First Recruits impressed

'The Boom Patrols'

'Special Boats Section'

And Royal Marine

Special Service Brigades Which Formed In 1939

The previous page was: "Darrell's Marines 1667"

They were some of the First Recruits for the Commandos. The word Commando is now known in every civilised language throughout the world.

The gallant men whose daring exploits gave the modern-day Commando its meaning and reputation needs no explaining. Neither does the symbol they wear proudly on their head the green beret.

The Royal Marine Commandos were officially formed 14th February 1942, with the first intake of First Recruits arriving on the 17th March 1942.

Before the Commandos the Royal Marines had 'The Boom Patrols', the 'Special Service Brigade', the Royal Marine Siege Regiment and the 'Special Boats Squadron' their jobs were; Raiding Parties; which was very similar to the Commando, except for the exceptionally concentrated Commando training.

Nevertheless the Royal Marines had been doing Commando type work for hundreds of years. By birth of right it was then and it is still today, their Trade Mark.

Darrell's Marines 1667

Aspiring Commandos

On arriving for training the aspiring Commando soldier was as a general rule, impressed by the insistence of a very high standard of cleanliness, both personal and equipment.

The training was twelve weeks continuous, except for a break of half a day a week.

On completion of training the Commando soldier had to be able to cover seven miles in one hour, something he could do if he so desired.

had to be of exceptional calibre

Every instructor had to be of exceptional calibre, and all of them had to be able to perform every evolution slightly more accurately, slightly more faster than the best man under their instruction. Each instructor had to be a natural leader of men, because the emphasis throughout was based on leadership.

All had to be physically fit, pass the exacting medical standards, non-swimmers were accepted. The training was carried out to a syllabus, each period of training lasted forty minutes except the field exercises of which the length was two to three days. The subjects taught were demolitions, field craft with the emphasis on tactics of concealment and infiltration, sniping and intelligence work, boat training and weapons and small arms training.

Every man was encouraged to make suggestions which were unhesitatingly adopted if they were found to be of value. Every man learned to shoot accurately in every position and all conditions because he had to be a first class shot.

He had to become proficient in the use of the knife and also in unarmed combat; he learned to climb with and without the aid of ropes; to cross rivers and streams by bridges made of toggle ropes-a short length of rope carried by every man, the rope had a loop on at one end and a small wooden handle on the other end. Each man had to cover a distance of fifteen miles up hill in two hours and fifteen minutes.

Lived 'on the country'

The Commando soldiers lived 'on the country' cooking their own meals out of rations issued to them raw, or which they themselves had attained one way or another; often they would be able to collect food from a farm or a croft. Failure to learn to cook meant an unpalatable meal or no meal at all.

Strict discipline was enforced from the offset. Their sense of discipline was undoubtebly put to a severe test; yet the theory and practice were sound. The Commando soldier gradually acquired that extra scruple of endurance which often brought him successfully through hardships that a less highly trained soldier might have succumbed.

All exercises were carried out under fire from live ammunition from Bren guns and flash bombs. These caused casualties, but these were the price of making a Commando soldier. A cost unhesitatingly paid in his quest for efficiency. The fact that death lurked in the shadows for the unwary would always be present in the mind.

The death slide is a contraption by which a man is able to cross a river by clinging to a rope toggle and sliding down another rope. The assault courses had obstacles that were tough and numerous, these all had to be completed in specific times, throughout the strenuous days and sometimes strenuous nights.

training took place in darkness

Much of the training took place in darkness, the neophyte had one consolation; he was never alone; more than that, he worked side by side his chosen friend. He was thus one-half of a team of two. He always fell in with his mate, if he was a Bren gunner his mate would be his number two and handle his magazines or vice versa. If scouts were needed on a flank they would go out together. The lesson of friendship was driven home firmly and unobtrusively and was known throughout the centre as me and my pal.

Friendship between two men engaged in the business of war is as old as war itself. Achillies and Patroclus, David and Jonathan, Roland and Oliver, Nelson and Hardy; the names change, but the spirit remains. The instructors knew its worth well enough; they fostered it and cherished it, so that the men they trained should fight, not only with skill, but with strong, united hearts.

It is hard to exaggerate the importance of what was achieved by the instructors, commissioned and non-commissioned alike, who worked tirelessly and with such controlled enthusiasm, the Commandos in particular, and the country in general, owe those instructors a very great debt. They exploited to the full their desire for success; but there was no discipline for disciplines sake; no hardship imposed merely because it was hardship. The aim and the object were clear, the Commando soldier, had to be, the best soldier on the battlefield.

Modern-day Pages Fast Boats Pages Joe Wezley Pages

The good thing about this job

Wearers of the green beret passed through a Holding Operational Unit, so that the finishing touches might be put upon their training. Here they studied the more advanced types of equipment which they would have to handle, such as demolition material, mines and booby traps. Here, too, specialists were chosen to fill the ranks of signallers, engineers, drivers, clerks and other trades without whom no unit of an armed force, however regular and independent, can wage war.

"The good thing about this job," one of them was heard to say, "is that we all know we are doing something that has never been done before." There had not been anything like the Commandos before, in the history of warfare. To sail from fortress Britain across the salty moat which guarded it, and land upon the other side to harass an enemy of invaders. The Commando must be considered the very 'First' of this type of professional soldier.

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