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.

On 6 June 1944, it participated in the D-Day landings in France as part of Operation Overlord, coming ashore with the 1st Special Service Brigade which was tasked with linking up with the troops from the 6th Airborne Division on the eastern flank of Sword.

6 Commando were used in the defence of the beachhead and the subsequent operations to break out from Normandy before being withdrawn with the rest of the brigade back to the United Kingdom in September 1944.

In early June 1940 following the lightning advance of the Germans through France and the subsequent Dunkirk evacuation, the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, realised the need for Britain to maintain some form of offensive action and directed his chief staff officer and military adviser, General Hastings Ismay, to begin organising a force which could conduct raids along the coast of German-occupied Europe.

Raised at Scarborough[4] on 26 July 1940, it was placed under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Fetherstonhaugh, who was a Territorial officer holding the substantive rank of captain in the Queen’s Royal Regiment.

[22] Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Iain McAlpine, the commando embarked upon HMT Awatea in October 1942 in Glasgow along with some United States Army Rangers that were also taking part in the operation.

[23] Tensions were high between the British and the Vichy French at this time because of a number of clashes and as a result the decision was made for the commandos to be equipped with American weapons and uniforms in an effort to placate the defenders.

From the outset they were hampered by the inexperience of the crews lowering the landing craft into the water and this, along with other factors that arose later including poor weather, breakdowns and navigational errors meant that the majority of No.

9 Troop attempted to land on the Ilot de la Marine, which was described by author Hilary Saint George Saunders as "the most heavily fortified part of Algiers harbour", and it was here that the majority of the commando's casualties for the day—two killed and 19 wounded—were suffered.

[26] After this part of the commando secured Pointe Pescarde, about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the town while another force, consisting of about three and a half troops under the second-in-command, Major Jock MacLeod of the Cameronians, moved on towards their main objective, which was to capture Fort Duperre, from where French artillery was firing upon the ships anchored offshore.

Eventually they arrived at the port, where they embarked upon the destroyers HMS Wheatland and Lammerton and in company with a force of US Rangers they set out to capture the airfields at Allerlick and Duzzerville, near Bone.

6 Commando took up defensive positions in the orange groves alongside troops from the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, the Royal West Kents and a number of Frenchmen that decided to join their cause.

[28] A brief period of lull followed where the commandos were mainly involved in defending the airfield against air attacks from the Luftwaffe, before they moved off again to take part in the fighting around Medjez-el-Bab, where they fought on the left flank of the first French regular forces to engage the Germans since the fall of France in 1940, forming the spearhead of the advance towards Tunis.

[33] As soon as the main force left its line of departure it came under intense oblique fire from interlocking medium and heavy machine guns positioned in a diamond-shaped perimeter on top of the hill.

[33] Calls for further artillery support were denied due to a shortage of ammunition amongst the field batteries and eventually after a number of unsuccessful attempts at taking the position the commandos were forced to retire.

[36] In a fight that lasted over five hours, against an enemy that outnumbered them and had the advantage of heavy armoured support, the commandos, along with elements from the Reconnaissance Regiment, were able to stop the advance long enough for reinforcements to be brought up.

6 Commando was put into the role of mobile reserve in an effort to maintain the unit's integrity and spare it from incurring further losses that might render it unable to remain in the line.

This saw a change in the individual unit establishments, with the addition of organic transport assets, as well as an increase in the allocation of indirect and direct fire support weapons at commando level.

[48] In the end it took the commando three-and-a-half hours to advance the 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to the bridges, with the lead elements, mounted on bicycles, linking up with gliderborne troops from D Company, 2nd Battalion, Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry under Major John Howard.

[48] After effecting the link up, the commandos joined with paratroops from the 9th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment in an attack on the village of La Plein, before digging in to begin defending against possible counterattack.

Major Anthony Lewis,[51] formerly of the Dorset Regiment, stepped up to take over as commanding officer temporarily, before being confirmed in the role on 24 June and receiving a promotion to acting-lieutenant colonel.

[53] In late July a breakout from the beachhead was attempted and the 1st Special Service Brigade moved through the Le Bois de Bavent, a large wooded area, as the Germans began to withdraw.

6 Commando, along with the rest of the 1st Special Service Brigade, were withdrawn from the line and returned to the United Kingdom to prepare to be redeployed to India for operations against the Japanese in Burma.

[58] It had been planned to send the brigade—which had been renamed the 1st Commando Brigade in late 1944—to India, however, the effect of the German Ardennes Offensive prevented this[59] and in January 1945, still under the command of Brigadier Derek Mills-Roberts, they crossed the English Channel by sea and landed in the Netherlands from where they were deployed to Asten on the Maas.

This attack was well supported by artillery and a squadron of armour from the 8th Hussars, nevertheless, the commandos were stopped near an orchard close to the crossroads by a hastily formed, but well-led, force consisting of Luftwaffe aircrew and Fallschirmjäger.

They came under fire almost immediately and as a result of this, and several mechanical failures, a number of boats were sunk before they reached the landing site at Grav Islet, where the lead unit, No.

[68] On the night of 7/8 April they crossed the Weser River in assault boats and under the cover of darkness carried out a flanking manoeuvre on the Germans occupying the town of Leese, catching them by surprise.

6 Commando, supported by Vickers machine guns fixed bayonets and charged the German marines that were defending the bridge, and inflicting heavy casualties upon them.

[70] With the bridge having been captured other elements of the brigade established a bridgehead for the advancing 11th Armoured and on 19 April they arrived in Lüneburg, where they began to prepare for the crossing of the Elbe.

These duties included searching for German personnel and officials that were wanted for questioning or to be tried for war crimes, distributing food to the populace and helping to restore law and order as part of the reconstruction process.