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Operation Collar was the codeword for the first commando raid, conducted by the British forces, during World War II. The location selected for the raid was the Pas-de-Calais department on the French coast. The British Commandos had not long been formed and were not yet trained, so the operation was given to No. 11 Independent Company under the command of Major Ronnie Tod. The raid's objective was the reconnaissance of four locations and the capture of prisoners. Over the night of 24/25 June 1940, 115 men of No. 11 Independent Company carried out the operation, but they failed to gather any intelligence or damage any German equipment; their only success was in killing two German sentries.〔Haskew (2007), pp.47–48〕 == Background == After the British Expeditionary Force had been evacuated from Dunkirk in 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill called for a force to be assembled and equipped to inflict casualties on the Germans and bolster British morale. Churchill told the joint Chiefs of Staff to propose measures for an offensive against German-occupied Europe, and stated: "they must be prepared with specially trained troops of the hunter class who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast."〔 One staff officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Dill, aware of Churchill's intentions, approved Clarke's proposal.〔Haskew (2007), p.47〕 The Commandos came under the operational control of the Combined Operations Headquarters. The man initially selected as the commander was Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, a veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign and the Zeebrugge Raid in the First World War.〔Chappell (1996), p.6〕 In 1940, the call went out for volunteers from among the serving Army soldiers within certain formations still in Britain, and men of the disbanding divisional Independent Companies originally raised from Territorial Army divisions who had seen service in the Norwegian Campaign. By the autumn of 1940 more than 2,000 men had volunteered for commando training.〔Haskew (2007), p.48〕 Under pressure from Winston Churchill to start raiding operations, Combined Operation Headquarters came up with Operation Collar. The objective of Operation Collar was to be a reconnaissance of the French coast and to capture prisoners. The raid was to take place just three weeks after Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk, and the French had just signed the Second Armistice at Compiègne with Germany on the 22 June 1940.〔Haining (2004), p.116〕 The newly formed British Commandos were not yet adequately trained and most units were still short of troops. So one of the Independent Companies which were in the process of being absorbed into the Commandos was selected. The unit chosen was No. 11 Independent Company, under the command of Major Ronnie Tod of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.〔 No. 11 Company had been raised after the other Independent Companies on 14 June 1940. They were formed by asking for volunteers from the men already serving in the other companies and had an establishment of 25 officers and 350 other ranks.〔Moreman (2006), p.13〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Operation Collar (commando raid)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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