Editing Commando (section)

== World War II ==
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2021}}

=== Australia ===
{{Main|Australian commandos}}
The [[Australian Army]] formed commando units, known as [[Australian Army Independent Companies|Australian independent companies]] in the early stages of World War II. They first saw action in early 1942 during the [[Battle of Rabaul (1942)#New Ireland|Japanese assault on New Ireland]], and in the [[Battle of Timor]]. Part of the 2/1st Independent Company was wiped out on [[New Ireland (island)|New Ireland]], but on [[Timor]], the 2/2nd Independent Company formed the heart of an Allied force that engaged [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] forces in a [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] campaign. The Japanese commander on the island drew parallels with the Boer War, and decided that it would require a 10:1 numerical advantage to defeat the Allies. The campaign occupied the attention of an entire Japanese division for almost a year. The independent companies were later renamed commando squadrons, and they saw widespread action in the [[South West Pacific Area]], especially in [[New Guinea]] and [[Borneo]]. In 1943, all the commando squadrons except the 2/2nd and 2/8th were grouped into the 2/6th, 2/7th and 2/9th Cavalry Commando Regiments.

Later in the war the Royal Australian Navy also formed commando units along the lines of the Royal Naval Commandos to go ashore with the first waves of major amphibious assaults, to signpost the beaches and carry out other naval tasks. These were known as [[Royal Australian Navy Beach Commandos|RAN Commandos]]. Four were formed—lettered A, B, C and D like their British counterparts—and they took part in the [[Borneo campaign (1945)|Borneo campaign]].

[[Z Special Unit|Z Force]], an Australian-British-New Zealand [[military intelligence]] commando unit, formed by the Australian [[Services Reconnaissance Department]], also carried out many raiding and reconnaissance operations in the South West Pacific theatre, most notably [[Operation Jaywick]], in which they destroyed tonnes of Japanese shipping at [[Singapore]] Harbour. An attempt to replicate this success, with [[Operation Rimau]], resulted in the death of almost all those involved. However, Z Force and other SRD units continued operations until the war's end.

=== Canada ===
A joint [[Canadians|Canadian]]-American Commando unit, the 1st Special Service Force, nicknamed the [[First Special Service Force|Devil's Brigade]], was formed in 1942 under the command of Colonel Robert Frederick.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kemp|first=Ted|title=A Commemorative History: First Special Service Force|year=1995|publisher=Taylor Publishing|location=Dallas|page=15}}</ref> The unit initially saw service in the Pacific, in August 1943 at [[Kiska]] in the [[Battle of the Aleutian Islands|Aleutians campaign]]. However most of its operations occurred during the [[Italian Campaign (World War II)|Italian campaign]] and in southern France. Its most famous raid, which was documented in the film ''Devil's Brigade'', was the battle of [[Monte la Difensa]]. In 1945, the unit was disbanded; some of the Canadian members were sent to the [[1st Canadian Parachute Battalion]] as replacements, and the American members were sent to either the [[101st Airborne Division]] or the [[82nd Airborne Division]] as replacements or the [[74th Infantry Regiment (United States)|474th Regimental Combat Team]]. Ironically they were sent to serve in Norway in 1945, the country they were formed to raid.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Black Devil Brigade: The True Story of the First Special Service Force in World War II, An Oral History: Joseph A. Springer: 9780935553505: Amazon.com: Books|isbn=0935553509|last1=Springer|first1=Joseph Adam|year=2001|publisher=Pacifica Military History }}</ref>

===Finland===
The Finns fielded the [[Erillinen Pataljoona 4]] and about 150 men were trained before the beginning of summer 1941. At first, the units had as few as 15 men, but during the war this was increased to 60. On July 1, 1943, the units were organised in the 4th Detached Battalion. In 1944, a special unit with amphibious [[He 115]] planes was founded to support the battalion. The total strength of the battalion was 678 men and 76 women (see [[Lotta Svärd]]).

In the [[Battle of Ilomantsi (1944)|Battle of Ilomantsi]], soldiers of the 4th disrupted the supply lines of the Soviet artillery, preventing effective fire support. The battalion made over 50 missions in 1943 and just under 100 in 1944, and was disbanded on November 30 of that same year.

[[Sissiosasto/5.D]] is another Finnish Commando unit of the World War Two era. The Detachment was founded on August 20, 1941, under the [[Lynx Division]] (5th Division, Finnish VI Corps). It was a self-contained unit for [[Long-range reconnaissance patrol|reconnaissance patrol]]ling, [[sabotage]] and [[guerrilla warfare]] operations behind enemy lines.

