page_title: Commando Order
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Commando Order / Background
caption_attribution_description: RAID ON VAAGSO, 27 DECEMBER 1941. British commandos in action during the raid. (Operation Archery)
context_page_description: The Commando Order was issued by the OKW, the High Command of the German armed forces, on 18 October 1942 stating that in retaliation for their opponents "employing in their conduct of the war, methods which contravene the International Convention of Geneva", including from "captured orders" it emerging "that they are instructed not only to tie up prisoners, but also to kill out-of-hand unarmed captives who they think might prove an encumbrance to them, or hinder them in successfully carrying out their aims", and that Commandos have been ordered to kill prisoners, all Allied Commandos encountered in Europe and Africa should be killed immediately without trial, even if in proper uniforms or if they attempted to surrender. Any commando or small group of commandos or a similar unit, agents, and saboteurs not in proper uniforms, who fell into the hands of the German forces by some means other than direct combat, were to be handed over immediately to the Sicherheitsdienst.
  The order, which was issued in secret, made it clear that failure to carry out its directives by any commander or officer would be considered to be an act of negligence punishable under German military law.
context_section_description: The Commando Order mentioned violations of the Geneva Conventions by Allied commando troops and cites these violations as justification for its directives. It is widely believed that occurrences at Dieppe and on a small raid on the Channel Island of Sark by the Small Scale Raiding Force (with some men of No. 12 Commando) brought Hitler's rage to a head.
caption: Commandos during Operation Archery on Vågsøy island, Norway
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