Special Service Brigade

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This article is about the former division of the British Army. For other uses, see Special service (disambiguation).

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
.

Background

In 1940, volunteers were called for from serving British Army soldiers within certain formations still in Britain and men of the disbanding Divisional

troops of 75 men and further divided into 15-man sections.[2] The Commandos were all volunteers, seconded from other British Army regiments, but they retained their own regimental cap badges and remained on their regimental roll for pay.[3]

Formation

The Special Service Brigade consisted of five Special Service battalions, numbered one to five.[4] These Special Service battalions were eventually renamed commandos. The No. 1 Special Service Battalion became No. 1 and No. 2 Commandos. The No. 2 Special Service Battalion became No. 9 Commando. The No. 3 Special Service Battalion became No. 4 Commando. The No. 4 Special Service Battalion became No. 3 Commando. The No. 5 Special Service Battalion became No. 5 and No. 6 Commandos.[4]

Commando brigades

In 1943 the commandos started to move away from smaller raiding operations. 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. The three remaining units No. 12, No. 14 (Arctic) and No. 62 Commandos were left to carry out smaller-scale raids.[5] But by the end of the year these three commandos had all been disbanded, to supply replacements for the other commando units.[6]

The formation of the brigades was:

The previous Special Service Brigade Headquarters was replaced by Headquarters Special Services Group under

Burma and the Pacific.[8]

References

  1. ^ Joslen, p.454
  2. ^ a b Haskew, p.48
  3. ^ Moreman, p.12
  4. ^ a b Moreman, p.18
  5. ^ Moreman, pp.84–85
  6. ^ Chappell, p.14
  7. ^ "unit index". Order of Battle. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
  8. ^ Joslen, p. 455.
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