Commandos
British commando units were established in June 1940. Their formation was a response to the rapid success of the German invasion of France. The new British Prime Minister Winston Churchill wanted to reverse the spread of defeatist sentiment, maintain the initiative and demonstrate British determination to resist. However, the British Army as a whole was in the process of consolidating existing and forming new units for the defence of the British Isles, and was therefore not prepared for any major offensive operations. It in turn had no suitable units to carry out minor attacks, and the transformation of any of the existing ones was rejected.
It was at this point that Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, who was of South African descent, came forward as Assistant to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Lieutenant-General Sir John Dill, with a proposal for the establishment of an assault force similar to the armed Boer commandos that had successfully fought the larger British Army during the Second Boer War of 1899-1902. The lieutenant colonel also had experience of the 1936 Arab revolt. The Prime Minister accepted the proposal with enthusiasm. Perhaps because he was a veteran of the Boer War. Let us add that the British took the word commandos itself from the Dutch, which in turn took it from the Portuguese.
It was a very novel experiment, but it had Churchill's support. And so the recruitment of volunteers was soon begun, first at Southern and Northern Command, and in the following days at other commands. Potential volunteers did not receive much information, they only knew that they were reporting for a special service of a dangerous nature in which they would undertake mobile operations. Nevertheless, a large number of volunteers signed up, to the point of causing some concern and resentment among the commanders of the regular units, who feared the departure of their best men. The reality was a little more complicated. As well as suitable candidates, there were a number of unsuitable volunteers who just wanted to escape the daily routine but lacked the relevant qualities and skills.
Each command located in the United Kingdom was given the task of forming one or two squads of commandos. The HQ chose a squad leader, who then chose a troop commander (Troops). They then chose their men and NCOs. The squad consisted of ten platoons. In all, there were about 500 men.
The initial pace was hampered by a lack of weapons and equipment, a large number of candidates who did not meet the requirements, and the need to maintain independent companies whose men were to be assigned to the detachment in the field because of the continuing danger of a German invasion. Some troops had not been formed or had understaffed.
However, the Prime Minister demanded the rapid execution of the offensive. And so, ironically, the first operation (Operation Collar) was carried out by the commandos 11th Independent Company. It went into the area near Boulogne on the night of 24-25 June 1940 to retrieve German prisoners. This independent company was also mainly involved in the scrub operation called Ambassador. However, one platoon of the 3rd Commando had already taken part.
The initial organization of the commandos was ineffective, so it was decided to establish a Special Services Brigade under which all the commandos were to fall. It was also to merge the already established detachments with the still existing independent companies. The brigade was not to be involved in the defence of the islands, but was exclusively intended for offensive operations. It consisted of five Special Service Battalions, which were further subdivided into two Special Service Companies. These consisted of ten platoons of fifty men in two sections. These sections were then divided into two sub-sections. Not all the sections were incorporated into battalions. The 2nd Commando Section did not become part of any battalion, instead it was soon renamed the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, then the 1st Parachute Battalion and then the Parachute Regiment.
The battalion organisation, however, proved unsuitable. It was unpopular with the early commandos, the battalion was too large for the type of operations chosen, and administration and training would require more officers than the battalion had available. In addition, the battalion did not fit on the available assault pavilions. Thus, the battalion had to be divided into smaller groups, which complicated training and command. There was also a problem with the companies. In addition, one company did not fit on the landing craft (Armoured Landing Craft).
In February 1941, during the ongoing operation in Lofoten, the brigade and the individual detachments were reorganized. The detachment continued to consist of a headquarters and six platoons. Each platoon had 3 officers and 62 men. Thus, the platoon and reserve fit into two landing craft and the detachment fit into a Dutch-type assault ship, and two detachments fit into a Glen-type assault ship. The smaller detachments were also easier to command in the fast operations for which the commandos were created. With reductions in troop strengths, commanders could also easily get rid of men and officers who proved unsuitable for service with the commandos.
