[1] Reaching a wartime strength of over 30 units and four assault brigades, the Commandos served in all theatres of war from the Arctic Circle to Europe and from the Mediterranean and Middle East to South-East Asia.

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.

[nb 1] By the autumn of 1940 more than 2,000 men had volunteered and in November 1940 these new units were organised into a Special Service Brigade consisting of four battalions under the command of Brigadier Joseph Charles Haydon.

The man initially selected as the commander of Combined Operations was Admiral Roger Keyes, a veteran of the Gallipoli campaign and the Zeebrugge Raid in the First World War.

They carried out raids planned by SOE such as Operation Postmaster on the Spanish island of Fernando Po off the coast of West Africa.

Training and assessment started immediately on arrival, with the volunteers having to complete an 8-mile (13 km) march with all their equipment from the Spean Bridge railway station to the commando depot.

When they arrived they were met by Vaughan, who stressed the physical demands of the course and that any man who failed to live up to the requirements would be 'returned to unit' (RTU).

Speed and endurance marches were conducted up and down the nearby mountain ranges and over assault courses that included a zip-line over Loch Arkaig, all while carrying arms and full equipment.

Living conditions were primitive in the camp, with trainees housed either under canvas in tents or in Nissen huts and they were responsible for cooking their own meals.

This camp was run by two famous mountaineers: the depot commander Squadron Leader Frank Smythe and chief instructor Major John Hunt.

The weapons used were the standard British Army small arms of the time; most riflemen carried the Lee–Enfield rifle and section fire support was provided by the Bren light machine gun.

The Webley Revolver was initially used as the standard sidearm, but it was eventually replaced by the Colt 45 pistol, which used the same ammunition as the Thompson submachine gun.

Some were used and proved successful on operations, but the nature of the Commando role had changed before they were put into full production, and the order for their purchase was cancelled.

The mission, led by Major Ronnie Tod, was an offensive reconnaissance carried out on the French coast south of Boulogne-sur-Mer and Le Touquet.

The operation was a limited success; at least two German soldiers were killed whilst the only British injury was a flesh wound suffered by Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, who had accompanied the raiders as an observer.

[6] A second and similarly inconsequential raid, Operation Ambassador, was made on the German-occupied island of Guernsey on the night of 14 July 1940 by men from H Troop of No.

[50] The smaller raids ended in mid-1944 on the orders of Major-General Robert Laycock, who suggested that they were no longer as effective and only resulted in the Germans strengthening their beach defences, something that could be extremely detrimental to Allied plans.

After this the Germans increased the garrison in Norway by an extra 30,000 troops, upgraded coastal and inland defences, and sent a number of capital ships to the area.

The Commandos provided extra firepower for the navy Motor Torpedo Boats when they were at sea and acted as a guard force when they were at anchor in the Norwegian fjords.

They managed to sink several ships using limpet mines, but were captured and eventually taken to Sachsenhausen and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps, where they were executed.

[59] Operation Branford, a reconnaissance mission that aimed to identify a suitable gun position to support future raids on Alderney,[60] followed only days later.

They were ill-equipped for this type of operation, as they were lacking in indirect fire support weapons such as mortars or artillery; they were armed mainly with rifles and a few Bren light machine guns.

[68] The operational difficulties that had been exposed during the Bardia raid, combined with the inability of the high command to fully embrace the Commando concept, had largely served to make the force ineffective.

After a fierce three-day battle the Commandos succeeded in clearing the spit separating the lagoon from the Adriatic and secured the flank of the 8th Army.

Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Charles Newman and Sergeant Thomas Durrant of the Commandos, plus three members of the Royal Navy, were awarded the Victoria Cross.

Only a handful of commandos, under the second in command Major Peter Young, landed and scaled the barbed wire laced cliffs.

[87] The Battle of the Scheldt started 1 November 1944, with 4th Special Service Brigade assigned to carry out a seaborne assault on the island of Walcheren.

[89] In January 1945 the 1st Commando Brigade were involved in Operation Blackcock, where Lance Corporal Henry Harden of the Royal Army Medical Corps, attached to No.

It is now a Category A listed monument in Scotland, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces raised during Second World War.

[107][108] In the British Army battle honours are awarded to regiments that have seen active service in a significant engagement or campaign, generally (although not always) one with a victorious outcome.