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Excerpt From Official Revue ‘Operation Torch’
When the military situation became more or less static during the winter, the Commandos were employed whenever and wherever air craft needed servicing and the squadron personnel were not available. At Bilda during December, Wellingtons were maintained until the squadron ground crews arrived, many 4,000 lb. bombs being helped on their way to Bizerta; at Paddington Spitfires were serviced and, during a moon period, night flying Hurricanes; and U.S. Mitchells were looked after on two Tunisian landing grounds.
Several less attractive jobs also fell on the lot of the Commando personnel. These included the stocking of Souk-el-Arba airfield, 65,000 gallons of hundred octane petrol and the required percentage of oil being put down in six days; the re-belting of all existing stocks of 20 mm. ammunition, which broke the hearts of about twenty men every week; and the loading of vast quantities of bombs in preparation for the advent of the U.S. light bomber squadrons.
On the arrival of these squadrons, the initial servicing was done by the S.C.U. for three days until all the American ground crews arrived, after which the Commando personnel turned to rewiring American fragmentation bomb clusters that had been damaged in transit.

Before the Final Offensive

At the end of April, 1943, during the period immediately before the final offensive in Tunisia, Commando personnel moved up to a new landing ground being constructed south-west of Medjez-el-Bab, seven or eight miles behind the front line. British artillery was situated on both sides of the landing ground and the Medjez-el-Bab road junction was still under enemy fire.
S. & T. Columns brought in supplies for the airfield and Servicing Commando personnel off loaded and dispersed 90,000 gallons of petrol, 7,000 gallons of oil, 450 bombs, 80,000 rounds of 20 mm. ammunition and 360,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition. The stocking was finished on the 30th April and on the 3rd May the airfield construction company had completed the landing ground. Everything was now set to give Allied aircraft (based well back) an advanced refuelling and rearming ground that would allow them a reasonable time over any part of enemy-occupied Tunisia.
The extra range, however, was not needed until the frontline had gone forward some 30 miles after the final push had begun on the 6th May.
Until the 8th only a few Spitfires and P.40s came in to be serviced, but on that day 184 aircraft were serviced, including fourteen complete squadron sorties.
After the 8th, as the campaign drew to its close, aircraft servicing work gradually dropped away. For the Commandos, however, the campaign was not finished, for it fell to them to stock the airfields in the Tunis and Cape Bon areas before handing over to squadron personnel.
The next move for servicing Commando personnel who had been engaged in the Tunisian campaign was to the Oran area for a short Combined Operations refresher course. Afterwards they proceeded to assembly points to await the next move — the invasion of Sciliy.
Meanwhile, in preparation for the Sicilian campaigns, three S.C.U.s had been formed in the Middle East. Volunteer tradesmen were called for in March, 1943, and some 450 were finally selected from two thousand odd applicants.
The airmen were drafted to Hadera, Palestine, where training began early in April under instructors borrowed from the Army, who had attended the Commando School in the United Kingdom. Approximately 70% of the syllabus was devoted to P.T., tough tactics, unarmed combat and route marches, 20% to weapon training and the remainder to map reading, anti-gas raining and various lectures.
Once the more physical side of the training was completed, units were attached to formations where they were able to work on aircraft that they might be expected to service at a later date. Early in June, Servicing Commandos also took part in a Combined Operations exercise in the Red Sea.
At the end of May one of the three Middle East units went to Tripoli, and after working at Castel Benita moved over to Malta in the middle of June. There it was joined by another Middle East unit, while the third sailed direct for Sicily.

The Invasion of Sicily

The unit destined to be the first to land in Sicily went ashore near Pachino in assault craft early on the morning of ‘D’ Day — 10th July — and personnel gathered at an R.A.F. assembly point to await further orders. It was here, during the afternoon, that a Servicing Commando sergeant, whilst making a reconnaissance of the camp surrounds, came upon an Italian officer and nine other ranks, disarmed them and marched them to a prisoner of war cage.
Next morning the unit moved up to Pachino, where work was already proceeding on the ploughed-up landing ground. During the afternoon three of the unit’s vehicles arrived from the beach and by 2300 hours, with the help of some amphibians, 15,000 gallons of petrol and corresponding amounts of oil and ammunition were dispersed round the airfield.
The first aircraft to arrive was a Spitfire of No.72 Squadron, which, in spite of the ploughed up runway, made an excellent landing. A refuelling party inspected and serviced it, and an hour late it was able to take off from a nearby road. Later two other aircraft landed and while they were being serviced, the airfield was straffed by ME.109s, causing one Commando and several Army casualties and putting a couple of bullets through the Engineering officer’s cap. From the 12th to the 15th July, as Spitfires of 244 Wing came in to be rearmed and refuelled, the Commando did the job for which they had trained ,working daily from dawn to dusk and , when necessary, right through the night. They were also responsible for collecting stocks of ammunition and fuel for a neighbouring maintenance unit.
On the 15th July squadron ‘A’ parties began to arrive and by the end of next day they had taken over most of their own aircraft. There was still work for the S.C.U., however, and on the 17th July two flights went to Cassibile to prepare the airfield for squadrons moving forward from Pachino. Next day No. 244 Wing aircraft flew in and were serviced by Commando personnel until the squadron ground crews caught up.
On the 19th Kittyhawks of No. 239 Wing were looked after as they landed and the same thing was done on the following day for aircraft of the 57th Pursuit Group, United States Air Force. In both cases the aircraft were followed on the same evening by the advanced parties of their own ground crews.
After this, the Commando personnel were able to get their first real rest since ‘D’ Day. Henceforth, their activities mainly consisted of servicing ‘casuals’ and helping the R.S.U.s in salvage work, until at the end of July an order was issued Allocating the S.C.U.s to specific Wings of the Desert Air Force, working alongside squadron ground crews.

