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.
In 1940, volunteers were called for from serving British Army soldiers within certain formations still in Britain and men of the disbanding Divisional Independent Companies originally raised from Territorial Army (TA) divisions and who had seen service in the Norwegian Campaign.
[4] These Special Service battalions were eventually renamed commandos.
They had been formed into brigades of assault infantry to spearhead future Allied landing operations.
Of the remaining 20 Commandos, 17 were used in the formation of the four Special Service brigades.
[6] The formation of the brigades was: The previous Special Service Brigade Headquarters was replaced by Headquarters Special Services Group under Major-General Robert Sturges.
The 1st and 4th brigades were based in the United Kingdom and destined for service in North-western Europe.