No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando | |
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Active | 1942–1945 |
Disbanded | 4 September 1945 |
Country | ![]() |
Branch | ![]() |
Type | Commando |
Size | Maximum 11 Troops |
Part of | Combined Operations 1 Special Service Brigade |
Garrison/HQ | Eastbourne |
Engagements | Second World War |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Dudley Lister 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, recruited largely from non-British personnel from German-occupied Europe. This unit was used to help co-ordinate attacks with other Allied forces.
The unit's origins were in a British volunteer unit proposed in August 1940 which recruited from Northern Command. A low number of recruits, however, meant that the unit was disbanded and the volunteers returned to their units. In July 1942, the unit was raised again as a multinational force, recruiting volunteers from German-occupied Europe and enemy aliens. It included volunteers from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Yugoslavia, organised into independent sub-units known as "troops".
Units from No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando served in North-West Europe, the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and Burma, mostly in small numbers attached to other military formations. By the end of the war, No. 10 Commando had become the largest commando formation in the British Army.