Combined Operations Headquarters

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The Combined Operations Headquarters ( COHQ ) was an interdisciplinary headquarters of the British armed forces, established in July 1940 after the fall of France during the Second World War , which was responsible for commando warfare. Under him special forces were grouped together that carried out raids in occupied Europe from 1940 to 1944 . In addition, various technical innovations that were used when the Allied forces returned to the continent were developed under the direction of the COHQ. The COHQ existed until 1951 when it was renamed Amphibious Warfare Headquarters (AWHQ).

history

The establishment of the Combined Operations Headquarters was preceded by the defeats of the British armed forces in Norway (Operation Weser Exercise ) and France ( Battle of Dunkirk ) in 1940. On June 14, 1940, Lieutenant General Alan Bourne was appointed Commander of Raiding Operations by the British Chiefs of Staff . Six commando companies originally formed for use in Norway formed the basis of the British commandos. In addition, there was the Inter-Service Training and Development Center (ISTDC) , which had been in existence since 1938 . Two unsuccessful raids against Boulogne and Guernsey induced Winston Churchill to replace Bourne in July 1940 with his confidante Admiral of the Fleet Roger Keyes with the new title Director of Combined Operations . Churchill wanted to rely less on pinprick attacks than on more extensive commando operations in cooperation with the armed forces. For this purpose, the Commandos were considerably expanded and by the end of 1940 five Special Service Battalions were set up, which were combined in the Special Service Brigade . For tactical reasons, however, they returned to the organization in the smaller commandos in February 1941. By the end of the war, four commando brigades were set up. The Special Air Service emerged from a part of the Commandos .

In October 1941 Keyes lost his post after an internal power struggle with the Chiefs of Staff. His successor was Commodore Lord Louis Mountbatten (initially only as an advisor, later as Chief of Combined Operations ), whose name is primarily associated with the disastrous raid against Dieppe in August 1942. When Mountbatten was transferred to Southeast Asia as Commander in Chief in October 1943, Major-General Robert Laycock succeeded him.

Operations (selection)

Commandos were involved in practically all major landing operations in Europe from 1943, such as Operation Husky , Operation Avalanche , Operation Shingle , Operation Neptune and Operation Dragoon . There were also assignments in the Middle East and North Africa as well as in Southeast Asia. In addition, the commandos played a larger role in the battle of the Scheldt estuary and in Operation Plunder .

Training institutions

In October 1940, the Combined Operations Training Center was opened in Inveraray, Scotland, on Loch Fyne . Later a Commando Basic Training Center was set up in Achnacarry for the basic training of the Commandos . The facilities were also used by the United States Army Rangers, founded in 1942, and special forces from other nations.

The Combined Training Center (CTC) Middle East had existed since March 1941 in Kabret, Egypt on the Great Bitter Lake . There were later similar institutions in India.

Research institutions

The facilities under the supervision of the COHQ included the Combined Operations Experimental Establishment (COXE) in Devon (successor to the ISTDC), which was responsible for technical innovations such as the PLUTO project, the Mulberry ports , the DD tanks and the unrealized project Habbakuk is responsible. In addition, numerous designs for allied landing ships go back to his work. Technical advisers to COHQ included Geoffrey Pyke , John Desmond Bernal, and Solly Zuckerman .

literature

Secondary literature
  • Glen St John Barclay , 'Butcher and Bolt': Admiral Roger Keyes and British Combined Operations, 1940-1941. In: Naval War College Review , March 1982.
  • Bernard Fergusson: The Watery Maze: The Story of Combined Operations. Collins, London 1961.
  • Kenneth Macksey: Commando Strike: The Story of Amphibious Raiding in World War II. Secker & Warburg, 1985. ISBN 0-436-27025-0 .
  • Kenneth Macksey: Commando: Hit-and-Run Combat in World War II. Scarborough House, 1990. ISBN 0-8128-2973-5 .
  • Charles Messenger: The Commandos: 1940-1946. W. Kimber, 1985. ISBN 0-7183-0553-1 .
Official representations
  • History of the Combined Operations Organization, 1940-1945. Amphibious Warfare Headquarters, London 1956.
  • Hilary Saint George Saunders : Combined Operations: The Official Story of the Commandos. Combined Operations Command, 1943. ( Online )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christopher M. Bell: Churchill & Sea Power. Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-19-969357-3 . P. 207 f.