Hitler was known to have particular animosity for Allied Commandos and Paratroops due to their successes in Europe, Norway and North Africa, unpredictability, effect on German morale, and his inability to devise any worthwhile counter. Raiding escalated in 1942 and included the large scale Combined Operation’s raids at St. Nazaire and Dieppe. Though the main assault on Dieppe failed, the Army Commando attacks on the flank batteries were, on the whole, successful as was the main assault on St. Nazaire.
It is widely believed an occurrence at Dieppe and on a small raid on the Channel Island of Sark by the Small Scale Raiding Force (with some men of No.12 Commando), brought Hitler’s rage to a head. During Dieppe on 18th August, a Canadian officer elected (quite contrary to procedure) to take the full battle plan with him. This bundle was subsequently seized by the Germans during the surrender and found its way to Hitler. Among the bundle is believed to have been advice on how to ‘bind prisoners’, and, a ‘Commando’ manual on close-quarter fighting.
It should be appreciated this bundle was not carried by, not taken from, any Commando, and, in respect of Commandos, any ‘binding of prisoners’ was not part of their orders. There are a number of photographs in various publications and in the Imperial War Museum, London, showing Commandos returning with prisoners captured at Dieppe not even being held onto.
From the beginning the Commandos were instructed in close-quarter combat and use of the fighting knife by Fairbairn and Sykes who were the original instructors in 1940 at Lochailort Special Training Centre, and who designed the original F&S Fighting Knife issued to Commandos. Fairbairn published a number of books on personal defence and offence for general sale, which included “Get Tough” in 1942, publicised as knife fighting technique taught to British Commandos and American Rangers. Both these troops however, were taught by personal instruction and would hardly have qualified as Special Forces if they needed to carry a manual into battle!
On the night of 3/4 October, ten men of the Small Scale Raiding Force and No.12 Commando (attached) made an offensive recognisance raid on the isle of Sark, Operation Basalt. In line with standard procedure the acquisition of prisoners was required. Nine of the raiders broke into the house of a local while the tenth went to a covert rendezvous with an SOE agent. The occupant of the house, Frances Pittard, proved very informative and advised there were about 20 Germans in the nearby Dixcart Hotel. She also declined an offer to take her back to England.
In front of the hotel was a long hut type building, apparently unguarded. This annex comprised a corridor and five rooms wherein were five sleeping Germans, none found to be officers. The men were roused and taken outside whereafter the Commandos decided to go on to the hotel and capture more of the enemy. To minimise the guard left with the captives, the Commandos tied the prisoners hands with the toggle ropes each carried a six foot length of, and required them to hold up their trousers. The practise of removing belts and/or braces and tearing open the fly was quite a common technique the Commandos used to make it as difficult as possible for captives to run away.
While this was being undertaken, one prisoner started shouting to alert those in the hotel and was instantly shot dead with a .38 revolver. The enemy now alerted, incoming fire from the hotel became considerable and the raiders elected to return to the beach with the remaining four prisoners. En route to the beach, three prisoners made a break. Whether or not some had freed their hands during the firefight is not established nor if all three broke at the same time. Two were believed shot and one stabbed. The fourth was conveyed safely back to England and proved a mine of information. The raiders also evacuated a SOE agent who had been posing as a Polish labourer among forced labour on the island.
A few days later the Germans issued a propaganda communiqué implying at least one prisoner had escaped and two were shot while resisting having their hands tied. They also claimed this ‘hands tying’ practice was used at Dieppe?
On 7th October, Hitler personally penned a note in the Wehrmacht daily communiqué: “In future, all terror and sabotage troops of the British and their accomplices, who do not act like soldiers but rather like bandits, will be treated as such by the German troops and will be ruthlessly eliminated in battle, wherever they appear.”
On 9th October, Berlin announced that 1376 Allied prisoners (mainly Canadians from Dieppe), would henceforth be shackled. The British responded with a like shackling of German prisoners in Canada. This tit-for-tat shackling continued until the Swiss achieved agreement with the British to desist on 12th December, and with the Germans some time later after they received further assurances from the British. However, by this time many German camps had abandoned the pointless practice or reduced it to merely leaving a pile of shackles in a prison billet as a token.
On 18th October after much deliberation by High Command lawyers, officers and staff, Hitler issued his Commando Order or ‘Kommandobefehl’ in secret, 12 copies. The following day Army Chief of Staff, Jodl, distributed copies to Headquarters with his addition advising top secrecy and distribution protocol.
"From now on all men operating against German troops in so-called Commando raids ... are to be annihilated to the last man.... Even if these individuals on discovery ... give themselves up as prisoners, no pardon is on any account to be given."
The order falsely claims that British Commandos had been ordered to kill prisoners. That was not the case, quite the opposite was true; the men at Sark acted as they felt appropriate for the situation.
Hitler knew that the order was illegal; that is obvious by the fact it was prepared in only twelve copies and that special measures were ordered to keep it secret. He also knew the order would be unpopular with the professional military, and the order includes measures designed to force them to obey despite their lack of enthusiasm.
The Commando Order was used to kill hundreds and possibly thousands of Allied Special Forces and behind-the-lines operators of the OSS, SOE, and other elements. Normally they would be handed over to the SD or Gestapo, transported to a Concentration Camp, and murdered there. The first victims were seven officer men of Operation Musketoon, who were shot in Sachsenhausen on the morning of 23rd October 1942, and Commando Order executions were carried out well into the dying days of the Third Reich.
After the war, German officers who carried out the illegal executions under the Commando Order were found guilty at war crimes trials, including the Nuremburg Trials. The Commando Order was one of the specifications in the charge against Field Marshal Jodl, who was convicted and hung.