WW2: Recommended Reading 9

The GREEN BERET by Hilary St. George Saunders

The Story of the Commandos 1940 - 45

First published in London, England in October, 1949, about four and a half years after the end of World War II, The GREEN BERET is a 360-page account of the origin of small Allied commando units - made up of volunteers - who undertook raids, first small then larger, as 'other nations (had) done in the past when their main armies had been driven from the field and their arsenals captured by a superior enemy'.

According to my copy, purchased used for $9.95 at The Book Addict on Springbank Drive, London, the book underwent fourteen printings or impressions, the last in September, 1954. I assume, therefore, that my copy is approx. 70 years old and will one day be worth thousands of dollars. But if not, I am very happy to have it because it may go a long way toward answering the question, Was my father linked up with such commando units after he volunteered (already as a member of Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve, RCNVR) for Combined Operations under Lord Louis Mountbatten in the fall of 1941?

["Mountbatten was Chief of Comb. Operations for many big raids"]

Answer: After reading the first 60 pages I will say my father crossed paths with commandos after some had already been involved in two or three small but significant operations.

I base my answer on a few impressions:

In his naval memoirs by father speaks of training on plywood landing craft or flat-bottomed barges called 'Higgins boats'. The book says 'the Admiralty placed an order for these boats ('the boat had been invented and constructed by that remarkable genius Andrew Jackson Higgins'); but many a weary month passed before they became available.' (Page 33)

My father speaks of signing up for 'H.O. or hostilities only' and learning how to take a barge onto and off of a beach, again and again, often with soldiers aboard. The book says, 'In the early stages of development through which the Commandos passed, each troop trained as far as possible with the naval officers and ratings who manned the craft which were to take both into action. They belonged for the most part to that great company of H.O.'s as those who enlisted for the duration of hostilities only were known throughout the Navy.

Other items leave similar impressions. Commandos trained in some of the same places my father did, e.g., Southampton and Weymouth in southern England and near Inverary in northern Scotland. Whole paragraphs related to training methods ring with the same language and terms by father used in his memoirs. (About comparisons, enough said for now). 

On another note, when I thumbed through the book before purchase I knew the photos would be an important source of information as well, not just about my father's steps or role in WW2, but about an important unit that saw desperate action when such measures were needed most.

["If it's a plywood boat, it's a Higgins."]

Already, only one-sixth of the way through the book, I recommend the book highly to those students of WW2 who want a well-written account of a small band of men who kept pushing Hitler's buttons and aided in at least five important D-Days, or disembarking days into Axis territory, i.e., in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Anzio (again Italy) and Normandy.

["This paragraph describes my father's C. Op. training to a T!"

And to those, like me, whose kin played a role in Combined Operations (C. Op.) on behalf of Canada, I recommend you get your tramping shoes on and head toward the closest used-book store. You may see your father's experiences laid out in excellent fashion before your very eyes.

Link to WW2 Recommended Reading 8

Photos by GH