Commandos Section

Hi, just a request.
Can we have a section on this forum, all about the Special Forces in World War 2? What does every one think about it?

Tim

 

Hi,

we used to have a section on Special forces, but people rarely posted in it so we merged it into the main forum.

 

Does anyone even talk about the Commandos on the forum. I'm a new member, so I wouldn't know.

 

Not recently, no. Your topic is the first I have seen in a long time.

However I am sure that people will start to talk about them now that you are asking questions!

 

Thanks, I am quite interested in the second world war, and commandos in particular. I would like to try and join the Australian SAS, but I doubt that I would get in, because the training is so tough.

 

I assume that you are currently serving in HM ADF then? Or is it a plan to join and then work your way through to the unit of your choice?

the problem with commandos and special forces is that most of our discussions focus on strategic rather than tactical level.

FNG

 

No, I'm not in the ADF, but as soon as I leave school I will try and enlist as a Rifleman, and then go on to start Commando training.

 

Here's a bit of advice. Before you enlist, go talk to the folks in the SAS units. Not sure about Australia, but all US brigades/regiments/divisions have a Public Affairs Office. You should be able to contact them with any questions you may have about them and possibly schedule a personal tour. Naturally, some stuff and information will be off limits but you will get a good idea of what the units are about and how to get in. Listen to the men in these units and you can't go wrong.

Recruiters will tell you whatever they need to so you will enlist and many times you'll find out what you were told was not quite true. Talk to the SAS men first and if you think that is the life for you start preparing now.

 

Thanks a lot. I'll try and do what you suggested. What do you have in the U.S. that is the equivalent of the SAS. I've read several places about the navy S.E.A.L.S. and they are supposed to be the most elite unit in the U.S. Special Forces. Is this the case, or are there more elite units.

 

The US has the Special Operations Command that is a joint effort of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. They have different units who have different mission specialties but all can fill in for another if needed.

The US Navy SEALS are more like the traditional commandoes of WW2.

The US Army Special Forces (Green Berets) are more about unconventional warfare using local forces in the region they are operating in. They can and do perform tactical strike missions but it's not really what the SF is primarily about.

SF also has Delta Force. They specialize more in captures and extractions but can also be used in a tactical role. They get a lot of work in anti-terrorism roles but very little factual info is available on them.

The US Army Rangers are a light Airborne Infantry in operations and are more suited to take and hold and interdiction missions than the regular Airborne Infantry or smaller/lighter SEAL and SF teams.

The USAF has combat controllers, gunships, and para-rescue. The combat controllers are much like the Pathfinders of WW2. They go in days/weeks ahead of a mission and prepare/co-ordinate drop zones. They also try to keep the LZ safe during drops until all the troops/gear are on the ground. Para-rescue are the guys who go in after downed aircrew and sunken boats. They operate in peacetime as well as wartime. In combat situations, they will travel behind enemy lines to rescue people from harm and to prevent capture.
The USAF also operates the AC-130 Spectre gunships and other aircraft suited for unconventional warfare.

The USMC has Marine Force Reconnaisance (Force Recon). They are much like the Army's Rangers but used in a more Marine style. As the name implies recon is their game.

 

A few more points to consider. All of the units of USSOC are Airborne. All the members go through the Airborne school at FT Benning, Georgia. The Airborne school is run by the Army but is utilized by all branches. You also must be able to met the other physical requires like be an excellent swimmer.

Some units are easier to get into than others. The Army Rangers, USAF combat controllers and para-rescue can be had as enlistment options. In those, you will go through that branch's basic training (boot camp) and then through the required MOS (military occupation specialty) school, advanced infantry school for Rangers, then on to Airborne school. Then, upon graduation of Airborne school, you go to the specialized school, Ranger school for Rangers.

The other units are much more selective about who they let in. In these units, you first have to already be in the service. You apply to go to their schools and if get selected to attend and you do well enough in school they will transfer you to one of those units. In the case of the Army's Special Forces, you have to already be on your second enlistment and promotable to Staff Sergeant (E-6) or a Warrant or Commissioned Officer and already Airborne qualified. You will also need to be from a combat arms background (Infantry, Combat Engineers, etc)

 

Yes I thought thats how you would do it. I'd heard that the navy S.E.A.L training is the toughest program in the U.S. army.

Are you interested in the Commando raids on occupied France, and Norway during the second world war. I find reading about them is quite thrilling, especially about the raids after 1942, when the commandos had to be extremely careful because any commando captured by the Germans would be shot.

Here is a copy of the Commando Order issued by Hitler, about what to do with captured commandos:

1. For a long time now our opponents have been employing in their conduct of the war, methods which contravene the International Convention of Geneva. The members of the so-called Commandos behave in a particularly brutal and underhand manner; and it has been established that those units recruit criminals not only from their own country but even former convicts set free in enemy territories. From captured orders it emerges that they are instructed not only to tie up prisoners, but also to kill out-of-hand unarmed captives who they think might prove an encumbrance to them, or hinder them in successfully carrying out their aims. Orders have indeed been found in which the killing of prisoners has positively been demanded of them.

2. In this connection it has already been notified in an Appendix to Army Orders of 7.10.1942. that in future, Germany will adopt the same methods against these Sabotage units of the British and their Allies; i.e. that, whenever they appear, they shall be ruthlessly destroyed by the German troops.

3. I order, therefore:

From now on all men operating against German troops in so-called Commando raids in Europe or in Africa, are to be annihilated to the last man. This is to be carried out whether they be soldiers in uniform, or saboteurs, with or without arms; and whether fighting or seeking to escape; and it is equally immaterial whether they come into action from Ships and Aircraft, or whether they land by parachute. Even if these individuals on discovery make obvious their intention of giving themselves up as prisoners, no pardon is on any account to be given. On this matter a report is to be made on each case to Headquarters for the information of Higher Command.

4. Should individual members of these Commandos, such as agents, saboteurs etc., fall into the hands of the Armed Forces through any means - as, for example, through the Police in one of the Occupied Territories - they are to be instantly handed over to the S.D.

To hold them in military custody - for example in P.O.W. Camps, etc., - even if only as a temporary measure, is strictly forbidden.

5. This order does not apply to the treatment of those enemy soldiers who are taken prisoner or give themselves up in open battle, in the course of normal operations, large scale attacks; or in major assault landings or airborne operations. Neither does it apply to those who fall into our hands after a sea fight, nor to those enemy soldiers who, after air battle, seek to save their lives by parachute.

6. I will hold all Commanders and Officers responsible under Military Law for any omission to carry out this order, whether by failure in their duty to instruct their units accordingly, or if they themselves act contrary to it.
Adolf Hitler.

 

The Germans had commandoes too.

Did the Australians use any sort of commando units in WW2?

 

Yep they sure did . They fought the Japanese in Timor, they attacked shipping in Singapore harbor, an served in New Guinea.
Check out this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_commandos

 

Maybe you should focus your writing on them. I don't recall ever seeing anything about them. Were they used in Korea and Vietnam as well?

 

I think they might have been. I'm not sure.

 

The Ausies had a significant number of troops in Nam and are often forgotton about. Whether the Aussies are happy to forget Nam I don't really know.

If I recall I believe they mainly sent light infantry battalions which would lend itself to commando type units.

Jim Robinson served in Nam

FNG

 

I think Wikipedia might have photos of Aussie commandos serving in Vietnam, but I am not sure.

 

The Australian SAS served in Vietnam.

 

So did Tom off Home & Away (Character from when I used to watch it about 15 years ago...)