No . 9 Commando No . 9 Commando was a battalion - sized commando raised by the British Army during the Second World War . They took art in raids across the English Channel and in the Mediterranean ending the was in Italy as part of the 2nd Special Service Brigade . Like all Army Commandos they were disbanded in 1946 . Background . The commandos were formed in 1940 , by the order of Winston Churchill the British Prime Minister . He called for specially trained troops that would " develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast " . At first they were a small force of volunteers who carried out small raids against enemy occupied territory , but by 1943 their role had changed into lightly equipped assault Infantry which specialised in spearheading amphibious landings . The man initially selected as the overall commander of the force was Admiral Sir Roger Keyes himself a veteran of the landings at Galipoli and the Zeebrugge raid in the First World War . Keyes resigned in October 1941 and was replaced by Admiral Louis Mountbatten . By the autumn of 1940 more than 2 , 000 men had volunteered for Commando training , and what became known as the Special Service Brigade was formed into 12 units called Commandos . Each Commando would number around 450 men commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel . They were sub divided into Troops of 75 men and further divided into 15 man sections . Commandos were all volunteers seconded from other British Army regiments and retained their own cap badge s and remained on their regimental roll for pay . All volunteers went through the six week intensive commando course at Achnacarry . The course in the Scottish Highlands concentrated on fitness , speed marches , weapons training , map reading , climbing , small boat operations and demolitions both by day and by night . By 1943 the Commandos had moved away from small raiding operations and had been formed in Brigade s of assault infantry to spearhead future Allied landing operations . Three units were left un - brigaded to carry out smaller scale raids . History . The men of No . 9 Commando were originally from the No . 6 and No . 7 Independent Companies . They had been amalgamated in the Autumn of 1940 in the 2nd Special Service Battalion , under command of Lieutenant Colonel J . M . Saegert . After the general reorganisation of the Commando units , they wee re - designated No . 9 Commando and based in Criccieth in Wales . No . 9 Commando undertook its first raid on the nights of 22 / 23 November 1941 against Houlgate in France Operation Sunstar on the French coast at Houlgate . The raid was a success and they landed and evacuated without any loss . After this raid the command of the Commando was taken over by Lieutenant Colonel Ronnie Tod . The next operation men from No . 9 were involved in was the St . Nazaire Raid in March 1942 , the main landing force was provided by No . 2 Commando but most of the other Commando units supplied demolition parties to assist in demolishing the port facilities . They were then used to reinforce the Gibraltar garrison during Operation Torch the landings in French North Africa . They remained in Gibraltar until November 1943 when they carried out raids on the islands of Tremiti and Pianosa . During the Allied invasion of Italy as party of the 2nd Special Service Brigade they were involved in Operation Partridge in December 1943 in the area of the Garigliano River . This was followed by Operation Shingle the Anzio landings and fighting at Monte Ornito before being withdrawn to Naples in March 1943 . In 1944 No . 9 Commando were involved in Operation Darlington 11 in May and Operation Gradient in August . They then operated in Greece before returning to Italy and took part Operation Roast the crossing of Commachio Lagoon and the battle of the Argenta Gap in April 1945 . The Second World War in Europe ended in May 1945 and in 1946 all the Army Commandos were disbanded . Battle honours . The following Battle honour s were awarded to the British Commandos during the Second World War .