page_title: Commandos (United Kingdom)
section_title: Formation
hierarchical_section_title: Commandos (United Kingdom) / Formation
caption_attribution_description: English: British Generals 1939-1945 Major General Sir Robert "Lucky" Laycock (1907 - 1968): Laycock, Chief of Combined Operations, talking to Marine Commandos during an inspection shortly before D Day.
context_page_description: The Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe. Initially drawn from within the British Army from soldiers who volunteered for the Special Service Brigade, the Commandos' ranks would eventually be filled by members of all branches of the British Armed Forces and a number of foreign volunteers from German-occupied countries. By the end of the war 25,000 men had passed through the Commando course at Achnacarry. This total includes not only the British volunteers, but volunteers from Greece, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and the United States Army Rangers, which were modelled on the Commandos.
  Reaching a wartime strength of over 30 units and four assault brigades, the Commandos served in all theatres of war from the Arctic Circle to Europe and from the Mediterranean and Middle East to South-East Asia.
context_section_description: The British Commandos were a formation of the British Armed Forces organized for special service in June 1940. After the events leading to the British Expeditionary Force's (BEF) evacuation from Dunkirk, after the disastrous Battle of France, Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister, called for a force to be assembled and equipped to inflict casualties on the Germans and bolster British morale. Churchill told the joint chiefs of staff to propose measures for an offensive against German-occupied Europe, and stated in a minute to General Ismay on 6 June 1940: "Enterprises must be prepared, with specially-trained troops of the hunter class, who can develop a reign of terror down these coasts, first of all on the "butcher and bolt" policy..." The Chief of the Imperial General Staff at that time was General Sir John Dill and his Military Assistant was Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke.  Clarke discussed the matter with Dill at the War Office and prepared a paper for him that proposed the formation of a new force based on the tactics of Boer commandos, 'hit sharp and quick - then run to fight another day'; they became 'The Commandos' from then onwards.  Dill, aware of Churchill's intentions, approved Clarke's proposal. The first commando raid, Operation Collar, was conducted on the night of 24/25 June 1940.
  The request for volunteers for special service was initially restricted to serving Army soldiers within certain formations still in Britain, and from men of the disbanding divisional Independent Companies originally raised from Territorial Army divisions who had served in the Norwegian Campaign.
  By the autumn of 1940 more than 2,000 men had volunteered and in November 1940 these new units were organised into a Special Service Brigade consisting of four battalions under the command of Brigadier J. C. Haydon. The Special Service Brigade was quickly expanded to 12 units which became known as Commandos.  Each Commando had a lieutenant colonel as the commanding officer and numbered around 450 men (divided into 75 man troops that were further divided into 15 man sections).  Technically these men were only on secondment to the Commandos; they retained their own regimental cap badges and remained on the regimental roll for pay. The Commando force came under the operational control of the Combined Operations Headquarters. The man initially selected as the commander of Combined Operations was Admiral Roger Keyes, a veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign and the Zeebrugge Raid in the First World War. Keyes resigned in October 1941 and was replaced by Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten. Major-General Robert Laycock was the last Commander of Combined Operations; he took over from Mountbatten in October 1943.
caption: Major-General Sir Robert Laycock, inspecting Royal Marines Commandos shortly before the Normandy landings.
exif: {}