The Fortunes of Other Units

The second S.C.U. to reach Sicily came from Malta to Syracuse on the 17th July. Originally this unit with others from North Africa had been briefed to land at Catania and operate at the Gerbini satellites. Unexpected stiff enemy resistance below Catania, however, caused the plans for the Commandos to be changed until the Antonia-Gerbini area could be cleared.
Having reached Syracuse safely, the S.C.U. was ordered on the evening of the18th to a new landing ground at the south-west corner of Lake Lentini. Petrol and oil arrived, to be dispersed in small dumps, and unit M.T. collected stocks of ammunition, which was similarly dispersed. On the morning of the 20th the first two Spitfires landed, to be followed later by other aircraft, all of which were dispersed and serviced. The same evening, however, the squadron ‘A’ parties were flown in, taking over work from the Servicing Commandos.
Little more could be done until the 23rd when the unit received orders to go to Agnone, where a new landing ground was being constructed, ready to service Spitfire squadrons expected next morning. Everything was ready, but the aircraft did not arrive since it was thought that the site was within enemy shelling distance, and in the evening the S.C.U. was told to proceed to another new landing ground, Lentini West, to be ready to receive aircraft of No. 244 wing. Since the squadron ‘A’ and ‘B’ parties were in position before the aircraft arrived, it was arranged that the Commando personnel should be split up to assist them.
Other S.C.U.s involved in the Sicilian Campaign — one of which came direct from the United Kingdom, reaching Malta on the 14th July and Augusta on the 19th July — worked hard on a variety of jobs, both with squadrons and R.S.U.s.

The Invasion of Italy

At the end of the Sicilian campaign, the S.C.U.s once more went through the familiar process of proceeding to assembly areas, waiting there and finally embarking for the Italian mainland, they were among the first parties landed at both Reggio and Salerno.
One unit briefed for Salerno landed on 8/9th September just in time for the first enemy night air attack. The next 36 hours were spent awaiting orders, and at midday on the 10th they moved to a landing ground near the river Tusciano.
Although this area was well within range of enemy gunfire and our own artillery was firing over it from behind, Commando personnel quickly stocked the airfield with petrol, oil and ammunition.
After dark it was learned that the military situation was not too secure and that German counter attack was expected. Servicing Commando personnel accordingly took up defensive positions and manned a line along the west side of the airfield. Nothing worse happened, however a stream of shells passing overhead in both directions.
On the morning of the 12th the first fighters came in and were serviced by Commando personnel, and in the afternoon Fleet Air Arm Seafires, whose carrier had been forced to return to base, were similarly looked after.
The S.C.U. carried out all the work until the squadron ‘A’ parties arrived on the 14th, taking over one flight of their respective squadrons while the Commando personnel serviced the other flights. This work continued until the 20th when the unit moved to Monte Corvino airfield to service Spitfires of the U.S.A.F. 31st Pursuit Group. After the arrival of the American ground crews, the S.C.U. had to return to the less interesting Repair and Salvage work.
Another S.C.U. reached Salerno on the 11th September. After stocking the landing ground to which they were allotted, they serviced three spitfire squadrons from the 16th until the 21st, when ‘A’ parties arrived, taking over one flight of each squadron. After the ‘B’ parties came in on the 24th, the activities of the Commando personnel were restricted to aircraft inspections.
The other S.C.U.s that landed elsewhere worked with the Desert Airforce Wings to which they had been allocated, except those units that were combined to operate a Fighter Aircraft Reserve Pool to ensure that replacements were fully operational before proceeding to the Wings.
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The Servicing Commandos have now seen action in three campaigns - in North West Africa, in Sicily and in Italy — and in each campaign units have taken part in the assault landings, doing the work for which they had been trained. If at other times they felt that they were in the position of being merely helpers, their help was always welcome and the work they did most valuable.

Definition of A Commando

A selected body of men, who undergo a special training to fit them for particularly dangerous enterprises against the enemy, as the roving bands of armed men, in the South African Boer War.

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