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A summary of the decorations awarded to officers and men of the Army Commandos will give some indication of their prowess. Eight have won the Victoria Cross; thirty seven the Distinguished Service Order, with, in addition, nine Bars to that award; one hundred and sixty two Military Crosses, with thirteen Bars; thirty two Distinguished Conduct medals; and two hundred and eighteen Military Medals. But only the most fortunate, the most outstanding, won these distinctions, chosen from a host whose devotion and bravery was not less marked for being unrewarded. This unique record the Army Commandos owed more than anything to the fact that every man was a volunteer. He was, moreover, a picked volunteer, selected by the officers who trained him and led him in battle. Those who failed for one reason or another to measure up to the most exacting standards of training, discipline and conduct under fire, could be Returned To Unit without much ado. Not a few were. This process of survival of the fittest became twofold. From 1942 onwards every new recruit had to pass through the Commando depot at Achnacarry before he was posted to his unit. No one who survived it would question the practical severity of this ordeal in the days when Lieut. Colonel Charles Vaughan, O.B.E., at once exacting and benevolent, ruled in Lochiel's place.
The Army Commandos were formed in June, 1940, at a time when the British Empire mo longer had a single ally in the field, and when the British Army had been compelled to quit the continent of Europe as a result of the disastrous campaigns in Norway and the Low Countries. While the germ of the idea had originated in the brain of Lieut. Colonel Dudley Clarke, R.A., as early as 4th June,1940, it was Winston Churchill himself who, not content with a purely passive defensive, actually ordered their formation. In a minute of 18th June 1940, he wrote: "What are the ideas of C. - in - C., H.F., about Storm Troops? We have always set our faces against this idea, but the Germans certainly gained in the last war by adopting it, and this time it has been a leading cause of their victory. There ought to be at least twenty thousand Storm Troops or 'Leopards' drawn from existing units, ready to spring at the throat of any small landing or descents. These officers and men should be armed with the latest equipment, tommy guns, grenades, etc., and should be given great facilities in motor cycles and armoured cars." The first Commando raid took place only five days later. Towards the end of June 1940, the first twelve Commandos came into being. Nos. 1 and 2 were formed a little later the same year from the Independent Companies raised from the Territorial units at the time of the Norwegian campaign. No. 10 was raised among our allies, French, Polish, Norwegian, Belgian, Dutch, Yugoslav and - curiously enough - German; the remainder were raised from the field army. Comparatively few had seen active service in Norway, or with the B.E.F., though here and there were more experienced soldiers: in H Troop of 3 Commando, for example, nearly every man was a reservist who had done his seven years with the Colours, and after being recalled in 1939 had fought with the 4th Division in the Dunkirk campaign. At first each Commando consisted of ten troops, each of fifty men, but this somewhat unwieldy organisation was altered early in 1941 to six troops of sixty-five, a great improvement. The Raid on St. Nazaire the greatest and most desperate of all, was the work of No. 2 Commando and demolition parties from 1,3,4,5,9 and 12 Commandos. The great dry dock, the Forme Ecluse, the only one on the Atlantic seaboard capable of holding the Tirpitz, was put out of action for the rest of the war, and the German battleship was compelled to remain in Norwegian waters until the R.A.F. capsized her near Tromso in September, 1944. In this action Lieut. Colonel A.C. Newman (2 Commando) and Sergeant Durrant (1 Commando) won the Victoria Cross. |
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