Commando detachments were also established in the Middle East. In August 1940, the 50th Commandos Detachment was established in Geneifa. In October of the same year the 51st Detachment was established, and in November the 52nd Detachment. A depot was also established in December to train new volunteers. The Middle East detachments had problems with shortages of men and material. On the scrappy side, they could not complain of lack of deployment, but mostly not in the role for which they were intended. In March 1941, a grouping of commando units set out from Britain under the command of Colonel Robert Laycock. It consisted of the 7th, 8th and 11th Detachments, one platoon of the 3rd Detachment and a folding canoe section, which was soon renamed the 1st Special Boat Section. The 50th and 52nd Sections were supplemented in the Geneifa by men of Force Z. The group was referred to as the Layforce Group to avoid having to use the term commando or special service. The group was divided into battalions.
The original mission of the group was to take the island of Rhodes. Eventually its units were deployed in several actions on the North African coast, but its members were primarily deployed as conventional infantry in the fighting in North Africa and Crete. Here, however, they were at a disadvantage as they were trained for something else and were not equipped with heavier weapons. The A and D battalions bled to death in Crete. The survivors mostly ended up in German captivity. The C Battalion suffered heavy casualties on the Litani River during the invasion of Vichy Syria. Thus only B Battalion made raids in North Africa. However, due to a general lack of men and suitable vessels, both Layforce Group and 51st Battalion Commandos were disbanded in the summer. Their members returned to their original units or transferred to other special units such as the SAS or SBS. The disbanding of the Commandos in the Middle East angered the Prime Minister himself, Churchill, and so they were soon reinstated. The Middle East Commando Detachment was established under Laycock's command, taking over the Geneif Depot and incorporating the remnants of the Layforce Group, the 51st Commando Detachment, L Detachment from the SAS and the SBS men. His 3rd Platoon (its men still used the designation 11th Troop Commandos) raided Rommel's supposed headquarters at Beda Littoria in November 1941. The SAS and SBS, in turn, soon abandoned the formation, and much of the remnants of the detachment were placed at the disposal of the SOE. There was a jurisdictional dispute between this organisation and the headquarters of 8th Army over the affiliation and deployment of these troops. Although the designation of the unit was changed, its original name was maintained for some time. This was partly for reasons of secrecy and partly because of Churchill's desire to have such a unit in the area. However, in April 1942 the unit was renamed the 1st Special Service Regiment.
The numbers of the Special Services Brigade were increased as the number and scale of operations, and their success rate, increased. In February 1942, a Commando Depot was established at Achnacarry, Scotland, to consolidate the training of new members and to exchange new operational knowledge more rapidly.
In the same month, the first commando detachment was established, composed of Marines, specifically volunteers from the ranks of the Marine Division, which, with the exception of the Dakar Expedition, had not seen combat deployment since the start of the war. This detachment, called first as Marine Commandos Detachment and later as Detachment A, consisted of companies unlike the other detachments. The detachment saw its first deployment at Dieppe, after which it was renamed 40th Troop Commandos (Marine Corps). In October 1942, a second detachment of commandos of the Marine Corps was established. This time it was not formed by volunteer selections, but by the transformation of the 8th Battalion, Marine Corps. This detachment was first referred to as Detachment B, then renamed 41st Commando Detachment (Marine Corps).
In July 1942, 10th Commandos Detachment was established within the brigade, composed of members of various nations, including Czechs or anti-Nazi Germans and Austrians. It had already participated in the August operation at Dieppe. He mostly advanced with the first-line combat units and searched for intelligence-valuable documents in captured enemy unit headquarters.
The 62nd Commando Detachment also formally fell under the brigade's command. This was the codename for the Small Scale Ambush Unit, which in reality was jointly Combined Operations Command and SOE. In October 1942, the 14th Commando Detachment was established to continue raiding targets in Norway. However, the detachment did not prove very successful and was soon disbanded.