A group of mounted militiamen was organized in a unit known as a commando and headed by a commandant, who was normally elected from inside the unit. The implementation of these laws was called the "Commando System". The law compelled burghers to equip themselves with horses and firearms when required in defense. The first "Commando Law" was instated by the original Dutch East India Company chartered settlements and similar laws were maintained through the independent Boer Orange Free State and South African Republic. Main article: Boer Commando The first appearance and use of the term "commando" was taken from the Afrikaner guerilla units known as "Kommandos" in South Africa during the Second Boer War of 1899–1902Īfter the Dutch Cape Colony was established in 1652, the word was used to describe bands of militia. Boer name origin and adoption by Britain This is the opposite of military tradition but necessary to work in small and smallest groups, avoiding enemies' reconnaissance. The French Foreign Legion assesses their applicants through medical, intelligence, logic, and fitness tests as well as interrogations, small drills and solving small tasks.Ĭommando soldiers shall think independently. First SAS members had to complete a march of 50km, and the Royal Marine commandos tested their applicants' motivation during an obstacle course using real explosives and machine gun fire close to Achnacary in Scotland. Long Range Desert Group hired their personnel after a very long interrogation. Navy SEALs tests swimming speed over 500 yards, number of push-ups and sit-ups within 2 minutes, pull-ups and running 1.5 miles. These skills are proved during assessment. The German Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) demands from their applicants high levels of physical resilience, teamwork, willingness to learn, mental resilience, willpower, sense of responsibility, flexibility, secrecy and adaptation. During training and selection some participants died since they were exhausted and left to their devices. Soldiers had to be younger than 30 years, were mostly athletes or hunters and had to show the highest motivation. Historically there is evidence of selection for the Otdelnly Gwardieskij Batalion Minerow, predecessors of the modern Russian spetznas. Selecting applicants with the highest motivation, modern special forces run special selection processes. Applicants have to fulfil special requirements. His ideas were accepted so also, with some hesitation, was the name Commando.ĭuring World War II, newspaper reports of the deeds of "the commandos" only in the plural led to readers thinking that the singular meant one man rather than one military unit, and this new usage became established.ĭue to the special mental and physiological requirements made of the applicants, there are restrictions entering "commando" units. After the victories of Roberts and Kitchener had scattered the Boer army, the guerrilla tactics of its individual units (which were styled 'Commandos'). Nor was the historical parallel far-fetched. The men for this type of irregular warfare should, he suggested, be formed into units to be known as Commandos. " directly into its Afrikaans' origins: ġ943 Combined Operations ( Min. The Oxford English Dictionary ties the English use of the word meaning " member of a body of picked men. Less likely, it is a High German loan word, which was borrowed from Italian in the 17th century, from the sizable minority of German settlers in the initial European colonization of South Africa. Later the term was used by other countries to designate some of their elite forces. During the Second World War, both the British and the Germans decided to reuse this term to designate the new special operations troops they had formed (the British designated Commandos and the German Kommandos). In South Africa similar troops operated in small detachments, usually traveling on horseback, and launched rapid attacks against British troops. The word was adopted into Afrikaans from interactions with the Portuguese in their nearby African colonies, in whose language the word comando means "command". The word Kommando, in turn, would have originated from the Portuguese term "Comando", used in India in the sense of a group of troops under an autonomous command that performed special missions during a battle or siege. This term originally referred to units of Boer mounted infantry, who fought during the Xhosa Wars and the First and Second Boer Wars. From the perspective of the early modern era the word stems from the Dutch word kommando, which translates as "a command or order" and also roughly to "mobile infantry regiment". From an ancient lingual perspective the term commando derives from Latin commendare, to recommend.
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