=== Germany ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R81453, SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny an der Oder.jpg|thumb|Skorzeny with soldiers of the 500th SS Parachute Battalion (1945)]]

In December 1939, following the success of [[Nazi Germany|German]] infiltration and sabotage operations in the [[Invasion of Poland|Polish campaign]], the German [[Abwehr|Office for Foreign and Counter-Intelligence]] (OKW Amt Ausland/Abwehr) formed the [[Brandenburger Regiment]] (known officially as the 800th Special Purpose Training and Construction Company).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/DE/Content/Virtuelle-Ausstellungen/Die-Brandenburger-Kommandotruppe-Und-Frontverband/die-brandenburger-kommandotruppe-und-frontverband.html|title="Die Brandenburger" Kommandotruppe und Frontverband|last=Dr. Herrmann|first=Tobias|date=2019|website=Bundesarchiv.de}}</ref> The Brandenburgers conducted a mixture of covert and conventional operations but became increasingly involved in ordinary infantry actions and were eventually converted into a Panzer-Grenadier Division, suffering heavy losses in [[Russia]]. [[Otto Skorzeny]] (most famed for his rescue of [[Benito Mussolini]]) conducted many special operations for [[Adolf Hitler]]. Skorzeny commanded [[Sonder Lehrgang Oranienburg|Sonderlehrgang z.b.V. Oranienburg]], Sonderverband z.b.V. Friedenthal, and [[SS-Jäger-Bataillon 502]], [[500th SS Parachute Battalion]], [[SS-Jagdverband Mitte]] and all other [[SS-Sonderkommando|SS]] commando units.

The German [[Fallschirmjäger (World War II)|Fallschirmjäger]] were famous for their elite skills and their use in rapid commando style raids and as elite "fire brigade" infantrymen.<ref>McNab P.50</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=February 2018}} [[Fort Eben-Emael]] on the Belgian border was [[Battle of Fort Eben-Emael|captured]] in 1940 by Fallschirmjäger troops as part of the German invasion and occupation of Belgium.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.koelner-luftfahrt.de/ebenemael.htm|title=Eben Emael|website=www.koelner-luftfahrt.de|access-date=2020-01-12}}</ref><ref>Kommandounternehmen des zweiten Weltkriegs, Robin Cross, Karl Müller Verlag 1999, {{ISBN|3860708252}}</ref>

A report written by [[Robert Laycock|Major-General Robert Laycock]] in 1947 claimed that there was a German raid on a radar station on the Isle of Wight in 1941.<ref>Commando Country, Stuart Allan, National Museums Scotland 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-905267-14-9}}</ref><ref>Raids in the Late War and their Lessons, R. Laycock, Journal of the Royal United Service Institution November 1947 pp 534-535</ref>

=== Greece ===
{{Main|Sacred Band (World War II)}}
The Sacred band ({{langx|el|Ιερός Λόχος}}) was a [[Greece|Greek]] [[special forces]] unit formed in 1942 in the [[Middle East]], composed entirely of Greek officers and officer cadets under the command of Col. [[Christodoulos Tsigantes]]. It fought alongside the [[Special Air Service|SAS]] in the [[Libyan Desert]] and with the [[Special Boat Service|SBS]] in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]], as well as with General [[Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque|Leclerc]]'s ''[[Free French Forces]]'' in [[Tunisia]]. It was disbanded in August 1945.

=== Italy ===
Italy's most renowned commando unit of World War II was ''[[Decima Flottiglia MAS]]'' ("10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla"), which, from mid-1940, sank or damaged a considerable tonnage of Allied ships in the Mediterranean.

After Italy surrendered in 1943, some of the ''Decima Flottiglia MAS'' were on the Allied side of the battle line and fought with the Allies, renaming themselves the ''Mariassalto''. The others fought on the German side and kept their original name but did not operate at sea after 1943, being mostly employed against Italian [[Partisan (military)|partisans]]; some of its men were involved in atrocities against civilians.

In post-war years the Italian marine commandos were re-organised as the "[[Italian commando frogmen|Comsubin]]" (an abbreviation of ''Comando Subacqueo Incursori'', or Underwater Raiders Command).  They wear the green Commando beret.

=== Japan ===
In 1944–45, Japanese ''[[Teishin Shudan]]'' ("Raiding Group") and ''[[Giretsu]]'' ("heroic") detachments made airborne assaults on Allied airfields in the [[Philippines]], [[Marianas]] and [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]]. The attacking forces varied in size from a few paratroopers to several companies. Due to the balance of forces concerned, these raids achieved little in the way of damage or casualties, and resulted in the destruction of the Japanese units concerned. Considering that there were no plans to extract these forces, and the reluctance to surrender by Japanese personnel during that era, they are often seen in the same light as ''[[kamikaze]]'' pilots of 1944–45.

