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09:03and three hundred and fifteen Norwegian volunteers who had decided to join their armed forces in
09:08Britain among the German prisoners of war with a crew of a trawler which had a top-secret Enigma
09:15cipher machine on board although the Germans managed to throw the machine overboard the
09:21commanders were able to seize a spare set of rotors this was of invaluable help to the
09:26cryptologists of the decoding center at Bletchley Park one commando officer could not resist using
09:33the local telegraph station to send off a telegram addressed to a Hitler Berlin it read
09:39reference your last speech I thought you said that whenever British troops land on the continent
09:44of Europe German soldiers will face them well where are they
09:55Hitler's answer was to garrison a quarter of a million troops in Norway who could better have
10:00been used elsewhere the troops sent to the Middle East did not enjoy such a clear-cut success locally
10:15recruited Middle East commandos were used during the capture of the Italian colony of Eritrea
10:20while the others known as lay force after their commander Colonel Bob Laycock became involved
10:26in attempts to disrupt the axis supply lines during Rommel's first offensive which drove the British out
10:32of Libya in the spring of 1941 then half of lay force was sent to Crete to cover the British
10:38withdrawal
10:39after the German airborne invasion the unit was virtually destroyed and lay force subsequently disbanded
10:55despite this fresh commandos and Paris continue to be trained in Britain but a further delay in their
11:00deployment occurred when in October 1941 Admiral Keyes resigned in protest at a decision that all future
11:07commando operations must be agreed with the army high command Churchill replaced him as chief of combined
11:13operations with Lord Louis Mountbatten a cousin of King George VI and a distinguished destroyer captain
11:21Mountbatten was determined to keep up the pressure with further large-scale raids to tie down the German
11:26garrison it was decided to revisit Norway with an attack on the port of Varxel accompanied by a diversionary visit
11:33to the Lofoten's
11:37The aim was to seize the island of Marlois opposite the port of Varxel eliminate the German artillery battery there
11:43and then occupy the port and destroy military and industrial targets
11:53a force including two landing ships carrying some 600 commandos set sail from the Shetland Islands on the 26th of
12:00December 1941
12:02they reached their objective the next morning undetected and the commandos began to man the landing craft
12:20As these set off the escorting cruiser HMS Kenya fired a salvo of starshells to illuminate Marlois for a naval
12:28bombardment and to act as a marker for RAF bombers which dropped smoke bombs to mask the landings
12:37the Marlois the Marlois force was led by one of the great characters of the early commandos major mad Jack
12:43Churchill who went into the assault armed with a broadsword and playing the bagpipes
12:52Churchill later recorded some of the tunes he played during the assault
12:58his men overran the island in less than 10 minutes
13:16and suitably overawed the German garrison surrendered
13:25the guns were then turned towards Varxel town
13:38for across the water the Germans were resisting fiercely and bitter house-to-house fighting raged for most of the
13:44morning
13:47mortars and high explosives were used to destroy several of the German strongholds
14:10while the fighting continued in the town two Royal Navy destroyers took troops to blow up a fish processing plant
14:16on the mainland
14:17and then sank several German ships sheltering in the channel
14:31by 1300 hours German resistance had been eliminated and as the remaining targets were blown up the commandos began to
14:39retire
14:40they had suffered 17 dead with 53 wounded while 120 Germans were killed and 98 taken prisoner
14:47around a hundred Norwegian civilians took the opportunity to leave with the commandos
14:58operation archery as a Varxel raid was codenamed was a total success both tactically and strategically
15:05for the rest of the war Hitler remained convinced that Norway would be invaded and never allowed the garrison to
15:11be reduced
15:18while the commandos had been gaining their first battle honors
15:22Britain's airborne arm had been retitled the parachute regiment
15:25and expanded into a parachute brigade and a glider brigade
15:30the Paris first important operation took place on the 27th of February 1942
15:36led by major John Frost a team of 80 men of the first parachute battalion dropped at Bruneval on the
15:43French Channel coast
15:48their mission was to seize parts of a top secret German radar installation so that measures to jam it could
