10-cdo-Inter-Allied

Volunteers from occupied countries

The previous page was: "No.9 Army Commando"

10 cdo Inter Allied was formed in January 1942; under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel D.S. Lister, M.C. who had seen service with No.4 Army Commando. Major P. Laycock was second-in-command and Captain J.G. Clark was the adjutant. No.10 Commando was made up from volunteers from various countries across occupied Europe. The troops were formed slowly as and when recruits became available; their average strength was four officers and eighty-four other ranks.

The French were under the command of Captain Philippe Kieffer an experienced Royal Marine then serving with the Free French Forces.

The Dutch were under Captain P. Milders who was a giant in stature; and Captain G. Danloy who was a little rotund and a very good sense of humour which he eagerly shared; commanded the Belgium troop.

To these were presently added a Norwegian and a Polish troop another French troop and two more Belgian troops. The Yugoslav troop could never muster more than two officers and fourteen men.

No.9 Army Commando

Germans who hated the Nazi Regime

The most famous of the troops was No.3 originally known as 'X' Troop it was under the leadership of that capable and energetic officer Captain Hilton-Jones. It was mainly composed of Germans and Austrians; with a sprinkling of Hungarians and Czechs; every man in its ranks being technically an enemy alien.

Two bonds held them together: they could all speak perfect German; and all possessed a burning hatred of the Nazi Regime. However this did not pass un-noticed by the enemy; to whom more than one of them was known therefore special precautions had to be made to conceal their identities.

They were given false names of the most English nature; false regiments, false personal histories, false next of kin and fictitious correspondents. These precautions had to be sealed from everyone including the army pay authorities; needless to say the administrative problems were many.

The typists at headquarters knew who was who, and virtually everybody knew that 10 Commando was people of different countries and they therefore had various nationalities. But the most confusion came from the different languages; when troops swapped over duties. Each roster and Guard orders had to be typed out in all of the different languages.

Berets assumed different angles

They all arrived in different uniforms; a French sergeant-major was so glorious in his gold braid it was thought that he was at least a rear-admiral.

The Dutch officers wore their badges of rank on their collars. The Norwegian cadet officers with their epaulettes outlined in silver braid frequently received the first salute from officers far senior to them.

They were generally well turned out for parades; that had an un-military stylishness that was reminiscent of a musical comedy. Their new berets assumed angles never seen before in the Commandos; each nationality posing a different shape and direction.

Their new badges appeared in all different places; over the left breast and on trouser legs with some on the inner side of the leg.

To the more rigid military minded No.10 Commando must have seemed to bear a strong resemblance of Fred Karno's army.

in May 1943 the Commando was concentrated at Eastbourne. By then five of No.3 Troop and a small detachment from No.1 the French Troop had seen action in the Dieppe raid. No.5 Troop the Norwegians had supplied a detachment which went to the Shetland Isles and took part in raids carried out by Northforce.

In August 1943 No.4 Troop the Belgians and No.6 Troop the Poles went to Italy where they saw fighting at Salerno and elsewhere.

The men of No.10 their knowledge of Europe was of obvious value. The Norwegians for example many of whom had been fishermen had an intimate acquaintance with the rugged savage coast of their homeland.

The Dutch, the Belgians and the French of the sand or shingle beaches that fringed the western edge of their countries; while the Germans or Austrians contributed information of the greatest value concerning the psychology of the enemy and were very useful in the interrogation of Prisoners.

Did the German's have an unknown device?

10-cdo-Inter-Allied; In April 1944 an aircraft from Bomber Command, sent to attack some German coastal guns at Houlgate, dropped one of its bombs into the sea two hundred yards short of its target.

The bomb exploded on hitting the water and to the amazement of the crew caused a series of explosions all along the foreshore just beneath the surface of the water.

Photographs of this phenomenon were taken; a new type of mine was straight away suspected. With D-day soon to go ahead, concerns were raised, was this a new type of mine?

If-so it appeared to be a lethal device. An immediate reconnaissance of the underwater defences of the French coast was ordered.

Captain Hilton-Jones of No. 10 Commando

Captain Hilton-Jones of No. 10 Commando (Inter-Allied Commando) was allocated the task. The necessary craft were swiftly assembled at Dover.

Professor J. D. Bernal, an expert on mines, from Combined Operations, interviewed the raiders and told them the mines might be magnetic, acoustic, photographic or possibly detonated by a new device. At this stage nobody knew how they were detonated?

When he asked the men: "are there any questions?" They all gave the same answer: "Let's wait and see."

The plan was simple, if perilous, obtain one of these strange devices and bring it back to England for analyses.

Experts from the Royal Engineers would be protected from the enemy by the Commandos. They would be carrying the mine detectors, infra-red cameras and flashlight apparatus. Then they set out in two fast motor torpedo boats.

Hitler's 'Hell's Corner'

When three miles off of the French coast, they transferred to smaller rowing boats towing rubber dinghies.

A few hundred yards from shore they swapped over to the dinghies. When they were in shallow water they climbed out and waded to the shore using the mine detectors.

The place chosen for these activities was the most highly defended part of the French coast, Cap Gris Nez, close to Calais. It was noted as Hitler's 'Hell's Corner'.

Two reasons were chosen for this; the first being this would be the most likely spot to place the mines. The other was; if any of the raiding party were captured the Germans might think this was where the Allied assault on France was going to come from.

No last moment surprises

The party returned with glad tidings, the device was no more than an ordinary Teller mine (a mine that deals with people) named after a bank person's job.

The Teller mines were attached to a block of wood near the top of a stake. The stake itself was sharpened so as to pierce the hull of a landing craft. It would then provide a full impact, striking the mine for maximum damage.

Thus the Teller mine's minimum damage would be to increase the size of the hole created by the sharpened stake.

It was these Teller mines which had been exploded by the aircrafts bomb. All was well. No last moment surprises awaited the invaders.

Modern-day Pages Fast Boats Pages Joe Wezley Pages

D-day invasion would continue

The D-day invasion would continue as planned. Foremost in their ranks would be eight Commando Units, three army and five Royal Marine.

They would form the Special Services Group, commanded by Major-General R. G. Sturges, C.B., D.S.O., R.M.

To follow in detail all of the Commandos exploits from the moment they set foot on the Normandy beaches up to that day in April less than one year later when they crossed the Elbe is not possible.

The Commandos battles must be seen from a broad and general picture. Some, but not all, of their battles are on the other pages of: 'A Salute to the Modern-day Commando'

The next Link below will be: "11 Commando Scottish"

10 Commando Inter Allied 11 Commando Scottish

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