RCN Beach Commando W: Part 1 & Part 2 (1944)
Author: Eric Gault Finley (Author), submitted by Richard V. Laughton
Keywords: RCN; RCNVR; WWII; WW11; Beach Commandos; Commandos; Special Operations; Combined
Publisher: Richard Van Wyck Laughton
Year: 1944
Language: English
Book contributor: The Estate of Eric Gault Finley (Catherine Rae Finley)
Collection: opensource
Notes: This file contains the complete works of the book "RCN Beach Commando W", created by combining the two separate versions created during the uploading of Part 1 and Part 2 onto the Archive.org web site. The initial file was of a size that required separation of the book into the two components. Part 1 "The Chronicles of W's Establishment, Training and Operations”, is the primary story of the Royal Canadian Navy's involvement with the Allies Combined Operations during the Second World War (WWII). The RCN Beach Commando W was the only Canadian unit in the combined operations. Part 2 "The Portholes" consists entirely of off-the-record anecdotal reports from those involved in the RCN Beach Commando W unit. The inspiration for this project came from having the opportunity to get to know Able Seaman Arthur Henry Petty (V.54229)who served with RCN W2 at this time. From there we contacted the estate of the author (Eric Gault Finley) and obtained permission to digitally reproduce the book. Please see the following "rights" for the agreement between the digitizer and the estate.
Description
RCN Beach Commando W - Part 1 is the Chronicles of W's establishment, training and operations during WWII. During World War Two (WWII) and Part 2 is the Portholes or off-the-record anecdotal reports of the men of RCN Beach Commando W. One of the many lessons learned from the Dieppe Raid was the need for highly trained personnel to supervise beach areas during and after an assault. This was assigned to the Beach Commandos and principally entailed disembarking troops and vehicles from assault and follow-up landing craft, organizing and supervising suitable "beach" areas, and loading serviceable vessels either with wounded and/or prisoners. In the event of a withdrawal, they were tasked with organizing the loading of landing craft from the beach. To provide adequately for its various planned amphibious landings, Combined Operations evidently decided that 20 Royal Navy Commandos would be required, two each for the three Army assault divisions, one per assault brigade, with 100% spare in reserve. In September, as a direct result of the Allied leaders deliberations, the Canadian War Cabinet Committee authorized the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) to form a Beach Commando with training in Britain to be completed by the spring of 1944. The next step entailed the selection and appointment of' the personnel for the Royal Canadian Naval Beach Commando "W" which represented the last of twenty-two such units. This is the story of "RCN Beach Commando W" from inception, through training and on to service on Juno Beach in June to September 1944.
Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada
Selected metadata
| Identifier: | RcnBeachCommandoWPart1Part2 |
| Mediatype: | texts |
| Licenseurl: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/ |
| Rights: | Short Agreement for “RCN Beach Commando W” Digitization Project.
Richard Van Wyck Laughton (“Digitizer”) is granted permission by the “Estate of Eric Gault Finley” (“Estate”) to digitally reproduce the book “RCN Beach Commando W” for private military research use only. The Digitizer acknowledges that the copyright of the book remains with the Estate and is in no way transferred to the Digitizer or another party who downloads a digital copy of the book. The Digitizer acknowledges (and will print on all copies of the digital book) that the material is for private research use only and may not be used in any way for commercial gain. |
| Coverage: | D-Day and the subsequent invasion of Europe, June 1944 |
| Identifier-access: | http://www.archive.org/details/RcnBeachCommandoWPart1Part2 |
| Identifier-ark: | ark:/13960/t12n5pm2f |
| Ppi: | 300 |
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