15:54be developed
15:59it had originally been intended to land commandos on the beach below the radar site
16:03but an airborne landing seemed to offer a better chance of surprise and the Paris seized their opportunity
16:16the men were deployed in 12 converted Whitley bombers
16:35the flight to the target went perfectly
16:43and the men dropped undetected a little way inland from their objective
16:52almost total surprise was achieved and the radar captured for long enough for vital parts to be removed for assessment
16:59back in Britain
17:08the raiders were then taken off by motor launch having lost three killed and seven wounded
17:21among their most valuable booty was one of the German radar operators
17:26the information obtained by the raid played a vital part in enabling RAF bomber command to penetrate the German aerial
17:33defences
17:38two other significant developments occurred in February 1942
17:43the first Royal Marine commando was formed
17:50and a commando training centre was set up at Achnacarry the country estate in the Scottish Highlands
17:59for the remainder of the war all commandos received their basic training there
18:13the next significant commando raid took place a month later against the French Atlantic port of Saint-Nazaire
18:25the aim was to destroy its dry dock the only one on the Atlantic seaboard of occupied Europe large enough
18:31to repair major German surface warships
18:35HMS Campbelltown the world war one US destroyer which had been transferred to the Royal Navy was converted to look
18:42like a German vessel
18:43packed with explosives and carrying some 100 commandos she was to be rammed into the dock gates
18:51once a commandos together with another 140 carried by motor launches had gone ashore to destroy the pumping and winding
18:58mechanisms
18:59and been withdrawn by the MLs the Campbelltown would be exploded by delayed action fuses
19:07amazingly Campbelltown accompanied by sixteen smaller craft managed to get within about two miles of the target
19:13before the destroyer was lit up by a searchlight
19:19she was flying the ensign of the Kriegsmarine and the Germans hesitated for a few vital minutes before opening a
19:26withering fire
19:33as commando captain Bob Montgomery later described
19:37coming up the Loire in Campbelltown the fire really was getting very heavy indeed
19:41it seemed to be coming from all directions at once
19:44and it wasn't very long before the coxswain on the wheel was killed
19:49and another sailor took his place he was killed almost immediately
19:52I thinking I was the only one there stepped forward took the wheel not really knowing what I was going
19:57to do with it
19:58luckily Tibbetts from behind tapped me on the shoulder took the wheel away from me before I could do any
20:03damage
20:05then the Kriegsmarine ensign was hauled down and replaced by the battle ensign of the Royal Navy
20:15the Campbelltown went in at 20 knots
20:20she struck the dock at 01 34 hours just four minutes behind schedule
20:30the bow crumpled 36 feet in lodging the hidden explosives firmly against the gate
20:39among the first commandos ashore was the second in command Major Bill Copeland
20:43looking at her it looked as though every gun in the world was firing shot of one sort or another
20:50into her poor battered sides
20:53in the glare of what seemed to be about six searchlights
21:05the commandos fanned out across the dock heading for their objectives
21:09and now the Germans are going to get a taste of what they've been giving us
21:15although wounded before leaving Campbelltown
21:18Lieutenant Stuart Chant led his demolition team to their target
21:22now this was my objective the pump house
21:25on the way here I'd thought about what would happen if we found a watchman inside
21:29and I decided we'd have to shoot him we didn't have the time to mess about
21:33I then went to open the door and strangely enough it was locked
21:36in all our planning we'd never considered that the door would be locked
21:40a borrowed sledgehammer quickly solved this
21:44and Chant and his team raced in
21:51I had a lot of confidence in my chaps
21:54they followed me without a word each clinging to each other's rucksack
21:58and we walked away pretty smartly down these stairs
22:02don't forget it was practically completely dark
22:04and got darker as we went on
22:06nobody said anything
22:13each of us went to a pump I took this pump here number three
22:19and out of our rucksacks we took these specially prepared charges
22:23there were eight of them five pounds in weight
22:25specially prepared waterproof duplicate leads
22:28and they were laid as planned into the most sensitive parts of each pump
22:33eight charges per pump
