- No. 62 Commando
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No. 62 Commando Active 1940–1943 Country 
United KingdomBranch British Army Type Commando Role Coastal raiding force Size 55 men maximum Part of Combined Operations
Special Operations ExecutiveGarrison/HQ Anderson Manor, Poole Nickname Small Scale Raiding Force Engagements Second World War Insignia Combined Operations Shoulder Patch 
No. 62 Commando or the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) was a British Commandos unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The unit was formed around a small group of commandos under the command of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). They carried out a number of raids before being disbanded in 1943.
Contents
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".[1] At first they were a small force of volunteers who carried out small raids against enemy occupied territory, [2] but by 1943 their role had changed into lightly equipped assault infantry which specialised in spearheading amphibious landings.[3]
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.[4] Keyes resigned in October 1941 and was replaced by Admiral Louis Mountbatten.[5]
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.[5] 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.[5] Commandos were all volunteers seconded from other British Army regiments and retained their own cap badges and remained on their regimental roll for pay.[6] 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.[7]
By 1943 the Commandos had moved away from small raiding operations and had been formed in brigades of assault infantry to spearhead future Allied landing operations. Three units were left un-brigaded to carry out smaller scale raids.[8]
Operations
No. 62 Commando was formed in 1941, and consisted of a small group of 55 commando-trained personnel working under the Special Operations Executive (SOE) where they were also known as the Small Scale Raiding Force.[9] While being under operational control of Combined Operations Headquarters, No. 62 Commando itself was under command Major Gustavus Henry March-Phillipps.[10] Their first operation, Operation Postmaster, was in January 1942, when they seized an Italian liner, a German tanker and a yacht from Fernando Po.[9][11] The SSRF used HM MTB 344, a Motor Torpedo Boat colloquially nicknamed The Little Pisser from its outstanding turn of speed. The SSRF carried out a number of cross channel operations. The SSRF had mixed fortunes in their raids, their next raids Operation Barricade and Operation Dryad were complete successes. The following operation, Operation Aquatint, on 12/13 September 1942 at Sainte-Honorine on the Normandy coast, resulted in the loss of all the men involved including March-Phillipps.[9] One member of the raid, Captain Graham Hayes MC, managed to reach France and eventually made his way to Spain. He was betrayed by a French double agent and handed to the Germans. [12] After nine months solitary confinement in Fresnes Prison, he was executed (shot) on the 13th July 1943.[13] With the loss of March-Phillipps, Major Geoffrey Appleyard was given command.[14] On 3/4 October 1942, they carried out a raid of the Channel Island of Sark Operation Basalt with men from No. 12 Commando attached. After the raid, a number of dead and wounded Germans were found tied up, (they had been shot while trying to escape) which is claimed to have resulted in the prisoners captured in the Dieppe raid being tied up and the Commando Order ordering the execution of all captured commandos.[9]
In early 1943, No. 62 Commando was disbanded and it members dispersed amongst other formations. A number went to the Middle East and served in the Special Boat Squadron, most notably Major Anders Lassen - the only member of the United Kingdom Special Forces to have been awarded the Victoria Cross.[9] Appleyard also went to the Middle East and helped form the 2nd Special Air Service from a detachment of No. 62 Commando under the command of Bill Stirling, elder brother of David Stirling. Neither Lassen nor Appleyard survived the war.[14]
Battle honours
The following Battle honours were awarded to the British Commandos during the Second World War.[15]
- Adriatic
- Alethangyaw
- Aller
- Anzio
- Argenta Gap
- Burma 1943–45
- Crete
- Dieppe
- Dives Crossing
- Djebel Choucha
- Flushing
- Greece 1944–45
- Italy 1943–45
- Kangaw
- Landing at Porto San Venere
- Landing in Sicily
- Leese
- Litani
- Madagascar
- Middle East 1941, 1942, 1944
- Monte Ornito
- Myebon
- Normandy Landing
- North Africa 1941–43
- North-West Europe 1942, 1944–1945
- Norway 1941
- Pursuit to Messina
- Rhine
- St. Nazaire
- Salerno
- Sedjenane 1
- Sicily 1943
- Steamroller Farm
- Syria 1941
- Termoli
- Vaagso
- Valli di Comacchio
- Westkapelle
References
- Notes
- ^ Chappell, p.5
- ^ Chappell, p.3
- ^ Moreman, p.8
- ^ Chappell, p.6
- ^ a b c Haskew, p.48
- ^ Moreman, p.12
- ^ van der Bijl, p.12
- ^ Moreman, pp.84–85
- ^ a b c d e Chappell, p.48
- ^ Foot, p.167
- ^ Hastings, Max (27 March 2005). "Shall we have a bash, chaps?". London: Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3639355/Shall-we-have-a-bash-chaps.html. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- ^ Gerard Fournier & Andre Heintz "IF I MUST DIE" p212 ISBN 2-915762-05-B
- ^ Brown, p.62.
- ^ a b Howarth, p.33
- ^ Moreman, p.94
- Bibliography
- Brown, Gordon (2009). Wartime Courage. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9780747596073.
- Chappell, Mike (1996). Army Commandos 1940–45. London: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1855325799.
- Foot, Michael (2004). SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations. Routledge. ISBN 0714655287.
- Haskew, Michael E (2007). Encyclopaedia of Elite Forces in the Second World War. Pen and Sword. ISBN 9781844155774.
- Howarth, Patrick (1980). Undercover: The Men and Women of the Special Operations Executive. Routledge. ISBN 0710005733.
- Ladd, James (1984). Inside the Commandos: A Pictorial History from World War Two to the Present. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870219030.
- Moreman, Timothy (2006). British Commandos 1940–46. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 184176986X.
Categories:- Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II
- Military units and formations established in 1940
- Military units and formations disestablished in 1943
- British Commandos
- Special Operations Executive
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