Category: The Commandos

SAUNDERS, Tim. Commandos and Rangers: D Day Operations. 284p., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2012. ISBN: 1844158363.

Special Forces played a significant role in the landings.

Uses official records as well as veterans' reminiscences to create a good popular account built around individual operations.

From an Irish army family, he seemed destined for the Royal Ulster Rifles and went to Sandhurst in July 1939. After passing out he soon volunteered for special service and joined 12 Commando. They took part in the Lofotens raid then the St Nazaire raid, with Purdon actually on Campbeltown. He was wounded and captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW, latterly in Colditz. He went on to an active and successful military career. An engaging autobiography.

Partly based on the official government pamphlet Combined Operations.

The story of 6 Troop, Number 2 Commando. While the focus is on Burn and the St Nazaire Raid, this is a sympathetic account of the families of POWs and of life in Colditz.

A heavily illustrated guide to their training and operations.

This unique unit composed of exiles was deployed widely from Norway to the Far East in a vast array of raiding operations.

A nostalgic look at the Commando Mountain Warfare Training Centre and how it operated.

The autobiography of an immensely experienced officer who was in action with the Commandos at every major engagement from the first raid on Guernsey in 1940 through Lofoten, Vaagso, Dieppe, Sicily, D-Day and finally Arakan. Reprinted by Greenhill in 1989 (ISBN: 1853670316).

SAUNDERS, Tim. Commandos and Rangers: D Day Operations. 284p., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2012. ISBN: 18441583683.

Special forces played a significant role in the landings.

HUNTER, Robin. True Stories of the Commandos. [iv], 268p., illus. London: Virgin, 2000. ISBN: 9780753540534.

In reality a popular history of the Army Commandos 1940-45. Makes heavy use of personal reminiscences of the actions described.

OWEN, James. Commando: Winning World War II Behind Enemy Lines. xxxiii, 413p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Little Brown, 2012. ISBN: 9781408703021.

A history based on a mix of official documents and veterans reminiscences. Uses nineteen operations as a framework.

Full of firsthand accounts of all their actions. Excellent

SINGLETON, Gordon. Singleton’s War. 64p., illus. Pembroke Dock: Paterchurch, 1998. ISBN: 1870745078.

An Australian pilot’s autobiography. After extensive training he joined the new 461 squadron, RAAF, at Plymouth before it moved to Pembroke Dock where he flew Sunderlands - and even landed one on an airfield in 1943.

HUNTER, Robin. True Stories of the Commandos. [iv], 268p., illus. London: Virgin, 2000. ISBN: 9780753540534.

In reality a popular history of the Army Commandos 1940-45. Makes heavy use of personal reminiscences of the actions described.

MESSENGER, Charles. The Commandos 1940–1946. 447p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Kimber, 1985. ISBN: 0718305531.

A comprehensive and authoritative account.

SAUNDERS, Tim. A Tour of the Commando and Rangers D Day Landings. 284p., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2010. ISBN: 1844158683.

Special forces played a significant role in the landings.

FRY, Helen. German Schoolboy, British Commando: Churchill's Secret Soldier. 186p., bibliog., illus., index. Stroud : History Press 2010. ISBN: 0752449966.

Colin Anson was born Claus Ascher in Berlin and raised a Protestant. He was forced to flee Nazi Germany because his father, Curt Ascher, was one of Hitler's. In 1939, Colin found refuge in Britain, where he joined the British Army. Selected for Commando service, he trained with 3 Troop, the only German-speaking unit in the British armed forces. He was attached to the Royal Marines and took part in the invasion of Italy and Sicily in 1943, before participating in raids into Yugoslavia and Albania, and then in the liberation of Corfu.

MICHELLI, Alison. Commando to Captain-General: The Life of Brigadier Peter Young. xiv, 258 p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2007. ISBN: 1844156516.

A good account of this inspirational leader and his active war from Norway to Burma.

MORTIMER, Gavin. Kill Rommel! Operation Flipper 1941. 80p., bibliog., illus., index. Oxford: Osprey, 2014. ISBN: 9781472801098.

In November 1941 a mixed party of Commandos and SBS men were landed by submarine to assassinate Erwin Rommel on the eve of Operation Crusader intended to drive the Germans and Italians back across the Western Desert. The operation proved a fiasco, but lessons were learned.

MEREDITH, Anthony. The Pilot and the Commando: The Interlinked Lives of Two Young Christians in the Second World War. ix, 207p., bibliog., illus. Bloomington, IN; Authorhouse, 2011. ISBN: 9781467877619.          

The story of two childhood friends who became related by marriage. They joined up in 1940 from University. One went to No. 2 Commando and fought in Sicily, Italy and the Balkans. The other joined the FAA, was sunk with Ark Royal and served in Colombo and East Africa, including Madagascar before returning to the UK and the Service Trials Unit, alternating between service at Crail and on Pretoria Castle. The book is fuller on the commando experience.