22:41so I pulled the percussion igniter giving us 90 seconds to get up those stairs 40 feet up onto the
22:47ground floor and out of the way before the whole thing blew up
22:54as the party emerged Captain Bob Montgomery spotted them
22:58Stuart Chant and his team came out through the door crouched down under the wall and I knew they were
23:04a bit close so I moved them back and it was just as well I did because there was a
23:08rucksack left here which was crouched
23:11the pump house was totally destroyed as were the winding machines which opened the lock gates
23:29it was now time for the commandos to withdraw to the motor launches but it soon became obvious that this
23:35would not be possible
23:45Bob Montgomery had been totally focused on ensuring that the demolition was completed successfully
23:52and it was only then when Stan Day drew my attention to the river
23:57where the air mills were burning fiercely
23:59that I realized
24:01that the old mill was still in German hands and we were unlikely to get home
24:08faced with this colonel Charles Newman
24:11the landing force commander instructed his men to fight their way out
24:17so began what the commandos later called the San Nazare steeplechips
24:24and then we moved on up side streets over walls through hencoops into glass houses through kitchen doors into roads
24:33saw German armour
24:35and finally
24:37having got ourselves thoroughly exhausted having no ammunition left because we had to fight our way through this little lot
24:44having too much wounded we finally went to ground
24:49by daylight the next morning most of the survivors had been rounded up
24:55they were taken off to be held in a local restaurant
25:02the Germans now swarmed over HMS Campbell Tower
25:06they failed to spot the explosives and began hunting for souvenirs
25:12among the survivors was her captain, Lieutenant Commander Sam Beattie
25:18soon after that I was interrogated by a German who spoke very good English
25:25he discovered that I'd been in Campbelltown
25:27and he was remarking that it was no good ramming a stout cassoon like that with a flimsy ship
25:40at that moment
25:42there was a bang, a very large bang
25:45in fact it broke one of the windows in his office
25:48I was asked no more questions because he obviously wanted to find out what the bang was
25:53and I was hoping that I knew what the bang was
25:56and a ring of cheers went through this restaurant when we heard this terrific explosion
26:01which could be none other than six tons of amatol
26:05in Campbelltown going up
26:09more than 380 Germans were killed
26:11and the dock gate was demolished
26:14the dock remained out of action for the rest of the war
26:21for the commandos, Operation Chariot, the raid on Saint-Lazare
26:25became known as the greatest raid of all
26:30five Victoria Crosses and 131 other gallantry medals and awards were made following the raid
26:36and the survivors paraded through the town after the war for the opening of a special memorial
26:46in August 1942, Mountbatten mounted another major raid
26:50this time to test the German defences at the French Channel Port of Diem
26:59the main landings were carried out by the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division
27:06they were a disaster
27:08with few men actually getting off the beaches and into the town itself
27:19numbers 3 and 4 commandos were given an important part in the raid
27:23they were to silence the coastal batteries situated on each side of the port
27:27and dominating the approaches
27:29Peter Young, who was to end the war as commander of a commando brigade at the age of 27
27:34led the only group from number 3 commando to achieve its objective
27:38looking out on the upside I could see there was a big corn field
27:44and you know how in the army you're told that two bricks will stop a bullet and things
27:48I then announced that nine feet of corn would stop a bullet
27:52and my soldiers unfortunately believed this or appeared to
27:55and we then ran out into the corn field
27:57and we opened a fairly heavy fire
28:01not very rapid because I was trying to keep down the rate of fire
28:03because I hadn't got very much ammunition
28:06and after a very short time
28:08the Germans turned round the left hand gun
28:11number 4 and fired it straight at us
28:15and there was a bloody great bang
28:17orange and black smoke came out of this thing
28:20and it wandered over our heads
28:23and burst in a valley somewhere in France behind us
28:26I then actually thought well what a very good thing
28:30because if they're firing their guns at us and missing
28:33they're certainly not firing at the British fleet
28:35and looking round towards Dieppe
28:38I decided that it would be wise to withdraw
28:43because clearly they could produce tanks or something
