British Commando Units

[redcoat2]

Originally Posted by Mobhack

This organisation seems to be a wee bit of a return to the old gunpowder musket days(1700s-1900 or so), used for line battalions to order volley fires.

Each company would be split into two platoons or 'firings'. and sometimes each platoon was then further split into two halves known as section 'firings'.

Volley fire from the muskets was a combination of each platoon firing together, or in section firings. (AKA rolling volleys). The volleys could start on the wing companies and work to the centre companies, or vice versa.

The idea was that some fraction of the battalion would always have muskets ready to fire, so the line could not be totally surprised by unexpected events (e.g. some cavalry turning up and getting a free charge home).

Andy

I think the ‘file firing’ you describe was often in the manuals of the time, but not often used in reality. Few British officers of the ‘blackpowder’ era bothered to read Dundas or the other manuals available to them. The officers that did use file firing found it to be very impressive on the parade ground and very unimpressive on the battlefield. They found that file firing often quickly degenerated into wild firing under combat conditions. Volley firing by rank – or by the classic two ranks – was probably much more common. Even volley firing by rank often became confused after three or so volleys in combat. Luckily for the British two or three steady volleys was often enough to halt or break an enemy attack.

I suspect that the Commando units used for short hit-and-run operations out of Blighty were reasonably up to strength, but yes, most units would have been under strength to some degree. The strength of a Commando Troop was originally set at 62 men because that was the number of men that could be comfortably fitted into the Assault Landing Craft they were using at the time.