No. 12 Commando
Encyclopedia
No. 12 Commando was a battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...

-sized commando
British Commandos
The British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe...

 unit of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 during the Second World War. Formed in 1940 in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, they carried out a number of small-scale raids in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 between 1941 and 1943 before being disbanded and its personnel dispersed to other commando units.

Background

The commandos were formed in 1940, by the order of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

 the British Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

. 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
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

 Sir Roger Keyes himself a veteran of the landings at Galipoli and the Zeebrugge raid
Zeebrugge Raid
The Zeebrugge Raid, which took place on 23 April 1918, was an attempt by the British Royal Navy to neutralize the key Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge...

 in the First World War. Keyes resigned in October 1941 and was replaced by Admiral Louis Mountbatten
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

.

By the autumn of 1940 more than 2,000 men had volunteered for Commando training, and what became known as the Special Service Brigade
Special Service Brigade
The Special Service Brigade was a formation of the British Army during the Second World War.It was formed in 1940, after the call for volunteers for Special Service who eventually became the British Commandos.-Background:...

 was formed into 12 units called Commandos. Each Commando would number around 450 men commanded by a lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

. They were sub divided into troops of 75 men and further divided into 15 man sections
Section (military unit)
A section is a small military unit in some armies. In many armies, it is a squad of seven to twelve soldiers. However in France and armies based on the French model, it is the sub-division of a company .-Australian Army:...

. Commandos were all volunteers seconded from other British Army regiments and retained their own cap badge
Cap badge
A cap badge, also known as head badge or hat badge, is a badge worn on uniform headgear and distinguishes the wearer's nationality and/or organisation. The wearing of cap badges is a convention commonly found among military and police forces, as well as uniformed civilian groups such as the Boy...

s and remained on their regimental roll for pay. All volunteers went through the six week intensive commando course at Achnacarry
Achnacarry
Achnacarry is a small hamlet, private estate, and a castle in the Lochaber region of Highland, Scotland. It occupies a strategic position on an isthmus between Loch Lochy to the east, and Loch Arkaig to the west....

. 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
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...

s of assault infantry to spearhead future Allied landing operations. Three units were left un-brigaded to carry out smaller scale raids.

Formation

Formed on 5 August 1940 in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...

 and Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

 in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel S. Harrison, the unit, although technically a part of the Special Service Brigade under Brigadier Joseph (Charles) Haydon, largely remained independent of it and carried out small scale raiding and sabotage operations. Training was conducted at various locations in Northern Ireland, including at Aldergrove Airport, where the commandos carried out a mock attack. In early 1941 they were billeted for a brief time at Warsash
Warsash
Warsash is a village in southern Hampshire, England, situated at the mouth of the River Hamble, west of the area known as Locks Heath. Boating plays an important part in the village's economy, and the village has a sailing club...

 before undertaking combined operations training at Inverary, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

Operations

Compared with some of the other commando units, No. 12 Commando had a short history. Its first raid came on the night of 27/28 July 1941 when a party of 16 men carried out a landing near Ambleteuse
Ambleteuse
Ambleteuse is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.-History:Ambleteuse began as a hamlet of a few huts in the middle of the dunes, from which the derisory name of “carcahuttes" was once given to its inhabitants by their neighbors at Audresselles...

, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Embarking on an assault landing craft, they were towed to a position 2 miles (3.2 km) from the mouth of the Slack River
Slack River
The Slack is a 22 km long river in the Pas-de-Calais department, in northern France.It rises at Hermelinghen on Mount Binôt, flows through Rinxent, Marquise, Beuvrequen, Slack and flows into the English Channel in Ambleteuse....

 by a motor launch
Motor Launch
A Motor Launch is a small military vessel in British navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing or for armed high speed air-sea rescue....

. Although no prisoners were taken, the raid was partially successful and the commandos were ashore for approximately an hour before returning to their landing craft and heading back to Britain.

On 9 December 1941, a detachment from No. 12 Commando, along with a detachment from No. 6 Commando
No. 6 Commando
No. 6 Commando was a battalion-sized British Army commando unit of the Second World War. Although it was raised to conduct small-scale raids and harass garrisons along the coast of German-occupied France, it was mainly employed as a highly-trained infantry assault unit.Formed in July 1940, No...

 and some Norwegian soldiers, took part in Operation Kitbag
Operation Kitbag
Operation Kitbag was a raid in Norway by British Commandos of No 6 Commando and No. 12 Commando in December 1941, during the Second World War.On 9 December 1941, detachments from No. 6 and No. 12 Commandos, some Norwegian soldiers, took part in a raid on the town of Florø in Norway. Embarking on...

, a raid on the town of Florø in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. Embarking on the HMS Prince Charles
HMS Prince Charles
HMS Prince Charles was the name of two ships in the Royal Navy:* Prince Charles was a Q ship in the Great War* HMS Prince Charles was a ferry taken into military service as an LSI in the Second World War....

, an infantry landing ship, they set out from Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...

. During the voyage an incident occurred while some of the men were priming grenade
Grenade
A grenade is a small explosive device that is projected a safe distance away by its user. Soldiers called grenadiers specialize in the use of grenades. The term hand grenade refers any grenade designed to be hand thrown. Grenade Launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades...

s for the raid which resulted in six men were killed and another 11 were seriously wounded, nevertheless the decision was made to continue with the raid. In the end, however, due to navigational difficulties the operation was eventually called off when the naval commander was unable to locate the fjord upon which Floss was located.