[[Nakano School]] trained intelligence and commando officers and organized commando teams for [[sabotage]] and guerrilla warfare.

The navy had commando units "S-toku" (Submarine special attack units, see [[:ja:呉鎮守府第101特別陸戦隊|Kure 101st JSNLF(in Japanese)]] ) for infiltrating enemy areas by [[submarine]]. It was called the [[Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces]] of [[Kure Naval District|Kure]] 101st, [[Sasebo Naval District|Sasebo]] 101st and 102nd.

=== New Zealand ===
New Zealand formed the [[Southern Independent Commando in Fiji]] 1942.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

=== Poland ===
{{Main|Cichociemni}}
'''''Cichociemni''''' ({{IPA|pl|t͡ɕixɔˈt͡ɕɛmɲi}}; the "Silent Unseen") were elite [[special operations|special-operations]] paratroopers of the [[Polish Armed Forces in the West|Polish Army in exile]], created in [[Great Britain]] during [[World War II]] to operate in [[occupied Poland]] (''Cichociemni Spadochroniarze Armii Krajowej'').<ref name="Osmecki350">[[:pl:Kazimierz Iranek-Osmecki|Kazimierz Iranek-Osmecki (pl)]], ''The Unseen and Silent:  Adventures from the Underground Movement, Narrated by Paratroops of the Polish Home Army'', Sheed and Ward, 1954, p. 350.</ref>

=== Soviet Union ===
Voyennaya Razvyedka (Razvedchiki Scouts) are "Military intelligence" personnel/units within larger formations in ground troops, airborne troops and marines. Intelligence battalion in the division, reconnaissance company in the brigade, a reconnaissance platoon in the regiment.<ref name="ReferenceB">Spetsnaz:Russia's Special Forces by Mark Galeotti</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2018}}

'''Soviet Naval Frogmen'''
The legendary Soviet Naval Scout [[Viktor Leonov]] commanded an elite unit of Naval Commandos. The 4th Special Volunteer Detachment was a unit of 70 veterans.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Initially they were confined to performing small scale reconnaissance missions, platoon sized insertions by sea and on occasion on land into Finland and later Norway.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Later they were renamed the 181st Special Reconnaissance Detachment.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> They began conducting sabotage missions and raids to snatch prisoners for interrogation.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> They would also destroy German ammunition and supply depots, communication centers, and harass enemy troop concentrations along the Finnish and Russian coasts.<ref>Heroes of the Soviet Union 1941-45 by Henry Sakaida</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2018}} After the European conflict ended, Leonov and his men were sent to the Pacific theatre to conduct operations against the Japanese.

=== United Kingdom ===
{{Main|Commandos (United Kingdom)}}
[[File:Landing on Queen Red Beach, Sword Area.jpg|upright=.9|thumb|left|alt=Men wading ashore from a [[landing craft]]|British Commandos wearing the green beret and carrying the Bergen rucksack during the [[Normandy landings]], June 1944. ]]

In 1940, the [[British Army]] formed "independent [[Company (military unit)|companies]]", later reformed as [[battalion]] sized "commandos", thereby reviving the word. The British intended that their [[British Commandos|commandos]] be small, highly mobile surprise raiding and [[military reconnaissance]] forces. They intended them to carry all they needed and not remain in field operations for more than 36 hours. Army Commandos were all volunteers selected from existing soldiers still in Britain.

During the war the British Army Commandos spawned several other famous British units such as the [[Special Air Service]], the [[Special Boat Service]] and the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]]. The British Army Commandos themselves were never regimented and were disbanded at the end of the war.

The [[Special Operations Executive]] (SOE) also formed commando units from British and displaced European personnel (e.g., [[Cichociemni]]) to conduct raiding operations in occupied Europe. They also worked in small teams, such as the SAS, which was composed of ten or fewer commandos because that was better for special operations. One example is [[Norwegian Independent Company 1]], which destroyed [[Norwegian heavy water sabotage|heavy water facilities]] in Norway in 1941.

