Editing Layforce (section)

===Tobruk===
Following their involvement in the rearguard actions on Crete, a detachment of five officers and 70 other ranks from No. 8 Commando were sent to Tobruk, which was at the time under [[Siege of Tobruk|siege]].<ref name=Saunders59>Saunders 1959, p. 59.</ref> In June, as the Eighth Army launched [[Operation Battleaxe]] in an attempt to relieve the garrison from the east, it was decided that the commandos would carry out a raid on an Italian position that was dominating the forward positions of the Indian [[18th Cavalry]]. The position, which was known as the [[Twin Pimples raid|Twin Pimples]], consisted of two small hills that sat close together and from where the Italians were able to observe the Allied lines. For a number of days prior to carrying out the raid, the commandos carried out patrols with the Indians to become familiar with the ground and to practise moving over the terrain at night. Finally on the night of 17/18 July they attacked.<ref name=Saunders59/>

It was a raid that was typical of what the men had been trained for, but which they had rarely been able to conduct since arriving in the Middle East. It proved to be highly successful, being well-planned and executed, with a carefully laid deception plan. Under the cover of darkness the commandos managed to sneak up behind the hills, moving thorough the Italian forward positions unchallenged. In the end they advanced to within 30 yards before they were challenged, and when they finally were, the force rushed the Italian defenders and quickly overwhelmed them. They then withdrew from the position just before the defenders called in an artillery barrage on the position and returned to the garrison holding Tobruk. They suffered five casualties in the raid, one of whom later died of his wounds.<ref name=Saunders60/>