80 years ago this morning:
Men from British Army’s No. 9 Commando “having a cuppa” on the morning following a raid on the night of 29/30 December near the Garigliano river in Italy as part of Operation Partridge, a diversionary attack behind Jerry’s lines to cover the withdrawal of the X Corps. They marched back 29 gagged and bagged German POWs for intel purposes but sadly lost nine of their own.
Image by SGT Mott – No 2 Army Film & Photographic Unit, via the Imperial War Museums, Catalog IWM NA 10449
Note the array of weapons carried by the cap comforter-clad and ash-faced Commandos including M1928 Thompsons, the standard No. 4 Enfield .303.
Several other images exist in the IWM of No. 9’s special ops crews from the same period.
Note the M1911A1
THE BRITISH ARMY IN ITALY 1944 (NA 12469) A member of No. 9 Commando at Anzio, equipped for a patrol with his Bren gun, 5 March 1944. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205204525
Note the toggle rope arrangement, a classic bit of Commando kit from WWII
The Toggle rope was (supposedly) very useful
As noted by the Commando Veterans organization about Operation Partridge, both the rope and the unit’s bagpipes played a tactical role in the fighting:
On the 29th Dec. operation “Partridge” took place. It started very badly, as the Navy landed the Commando 95 mins too late and 1000x away from the correct beach. Thus daylight found the Commando still on the enemy side of the river. At the mouth of the river the main body of the unit returned by DUKWs, but 4 and 6 Tps had to cross the river 2,700 yards up from the mouth by swimming and use of ropes. This they successfully achieved, bringing back their casualties. The bagpipes were very effectively used on this operation. When HQ had established itself at the mouth of the river most of the personnel made no attempt to dig themselves in. After one Jerry stonk, the C.O. says they dug so fast, he literally saw them sink into the ground.
Formed originally as the 2nd Special Service Battalion by amalgamating No. 6 and No. 7 Independent Companies in the scary Autumn of 1940 when Britain stood alone against Mr. Hitler, they were soon redesignated No. 9 Commando.
After raids along the coasts of occupied France (Operations Sunstar and Chariot), raids in the Med against the Italian islands of Tremiti and Pianosa, and the invasions of Italy as shown above, they took a vacation in occupied Greece then returned to “The Boot” for Operation Roast in 1945.
Disbanded in 1946, the Army Commando unit carries the name of no less than 102 men lost during the war on its Rolls of Honor.