Abstract
This dissertation examines the history of the Australian Independent Companies – Commando Squadrons during World War Two. There has been no collective history of Australia’s Independent Companies and Commando Squadrons and this dissertation aims to fill that gap in the historiography. The scope of this dissertation is broad and examines the Australian Independent Companies and Commando Squadrons from their initial formation in 1940, their operational history from 1942 until 1945, the manner in which the Army managed them during the war and how with the passage of time the nature of this management changed. The dissertation identifies an ongoing context between conservatism as represented by the traditional Australian Army ethos and the radically unconventional ethos of the initial Independent Companies. The contest was eventually won by the conservatives and this was manifested in the nature of the employment of the Commando squadrons during the last year of the war. It was, however, and incomplete victory with elements of the Army persisting with unconventional practices, reflecting the inability to establish a true consensus on the role Commandos were to play in the Army as a whole. Researching this history involved accessing archives in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, notable among these being the Australian War Memorial, The National Archives of Australia, the National Archives of the United Kingdom, the Liddell Hart Military Archives, the Dwight De Eisenhower Archives, The MacArthur Memorial Archives and The United States National Archives and Records Administration. This dissertation will provide a more nuanced and informative understanding of the role played by the Australian Independent Companies – Commando Squadrons 1940-1945 and the manner in which the Australian Army managed their employment during the war.