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No 12 Army Commando - The ‘Irish’ Commando
 Volunteers for this Commando gathered in Belfast and Londonderry and marched the 67 miles to Crumlin where the unit was formed on 5th August 1940 under C.O. LtCol S.S.Harrison. Initial training was carried out in various locations and this included a dummy raid on Aldergrove Airport.
Early in 1941 the Commando moved to Warsash on the Hamble River but were there only a short time before moving to Inverary for amphibious training.
No 12 Commando remained outside the Special service Brigade system and operated mostly under the original Commando idea of small raiding parties and sabotage groups.
Other 12 Commando Raids |
| Kitbag Norway |
December 1941 |
| Chariot |
March 1942 |
| Aflame France |
October 1942 |
| Basalt Sark* |
October 1942 |
| Fahrenheit Brittany* |
November 1942 |
| Batman France* |
November 1942 |
| Cartoon Norway |
January 1943 |
| Roundabout Norway |
March 1943 |
| Carey Norway |
April 1943 |
| Forfar Bear France |
August 1943 |
| Forfar Item France |
September 1943 |
| Hardtack-dog France |
November 1943 |
| * with the Small Scale Raiding Force (S.S.R.F.) |
On 27th/28th February 1942 for instance men from No 12 provided a recovery party for the Airborne Bruneval raid. Bringing men prisoners and radar safely back home.
No 12’s first action against the enemy was on 26th December 1941 ‘Anklet’ in the Lofoten Islands. An earlier planned raid by No 12 ‘Chess’ on 27th July that year had been aborted.
The Commando provided a detachment for ‘Chariot’ the raid on St.Nazaire
After this raid No12 became split into two ,one half operating against the Norwegian Coast ,‘Northforce’ ,the remainder operating against the French coast in the Forfar operations.
Men from No 12 also operated with the Small Scale Raiding Force (S.S.R.F.) and with the covert No.62 Commando.
The raid on Sark ‘Basalt’ on 3rd/4th October 1942 the work of S.S.R.F. and No 12 personnel resulted in the infamous ‘Commando Order’ from Hitler that all captured Commandos were to be shot without exception.
As the Commando role changed from small raiding to shock infantry No 12’s part in Commando operation drew to a close. In the Autumn of 1943 the unit was formerly disbanded and its highly trained men were posted to other Commando units mainly No 1 No 5 and No 6 where they were to serve and fight in all major areas of operations.
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