The Commandos formed during the Second World War, following an order from the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in June 1940 for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe. Churchill 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..." Commandos were all volunteers for special service and originally came from the British Army but volunteers would eventually come from all branches of the United Kingdom's armed forces and foreign volunteers from countries occupied by the Germans. These volunteers formed over 30 individual units and four assault brigades.
The commandos would serve in all the theatres of war from the Arctic Circle, to Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific. Their operations ranged from small groups of men landing from the sea or by parachute to a brigade of assault troops spearheading the Allied invasions of Europe and Asia.
After the Second World War most of the commands were disbanded leaving just the Royal Marine 3 Commando Brigade but their legacy is the present day Royal Marines Commandos, the Parachute Regiment, Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service who can all trace their origins to the commandos. Their legacy also extends to mainland Europe, the French Naval commandos, the Dutch Korps Commandotroepen and the Belgian Paracommando Brigade can all trace their origins to men who volunteered to serve with the British Commandos.
Operations
1940
The first commando raid was Operation Collar, which took place on 24/25 June 1940. The raid was not carried out by a commando unit, but by one of their predecessors, No.11 Independent Company. Under the command of Major Ronnie Tod it was an offensive reconnaissance on the French coast south of Boulogne-sur-Mer and Le Touquet. The operation was a limited success, and the only British injury was a bullet graze to Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke (who 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 command of John Durnford-Slater and No. 11 Independent Company. One unit landed on the wrong island, another disembarked from its launch into water that came over their heads. Intelligence had indicated that there was a large German barracks on the island but the Commandos only discovered empty buildings. On their return to the beach they discovered that heavy seas had forced their launch off shore and they then had to swim out to sea to get picked up.
1941
In February 1941, a force of commandos under Colonel Robert Laycock, were sent to the Middle East to carry out raids in the eastern Mediterranean. This force became known as 'Layforce' after their commander and initially they were drawn from 'A' Troop from No. 3 Commando, No. 7 Commando, No. 8 (Guards) Commando, and No. 11 (Scottish) Commando.
The next raid of any consequence from the United Kingdom was Operation Claymore in March 1941, by No. 3 and No. 4 Commandos. This was the first large scale raid from the United Kingdom during the war. Their objective was the undefended Norwegian Lofoten Islands. They successfully destroyed the fish-oil factories, petrol dumps, and 11 ships, capturing 216 Germans, encryption equipment and codebooks.
In April, Layforce received orders to begin carrying out raids on the Afrika Korps lines of communication along the North African coast. On 12 April, they carried out a preliminary move to Alexandria and three days later they received orders to carry out a raid on Bardia and another on Bomba. The attacks had to be abandoned, however, due to high seas which would have made disembarking and re-embarking too dangerous. The appearance of the commandos behind their lines forced the Germans to divert the main part of an armoured brigade from where they had previously been undertaking offensive action around Sollum, in order to defend against further raids.