The Probert Encyclopaedia of Warfare

COMMANDO

A commando is a member of a specially trained, highly mobile military unit. The term originated in South Africa in the 19th century, where it referred to Boer military reprisal raids against Africans and, in the South African Wars, against the British. Commando units have often carried out operations behind enemy lines. In Britain, the first commando units were the British Combined Operations Command who raided enemy-occupied territory in the Second World War after the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940. At the end of the war the army commandos were disbanded, but the role was carried on by the Royal Marines.
Research Commando