28:46and in my corn field this would be very uncharitable
28:51On the other flank
28:52Lord Lovett's number 4 commando was more successful
28:55James Dunning commanded a mortar team
28:59As soon as the signal came to fire we opened up with the mortar
29:04the first one fell a bit to the left
29:06so we adjusted the angle of the mortar
29:08and the second one went smack into the middle of the battery
29:12and we kept it at that angle
29:15the next one, the third shot, actually hit the ammunition dump in the battery
29:19and there was smoke and flames
29:21and we knew we'd store the bullseye
29:25Captain Pat Porteous led the charge on the battery itself
29:28and won the Victoria Cross
29:31What was left of F Troop, I suppose about 50 men
29:34formed up behind a low bank about 100 yards from the actual gun pits
29:39I gave the order to fix Bernitz and charge
29:43and we dashed across this open ground
29:47bullets coming from all directions
29:49there was no sort of fixed direction where the enemy were
29:54and we finally got to the guns
29:57to find a scene of terrible desolation
30:00the first gun that I reached
30:03was the one in which
30:04was Robert's mortar bomb had landed
30:07and there were bodies all over the place
30:10and an awful shambles
30:13The success of the commandos was the only bright spot in an otherwise black day
30:19Their attack included the first action of the newly formed US Rangers
30:2350 of whom fought with the commandos
30:35Alongside the major raids, the commandos continued with pinprick attacks on the coasts of occupied Western Europe
30:43During one of these on the Channel Islands in early October 1942
30:47German troops were tied up to prevent them from escaping
30:52This enraged Hitler, who issued his notorious commando order
30:57Any commandos captured, whether in uniform or not, were to be summarily executed
31:04The first victims of this were glider-borne engineers
31:08sent to attack the Norse hydro-heavy water plant at Vermork, Norway
31:12on the 19th of November 1942
31:16The heavy water was vital to Germany's development of an atomic bomb
31:20but the two gliders and their bomber tugs both crashed
31:26Fourteen men, six of them badly injured, survived one of the crashes
31:30After the briefest of interrogations, they were shot by a German firing squad
31:39In spite of this new danger, both the commandos and the paras were expanding
31:44as they developed a new role
31:47This was the support of amphibious landings
31:51Number 5 commando was involved in the assault in May 1942
31:55to occupy the Vichy French-held island of Madagascar
32:00And in November, both paras and commandos took part in the torch landings in North West Africa
32:12It was during the subsequent Tunisian campaign that the aggressive patrolling of the paras led the Germans to call them
32:19the Red Devils
32:20after the colour of their berets
32:23Both paras and commandos were used to spearhead the landings in Sicily and Italy
32:28and a new theatre opened for them in August 1943
32:32when Mountbatten was appointed Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia
32:37He soon requested commandos to be sent out
32:39and 3rd Special Service Brigade arrived in India in early 1944
32:45This was to take part in a series of landings designed to outflank the Japanese during the Allied advance in
32:51Burma
32:55Back in Britain, Bob Laycock, who had taken the commandos to the Middle East in early 1941
33:00had succeeded Mountbatten as commander of combined operations
33:06The emphasis was now on preparing for D-Day
33:10And as part of the build-up, a number of cross-channel reconnaissance raids were carried out
33:15many by the French troops of the inter-allied commando
33:18which had been recruited from troops from German-occupied countries
33:30The plan for D-Day itself was for the 6th Airborne Division to be dropped on the left flank of
33:36the landing area
33:36while the American 82nd and 101st Airborne secured the right flank
33:42The two commando brigades would land on the British beaches
33:45with the majority concentrating on sword, so as to link up with the paras
33:50Not until they were in their sealed camps where the paras and commandos briefed on their detailed objectives
33:56And on the evening of the 5th of June, the paras climbed into their transports and gliders
34:01BBC reporter Richard Dimbleby was with them
34:04Taking off from here loaded with parachutists
34:07Taking with it perhaps the hopes and the fears and the prayers of millions of people in this country
34:12who sleep tonight not knowing that this mighty operation is taking place
34:16There she goes now, the first aircraft leading the attack on Europe
34:22The vast Air Armada crossed the French coast
