No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando
| No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Active | 1942–1945 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 British Army
|
| Type | Commando |
| Role | Coastal raiding force Assault Infantry |
| Size | Maximum 11 Troops |
| Part of | Combined Operations 1 Special Service Brigade |
| Garrison/HQ | Eastbourne |
| Engagements | Second World War |
| Disbanded | 4 September 1945 |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Lister Lieutenant Colonel Peter Laycock |
| Insignia | |
| Combined Operations recognition badge |  |
No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando was a commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The first No. 10 Commando was proposed in August 1940, using volunteers from Northern Command, however there was such a poor response that No. 10 Commando was disbanded and the men that had volunteered were posted to other commando units.
In early 1942 the commando was raised again, this time as No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando. By the end of the war the commando had become the largest commando in the British Army and included volunteers from France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Yugoslavia. There was another group of volunteers in X Troop which contained enemy aliens, Germans and Austrians who had escaped from Nazi Germany. Men from the No. 10 Commando served in the Mediterranean, Scandinavia, Burma and Western Europe during the Second World War, mostly in small numbers attached to other formations, never as a complete unit.
The 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. By March 1941 there were 11 battalion sized units now called commandos and each commando would consist of around 390 men in a small headquarters and six troops of three officers and 62 men each.
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