CROSSLEY, Jim. Churchill’s Admiral In Two World Wars: Admiral of the Fleet Lord Keyes of Zeebrugge and Dover GCB KCVO CMG DSO. xii, 200p., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Maritime, 2020. ISBN: 9781526748393.

An engaging biography of a charismatic fighting admiral who saw action from anti-slavery patrols at the end of the nineteenth century to being present at the Leyte landings after his retirement. Has a brief account of his service in WW2, notably in Combined Operations.

GARRETT, Leah. X Troop: The Secret Jewish Commandos Who Helped To Defeat The Nazis. xiv, [2]351p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Chatto & Windus, 2021. ISBN: 9781784743116.

A still secret troop often described as a suicide squad, these men assumed false identities to disguise their origins. This well researched book focuses on several individuals who say action at Dieppe, in Italy, at D-Day, in Normandy, in the Adriatic and in the final battles in Northern Europe.

The story of No. 3 Commando by its wartime leader. The actions in which it was involved, from Guernsey and the Lofotens to the River Elbe, read like a history of Combined Operations. Reissued by George Mann in 1973 (ISBN: 0704100134).

After several attempts to join the army underage, he managed to join the Commandos and landed at D-Day and fought in the subsequent campaign.

He enlisted in a Territorial battalion in 1937 and was commissioned before the war. He was an early volunteer for the special independent companies, forerunners of the Commandos. He took part in the Norwegian campaign. His next action was the raid on St Nazaire, where the destruction of almost all the motor launches left him stranded ashore. He was taken prisoner and after several months in camps at Spangenburg and Rothenberg was moved to Oflag IVC at Colditz Castle where he spent the rest of the war.

A popular history of the Commandos and their WWII operations, first published in paperback in 1980.

Churchill fought in the Mediterranean and Aegean, commanding Second Commando Brigade. After Salerno, he fought in Yugoslavia beside Tito's partisans, commanded the defence of the island of Vis and finally fought in Albania.

Potted histories of some of the better-known commando actions.

The first history of a shadowy unit composed of individuals from the Occupied Countries and Germany. It served on many of the Commando raids in Germany, Northern Europe, and the Mediterranean.

The commandos were a hand-picked elite force assigned to 'develop a reign of terror' among the enemy. This book is tied to a three-part television series of the same name.

A competent history by the Vice-President of the Commando Association. No.4 Commando served at the Lofotens, Dieppe, D-Day and Walcheren.

Traces the formation of the Commandos and the development of the extreme and often unorthodox training methods and techniques used to prepare the volunteers from all branches of the British Army for subsequent world-wide operations.

The story of each honour is presented in the most direct way, using the stories and experiences of the commandos, officers and men who actually took part in the fighting. It should be emphasised that the operations mentioned as Battle Honours recognised only those deemed to be thoroughly outstanding feats of arms and represent only a fraction of the raids and battles fought by the Commandos in their five years of active service.

Looks at the origins of the Commandos and other special forces, with a focus on how they were trained in the Highlands of Scotland.

Describes the wartime training of Commandos at Achnacarry, through his own experiences. Also has details of the highlights of his service with the No. 4 Commando, including the Dieppe Raid.

Memoirs of the Adjutant of No. 4 Commando in NW Europe from the Normandy landings. Reissued in paperback as The Commandos: D-Day and After in 1994 (ISBN: 0709053916).

A history-cum-reference work of assaults, units, and weapons.

The autobiography of one of the colourful leaders of Commandos.

Describes his troop of the Commando from creation to Dieppe, Normandy, and NW Europe. Reprinted by Arms & Armour in 1986 (ISBN: 0853687390).

John Godwin joined the RN in 1941 and was soon serving as an Able Seaman on Ark Royal. After her sinking he was trained at King Alfred, commissioned, and volunteered for Combined Operations. In late 1942, 16 men from No. 14 (Arctic) Commando were selected for special training and Godwin soon had a group of six who raided Norway in May 1943. They sank a minesweeper with limpet mines, were captured, and taken to Sachsenhausen. Most of the group died in a desperate revolt in February 1945.

A romanticised account of their raids, which shows everyone as blameless heroes.

The author served in 3 Troop of 10 Commando, which largely consisted of Jews who had escaped from Europe and who fought under assumed names. They took part in various clandestine commando operations, notably in Northern Europe from 1944 onward.

Nos. 50, 51, and 52 Commando were raised in the Middle East in the late summer of 1940. They raided in North Africa, suffered a bad defeat at Castelorizzo, became part of Layforce, and fought in Crete. After much reorganisation, the units disappeared by the end of 1942.

He was second-in-command of No.4 Commando at Dieppe before taking command of No.6 Commando in North Africa, operating with First Army. In Normandy he took command of the 1st Commando Brigade and led them through the battles in NW Europe to VE Day.