34:27Soon the green lights came on and the first paras began to drop
34:34D-Day had begun
34:40Major John Howard and his glider-borne company had the most challenging task
34:47They had to seize and hope two vital bridges spanning the river Orne and the Caen Canal
34:52on the extreme left flank of the invasion beaches
34:57The gliders swooped in towards John Howard's particular target
35:00The bridge over the Caen Canal, which was to be immortalised as Pegasus Bridge
35:07Say you're sitting facing one another, you link arms
35:11You do a butcher's grip like that
35:14You lift your legs, you just praise God
35:19And before we almost had time to do that, there was the first thump of the land
35:29I stepped out of that glider, I looked up and
35:3350 yards away from me was the tower of that bridge
35:36And not only that, but the nose of the glider
35:39The glider was right through the wire defences round the enemy post
35:44Where I'd asked the glider, not thinking of the glider pilots
35:48Not thinking for one moment they'd be able to do it
35:50Number one glider must go through that wire
35:55The German defenders were totally surprised and quickly overwhelmed
36:02But now came the task of holding Pegasus Bridge and that over the river Orne
36:07Until the commandos could relieve them
36:10The paras dug in
36:17With the dawn came the seaborne landings
36:19The commandos among the first waves
36:23Lord Lovett's men swiftly reached John Howard on Pegasus Bridge
36:27Among them was Ken Fillet
36:29Lord Lovett remarked, sorry we're late chaps
36:32I looked at my watch and that, according to my watch
36:36We were two minutes late
36:38And when one thinks that that particular thing was planned in England
36:44Many, many weeks ago
36:46Not knowing what opposition we would encounter
36:49And the fact that we had covered something like 10 miles
36:52And we were only two minutes late in linking up with the paras
36:56I think was rather fantastic
37:01For the next two months the commandos and paras remained in the line
37:04Holding the left flank of the allied beachhead against numerous German attacks
37:11Only when the allies broke out of Normandy in mid-August
37:15And began their lightning advance across northern France
37:17Were the commandos and paras finally brought back to Britain to refit
37:23But they would both soon face fresh challenges
37:27For over-stretched supply lines brought the allies to a halt in September 1944
37:32And Field Marshal Montgomery proposed a daring airborne operation to break the stalemate
37:38He wanted to outflank Germany's main natural obstacle in the west, the river Rhine
37:43By capturing a series of bridges over waterways in Holland
37:50The US 101st Airborne Division would drop north of Eindhoven
37:55And the 82nd in the Nijmegen area
37:58Finally, the British 1st Airborne Division
38:01Reinforced by the Polish Independent Parachute Brigade
38:04Would seize the final bridge
38:06That over the lower Rhine at Arnhem
38:10A ground force, British 30 Corps, would simultaneously advance and relieve the paras in turn
38:20The paras were only given six days in which to plan and prepare for the operation
38:27Nevertheless, every man was convinced that they were about to strike a war-winning blow
38:32Unaware of some of the concerns of their commanders
38:37The RAF insisted that to avoid anti-aircraft fire, the landings must take place eight miles from the target bridges
38:45It was hoped that the jeeps, which would be landed by glider, would enable the paras to get there quickly
38:55The paras could only take light weapons with them
38:57Should they run into heavy German opposition, they would have problems unless the ground forces reached them quickly
39:04As the plans were being finalised, intelligence reports were received that German armoured units had arrived in the Arnhem area
39:11to refit
39:12The reports were discounted, and it was decided that the landings must go ahead
39:17Also, there was not sufficient airlift for the whole division, and it would have to be landed in three waves
39:25Nevertheless, morale was high, as the divisional commander, Major General Roy Urquhart, wished his men well on the morning of
39:32Sunday the 17th of September
39:35Operation Market Garden was underway
39:49The advanced troops of the British 6th Airborne Division
39:52Landed some eight miles north of Arnhem during the early afternoon
39:56There was no sign of the enemy
39:59Landing zones for follow-up troops were established, and the paras began to push forward towards Arnhem
40:11But they were delayed by enthusiastic Dutch civilians
40:17And by the destruction of many of the gliders containing their jeeps
40:23The intelligence reports proved correct
40:26Two SS Panzer Divisions were refitting in the area, and they reacted quickly
