands,
involving men of the Small
Scale Raiding Force and No. 12 Commando. In this action
3 German prisoners were killed, allegedly with their hands tied and
while attempting escape.
Commando battle honours
In September 1957, 38
battle honours
were approved by Queen Elizabeth II to be bestowed upon the
Commando Association on behalf of the commando units. The honours
that were awarded were:
Adriatic
- Alethangyaw - Aller - Anzio -
Argenta Gap - Burma
1943/1945 - Crete - Dieppe - Dives Crossing - Djebel Choucha - Flushing
- Greece 1944/45 - Italy 1943/45 - Kangaw - Landing at Porto
San Venere - Landing in Sicily - Leese - Litani - Madagascar - Middle East 1941,
1942, 1944 - Monte Ornito - Myebon
- N.
Africa 1941/1943 - N.W.
Europe 1942, 1944, 1945 - Normandy Landing - Norway 1941 - Pursuit to Messina
- Rhine - Salerno
- Sedjenane
1 - Sicily
1943 - St.Nazaire
- Steamroller Farm
- Syria 1941 - Termoli - Vaagso - Valli di
Comacchio - Westkapelle.
In 1985, the Commando Association applied to the Ministry of
Defence for three more honours—Keren, Amba Alagi and Abyssinia
1940–41—on behalf of Nos. 51 and 52 Commandos. The request was,
however, not approved.
Post-World War II reorganisation
During
the war the British Army Commandos spawned several other famous
British units such as the Special Air Service, the Special Boat Service and the Parachute
Regiment. The British Army Commandos themselves were
never regimented and were disbanded at the end of the war while the
Royal Marines Commandos continued,
though in smaller numbers and with much reorganisation, for example
the
Commando 21 reorganisation.
In 2005
the operational British Commando force consisted of 3 Commando
Brigade Royal Marines which
included 40, 42 Commando and 45 Commando Royal Marines,
29 Commando
Regiment Royal Artillery, and 59 Independent Commando
Squadron Royal Engineers, the Commando Logistic Regiment, a
naval squadron of medium helicopters, and a landing craft
squadron. 3 Commando Brigade also included either the First or the Second
Battalion Korps Mariniers
.
Commando training today
Royal
Marines recruits undergo a 32-week course at the Commando
Training Centre Royal Marines
, Lympstone. Included within this (and Royal
Marines Officer Training) is the Commando Course.
Those volunteers for Commando Training from other services
undertake the
All Arms Commando
Course, also run at CTCRM. Such volunteers will be aiming to
serve in a number of units that are part of 3 Commando Brigade,
examples include:
They will already have completed basic training and indeed may be
very experienced personnel. 'Beat-up' courses are run by both the
Commando Gunners and the Commando Engineers to prepare volunteers
for the Commando Course itself.
There is also a Reserve Commando Course run for members of the
Royal Marines Reserve and
Commando units of the
Territorial Army.
Other notable Commando operations
See also
Notes
- Dunning 2003, p. 109.
- 4 Commando
- http://www2.army.mod.uk/29cdoregtra/about/history.htm
- Parker 2006, p. 182.
- Messenger 1988 p. 131.
- Messenger 1988, p. 132.
References
External links
.
February 1942 raid on the German radar near
Bruneval,
France
.
April 1942 raid on Hardelot,
France
.
October 1942 raid on Sark
(SSRF).
.
(SOE
Norwegians).
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