The
British Commandos were formed in 1940, by the order of
Winston Churchill the British
Prime Minister. He called for specially trained troops that would "develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast". At first they were a small force of volunteers who carried out small raids against enemy occupied territory, but by 1943 their role had changed into lightly equipped assault Infantry which specialised in spearheading amphibious landings. The man selected as the overall commander of the force was
Admiral Sir
Roger Keyes himself a veteran of the landings at
Galipoli and the
Zeebrugge raid in the
First World War. Initially the Commandos were a
British Army formation the first
Royal Marine Commando was formed in 1942. The Royal Marine Commandos like all British Commandos went through the six-week intensive commando course at
Achnacarry. The course in the Scottish Highlands concentrated on fitness, speed marches, weapons training, map reading, climbing, small boat operations and demolitions both by day and by night. No. 44 (Royal Marine) Commando was formed on 1 August 1943, under the command of
Lieutenant Colonel F C Horton and consisted of seven
Troops just over 400 men. Each Troop consisted of three officers and 62 men in a small headquarters and two sections. In 1943 the commando formation was also standardised, into a small headquarters, five fighting Troops, a Heavy Weapons troop and a signals platoon. The fighting Troops consisted of 65 all ranks divided into two 30 man sections which in turn were divided into three ten man sub sections. The Heavy Weapons Troop was made up of 3 inch Mortar and
Vickers machine gun teams. No.44 (Royal Marine) Commando was raised in August 1943, from the 3rd Royal Marine Battalion under command of
Lieutenant Colonel F C Horton. It served in the
Far East with the
3rd Special Service Brigade. It took part in the
Burma Campaign and was located in the
Arakan during the
Japanese U-Go Offensive, before carrying out a number of raids along the Burmese coastline. During the 1944–45 third Arakan offensive it took part in the landings at
Myebon and the
battle of Hill 170. It was then withdrawn to India to prepare for the invasion of
Malaya Operation Zipper. The war ended before the operation began and the commando was diverted to reoccupy
Hong Kong. ==Operations==