40:31The paras were soon forced onto the defensive
40:39Then, in confused fighting near the town, General Urquhart, the divisional commander, was pinned down, and cut off from his
40:46troops for more than a day
40:49By evening, Colonel John Frost of the 2nd Parachute Battalion, with about a hundred of his men, had managed to
40:55seize the northern end of one of the target bridges
41:01But then Frost realized that they could get no further
41:05A company tried to get across with one for two
41:11But, um, when they were well up onto the bridge, I'm not exactly sure, but past that sort of pill
41:19-boxing there
41:21Accurate fire was brought to bear from a vehicle
41:24We can arm a car on the far side
41:26Well, you're terribly vulnerable, as you know, on a bridge like that
41:30And the bullets rattling down the road
41:32And they had very heavy casualties almost straight away
41:36Further attempts to seize the bridge were fruitless, and Frost and his men dug in
41:45Tragically, amid the wreckage of a crashed glider, the Germans had found details of the plan to land follow-up
41:51forces the next day
41:55They were waiting, and the men of 4th Parachute Brigade suffered terribly
42:00They were also pinned down before reaching their comrades
42:05The men at Arnhem now depended on the ground advance, which had already relieved the US paratroops at Eindhoven
42:14But thereafter, German resistance increased, and the advance slowed
42:23Because of fog, it was not until day 4 of Operation Market Garden that the Polish Parachute Brigade was able
42:30to drop at Arnhem to reinforce the British Paras
42:35Unfortunately, they were landed on the wrong side of the Lower Rhyme
42:38And only a few were able to get across to Arnhem itself
42:44The British Paras were suffering increasing casualties as the German pressure grew
42:51Many of the supplies needed to sustain them fell into German hands
42:57Supply aircraft were shot down in increasing numbers
43:00But still, the British and Polish Paras fought on
43:07The ground advance eventually reached the Lower Rhyme
43:10But by then, the Paras at Arnhem were on their last legs
43:15They were ordered to break out
43:17But only some 2,000 of the 10,000 men who dropped at Arnhem were able to do so
43:23The remainder were dead, or had been forced to surrender
43:28Montgomery's gamble had failed
43:29But the courage and tenacity of the Red Devils had been of the highest order
43:38The Allies now realized that their supply situation could only be eased if they opened up the Belgian port of
43:44Antwerp
43:45This meant clearing the River Skelt, especially the island of Valkeren at its mouth
43:51The plan was for three Royal Marine Commanders to land on the west coast of the island
43:56To subdue the formidable German coastal batteries
43:59While Number 4 Commando, supported by an infantry brigade, crossed from Breskens to secure Flushing
44:07The landings took place on the 1st of November 1944
44:14During the run-in, a number of landing craft were hit by shell fire
44:22Nevertheless, the commandos got ashore and began the task of subduing the coastal guards
44:34Meanwhile, Number 4 Commando was fighting its way through Flushing
44:42The German resistance was intense, and every street had to be cleared in savage hand-to-hand fighting
44:51It was ten days before the German commander finally surrendered
45:01Both paras and commandos were in action when the Allies finally crossed the River Rhine in March 1945
45:086th Airborne Division, together with American paratroops, dropping on the east back
45:14They landed in the German gun lines, and although they suffered casualties, the paras totally disrupted the German defence
45:30In contrast to Arnhem, the ground forces, led by the commandos, quickly linked up with the Paris
45:41Thereafter, they took part in the final advance through Germany
45:52The Paris' last job of the war was the liberation of Norway, and the disarming of the large German garrison
45:58stationed there
46:08Both the red berets of the parachute regiment, and the green berets of the commandos, fulfilled Churchill's wish in summer
46:151940
46:16For lightly equipped mobile forces to act like packs of hounds
46:21They displayed courage and resilience in every theatre of World War II
46:35The same unquenchable spirit has continued to be shown in the years since 1945 by their descendants, today's Royal Marine
46:44Commandos and the Parachute Regiment
46:47Both units fought epic battles during the Falklands War, and were the first troops into Port Stanley, the capital
46:58Like their forebears in World War II, they were true gladiators
47:33So they were the largest holy servicer worth of theland army
47:46And those were the inicies of the尊點
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