The [[Royal Navy]] also controlled [[Royal Naval Commandos|Royal Navy Beach Parties]], based on teams formed to control the [[Battle of Dunkirk|evacuation of Dunkirk]] in 1940.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historynet.com/royal-navy-commandos-in-world-war-ii.htm |title=World War II &#124; Royal Naval Commandos in World War II |publisher=TheHistoryNet |date= 2006-06-12|access-date=2012-04-19}}</ref> These were later known simply as RN Commandos, and they did not see action until they successfully fought for control of the landing beaches (as in the disastrous [[Dieppe Raid]] of 19 August 1942). The RN Commandos, including Commando "W" from the [[Royal Canadian Navy]], saw action on [[Normandy landings|D-Day]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rafbeachunits.info/html/beach_organisation.html |title=Beach Organisation for the Invasion of Normandy, 1944 |quote=The Royal Navy Beach Commandos controlled the arrival and departure of vessels that were landing their cargoes on the beaches. In each RN Beach Commando was a Principal Beachmaster (PBM), an Assistant Principal Beachmaster and two or three beach parties each consisting of a Beachmaster, two Assistant Beachmasters and about 20 seamen. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113212651/http://www.rafbeachunits.info/html/beach_organisation.html |archive-date=January 13, 2009 }}</ref>

[[File:The Commando Memorial by night.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Commando Memorial]] unveiled in 1952 in Scotland is dedicated to the British Commandos of the Second World War.]]

In 1942, the Royal Navy's nine [[Royal Marines]] infantry battalions were reorganized as Commandos, numbered from 40 to 48, joining the British Army Commandos in combined Commando Brigades. After the war the Army Commandos were disbanded. The Royal Marines form an enduring Brigade-strength capability as [[3 Commando Brigade]] with supporting Army units.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Raiders&nbsp;— the Army Commandos 1940-46|author=Neillands, Robin|year=1989|isbn=978-0-297-79426-4|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson}}</ref>

The [[Royal Air Force]] also formed 15 commando units in 1942, each of which was 150 strong. These units consisted of trained technicians, [[armourer]]s and maintainers who had volunteered to undertake the commando course. These [[Royal Air Force Commandos]] accompanied the Allied invasion forces in all theatres; their main role was to allow the forward operation of friendly fighters by servicing and arming them from captured air fields. However, due to the forward position of these airfields, the RAF Commandos were also trained to secure and make safe these airfields and to help defend them from enemy counterattack.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/dday/scus.html |title= |website=www.raf.mod.uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915162624/http://www.raf.mod.uk/dday/scus.html |archive-date=September 15, 2013}}</ref>

=== United States ===
{{Main|United States Army Rangers|Marine Raiders|Paramarines|Underwater Demolition Team|Air Commando}}

During 1941, the [[United States Marine Corps]] formed commando battalions.  The USMC commandos were known collectively as [[Marine Raiders]]. On orders from President Franklin D. Roosevelt through a proposal from OSS Director Colonel William J. Donovan and the former Commander of the United States Marine Detachment Major Evans F Carlson, directed the formation of what became the Marine Raiders. Initially this unit was to be called Marine Commandos and were to be the counterpart to the British Commandos. The name Marine Commandos met with much controversy within the Marine Corps leading Commandant Thomas J. Holcomb to state, "the term 'Marine' is sufficient to indicate a man ready for duty at any time, and the injection of a special name, such as ''commando'', would be undesirable and superfluous." President Roosevelt's son James Roosevelt served with the Marine Raiders. The Raiders initially saw action at the [[Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo#Battle of Tulagi|Battle of Tulagi]] and the [[Battle of Makin]], as well as the [[Battle of Guadalcanal]], the [[Battle of Empress Augusta Bay]], and other parts of the [[Pacific Ocean Areas]]. In February 1944 the four Raider battalions were converted to regular Marine units. Additionally, as parachuting special forces units, [[Paramarines]] arguably also qualified as commandos<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZEeaBgAAQBAJ&q=paramarine+commandos&pg=PA5|title=America's Commandos: U.S. Special Operations Forces of World War II and Korea|first=Leroy|last=Thompson|date=11 February 2001|publisher=Frontline Books|access-date=16 May 2017|via=Google Books|isbn=9781853674587}}</ref>- though they too were assimilated into regular Marine units in 1944.

In mid-1942, the [[United States Army]] formed its [[United States Army Rangers|Army Rangers]] in [[Northern Ireland]] under [[William Orlando Darby|William O. (Bill) Darby]]. The Rangers were designed along the similar lines to the British Commandos. The first sizable Ranger action took place in August 1942 at the [[Dieppe Raid]], where 50 Rangers from the 1st Ranger Battalion were dispersed among Canadian regulars and British Commandos. The first full Ranger action took place in November 1942 during the invasion of Algiers in [[Northwest Africa]] in [[Operation Torch]], again by members of the 1st Ranger Battalion.<ref>Thomson, W.R., "Massacre at Dieppe," ''History of the Second World War'', BPC Publishing, LTD, London, GB, 2nd ed., 1972.</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2018}}