Later that month, on 26 December 1941, No. 12 Commando took part in Operation Anklet
Operation Anklet
Operation Anklet was the codename given to a British Commando raid during the Second World War. The raid on the Lofoten Islands was carried out in December 1941, by 300 men from No. 12 Commando and the Norwegian Independent Company 1. The landing party was supported by 22 ships from three navies.At...

, which was the only raid it undertook during its history where the entire unit took part. The operation was a diversionary raid on the Lofoten Islands in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, as part of the wider Operation Archery
Operation Archery
Operation Archery, also known as the Vaagso Raid, was a British Combined Operations raid during World War II against German positions on Vaagso Island , Norway, on 27 December 1941....

, which was a larger commando raid on Vågsøy
Vågsøy
Vågsøy is a municipality in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordfjord. The municipality's administrative center is the town Måløy. Vågsøy is also the name of the main island in the municipality with an area of...

 and Måløy
Måløy
is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Vågsøy in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. Måløy is located on the southeastern side of the island of Vågsøy, about northeast of the village of Holvik and about south of Raudeberg. The Måløybrua connects the town to the village of...

. No. 12 Commando along with 68 Norwegians from Norwegian Independent Company 1
Norwegian Independent Company 1
Norwegian Independent Company 1 was a British SOE group formed in March 1941 originally for the purpose of performing commando raids during the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany. It was organized under the leadership of Captain Martin Linge...

 and a demolition party landed on the island capturing the German garrison who surrendered without a fight. Under Harrison's command, they landed at Reine and after the garrison surrendered, the commandos stayed on the island for two days to carry out demolitions work, destroying two German wireless stations before withdrawing. They took 29 German prisoners and over 200 volunteers for the free Norwegian forces in Britain with them.

After this No. 12 Commando undertook a series of small scale operations, with half of the unit forming Northforce
Northforce
Northforce was the name given to units of No. 12 Commando and No. 14 Commando formed at various times between 1943 and 1944 for raids and reconnaissance of the Norwegian coastline.-References:NotesBibliography...

 in Norway, while the other half carried out operations in France along with the Small Scale Raiding Force
Small Scale Raiding Force
No. 62 Commando or the Small Scale Raiding Force 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...

 as part of Forfarforce
Forfarforce
Fofarforce was the name given to a series of British Commandos raids in 1943. The raids consisted of small groups numbering up to 10 man who in the summer of 1943, carried out cross chanel raids on the coast of France during the Second World War. The purpose of these raids was to identify German...

. On 27/28 February 1942, a detachment took part in the Bruneval Raid, providing the recovery parties for the paratroops. Later other detachments took part in the St Nazaire Raid and a raid on Sark known as Operation Basalt
Operation Basalt
Operation Basalt was a small British raid conducted during World War II on the German occupied British Channel Island of Sark.On the night of 3–4 October 1942 ten men of the Special Operations Executive's Small Scale Raiding Force, and No...

. In total the commando played a part in at least 15 raids between 1941 and late 1943.

Disbandment

The decision was finally made to disband the unit in December 1943 as part of the re-organisation of the commandos into four brigades underneath the divisional-sized Commando Group HQ and the subsequent conceptual change in emphasis from small-scale raiding towards that of larger-scale infantry operations in which the commandos were treated as highly trained infantry instead of raiders. In addition to this, the losses suffered by the commando units serving in North Africa and Italy needed to be replaced. At the time there were widespread shortages across the entire British Army, and the volunteer nature of the commandos meant that there were even greater difficulties to replace commando losses. As a result it was decided that some of these losses could be made up by disbanding No. 12 Commando.

Following the disbandment of the unit, many of the unit's personnel were transferred to other commando units, namely Nos. 1
No. 1 Commando
The No. 1 Commando was a unit of British Commandos and part of the British Army during the Second World War. It was raised in 1940 from the ranks of the existing independent companies. Operationally they carried out a series of small scale cross channel raids and spearheaded the Operation Torch...

, 3
No. 3 Commando
No. 3 Commando was a battalion-sized commando unit raised by the British Army for service during the Second World War. Formed in July 1940 from volunteers for special service, it was the first such unit to carry the title of "Commando"...

, 5
No. 5 Commando
No. 5 Commando was a battalion-sized commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War.Formed in July 1940, the unit took part in a couple of small-scale raids in France in 1941 and contributed some personnel to Operation Chariot before taking part in the landings on Madagascar in 1942...

 and 6
No. 6 Commando
No. 6 Commando was a battalion-sized British Army commando unit of the Second World War. Although it was raised to conduct small-scale raids and harass garrisons along the coast of German-occupied France, it was mainly employed as a highly-trained infantry assault unit.Formed in July 1940, No...

 Commandos.

Battle honours

The following Battle honour
Battle honour
A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags , uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible....

s were awarded to the British Commandos during the Second World War.
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    Commencing on the night of 23 March 1945 during World War II, Operation Plunder was the crossing of the River Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and south of the Lippe River by the British 2nd Army, under Lieutenant-General Sir Miles Dempsey , and the U.S. Ninth Army , under Lieutenant General William Simpson...

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