British Commando WWII Patch Combined Operations Red Black Disc b

British Commando WWII Patch Combined Operations Red Black Disc Left Arm 1943 Facing Left RAF Servicing Embroidered on wool black gauze back 68mm two and fifteen sixteenth inches diameter.

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Following Winston Churchills order in June 1940 for special units to carry out raids against German occupied Europe the British Army formed independent Special Service companies as small highly mobile surprise raiding and reconnaissance forces carrying all they needed and remaining
in field operations for less than 36 hours manned by selected volunteers from the Army. In 1941 Lieutenant-Colonel D. W. Clarke of the British Imperial General Staff suggested the name Commando for these units in evocation of the effectiveness and tactics of the Boer commandos during the Boer War and earlier Zulu Wars. The companies later reformed as battalion sized commandos and the British Army Commandos spawned
several other famous British specialized units such as the Special Air Service the Special Boat Service and the Parachute Regiment.

All volunteers originally came from the British Army but volunteers would eventually come from all branches of the UKs armed forces and foreign volunteers from countries occupied by the Germans. These volunteers formed over 30 individual units and from 1943 following the move away from smaller raiding operations to spearheading future Allied landing operations as highly specialized assault infantry and with the Royal Marine
Commandos the Army Commandos were formed into four combined Commando Brigades for assault operations.

The Special Operations Executive SOE also formed commando units from British and displaced European personnel to conduct raiding operations in occupied Europe. They also worked in small teams of ten or fewer commandos because that was better for special operations such as the Norwegian Independent Company 1 which destroyed heavy water facilities in Norway in 1941.

The Royal Navy also controlled Royal Navy Beach Parties based on teams formed to control the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. These became
known as RN Commandos tasked with securing and controlling the landing beaches taking part in many operations including the disastrous Dieppe Raid of 19 August 1942 and the successful landings in Normandy 6 June 1944.

In 1942 the Royal Navys nine Royal Marines infantry battalions were reorganized as Royal Marine Commandos numbered from 40 to 48. In 1943 the Commandos began to move away from smaller raiding operations to spearheading future allied landing operations as highly specialized assault infantry and with the Army Commandos were formed into four combined Commando Brigades.

The Royal Air Force formed 15 Commando units in 1942 each of which was 150 strong consisting of trained technicians armorers and maintainers who had volunteered to undertake the commando course. These RAF Commandos accompanied the Allied invasion forces in all theatres tasked with enabling forward operation of friendly fighters by securing and make safe captured airfields assist their defense from enemy counterattack and repair servicing maintaining and arming the aircraft.

The Commandos served in all the theatres of war from the Arctic Circle Europe the Middle East Balkans South East Asia and the Pacific on 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. At the end of the War many of the Commandos were disbanded leaving just the Royal Marine 3 Commando Brigade.

This patch dates from 1943.