Ian Fleming's real first career....

[Peter Lemkin]

30 COMMANDO ASSAULT UNIT
1942-1946




The brain child of naval commander Ian Fleming & Lord Louis Mountbatten, this wartime unit was a secret well kept for over 50 years after the war by the Official Secrets Act, some remains classified, see Reading. At the time, officially, they didn't exist. The members of this unit were forbidden to discuss or document their activities, a pledge that many of the men kept even many years after the war was over, or even for their entire lives!
Due to the fact these men operated in very small groups on need-to-know' basis it is very difficult to get clear picture of everything they were doing.
Fleming's/NID30AU secretary Miss Margaret Priestley (a history Don from Leeds University) played a vital role in the running and administration of 30AU and became his inspiration for Miss Petty Pettaval - the original character name that became Miss Moneypenny.
As revealed here for the first time!(6) (see Beau Bête)
Miss Preistley transferred over to NID30AU during the winter of 1943-44 from DNR - (Department of Naval Research) where she worked as a civilian, although there were obvious links between DNR and NID30AU as intelligence on enemy targets was collected for Fleming's Black List'.

Also Known as:
Fleming himself referred to the men of the unit as behaving like 'Red Indians'. (A reference he also used when referring to his character, James Bond, four times in his first novel Casino Royale. Which effectively makes this unit the literary James Bond's wartime unit'.)
Formerly:- (NID30 Command Office at Admiralty),
Special Engineering Unit.
'RED' Marines.
Latterly:- 30 Assault Unit,
30 Advanced Unit, 30AU
and incorrectly as 30th Assault Unit.
The number '30' was used for no better reason than it was NID/Miss Priestley's Office Door number at the Admiralty. (Fleming's Office was No. 39) 'Assault Unit' was 'overt' cover for the fact that they were intelligence gathering.


Date Founded: 30 September 1942
Date Disbanded: 26 March 1946
Date Reformed: February 2010 - 30 Cdo IXG


Mission When Founded:
The collection of technical intelligence and personnel from enemy headquarters and installations. Ahead of allied advances and before enemy could destroy it.
To Attain by Surprise'.


Headquarters:
Formerly Amersham, Buckinghamshire; latterly Littlehampton, West Sussex. Each troop maintained a TAC HQ in theatre.


Number of Personnel (These numbers are only a guide as it was very fluid situation):
No.33 Section, Royal Marine (1943) - 2 Officers & 20 ORs.
No 33 Section, Royal Marine (1944) - 6 Officers & 144 ORs.
No.34 Section, Army - 4 Officers & 20 ORs.
No.35 Section, Royal Air Force - 2 Officers
No.36 Section, Royal Navy - 5/10 Officers.
Also attached were F.I.U. (Forward Interrogation Unit) Officers and American Agents and Officers who commanded small units of British Royal Marines on certain secret operations. (see Reading).




History/Profile:
(This history is compiled from sources listed at base of page, one or two documents and veterans stories do not match the official version of events. These I am trying to clarify and will update as and when more information becomes available (see Beau Bête.)
30 Commando was an inter-service unit that was inspired by the Germans' Abwehrkommando, specialist intelligence gathering teams that advanced with forward troops or sometimes ahead of them. Ian Fleming, then the Personal Assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence suggested the creation of an Offensive Naval Intelligence Group. Major W.G. Cass, a staff officer with MI5 suggested the creation of a similar unit. The DNI's persistence led to the creation of the unit after initial doubts from the Joint Intelligence Committee.
Ian Fleming meticulously planned all their raids, going so far as to memorize aerial photographs so that their missions could be planned in detail.


30 Commando consisted of Royal Marine, Army and Royal Navy elements that were organized into three Sections: No. 33, No. 34 and No.36 respectively. Initially code-named the Special Engineering Unit, the unit reported to the Chief of Combined Operations, though the Admiralty retained ultimate control of No.36 Section. No.35 Section was left vacant for the RAF to utilize but they never raised a troop to participate in 30 Cdo. Although they did supply intelligence officers and specific targets to pursue after D-Day for Operation Crossbow'.


Unit members were given general commando skills and weapons training, and were then trained in recognizing enemy mines, booby traps, handling of explosives, demolitions, counter-demolitions, recognition of enemy uniforms and equipment. Parachute training, small boat handling, recognition of enemy documents, search techniques including lock picking and safecracking, prisoner handling, photography and escape techniques were also taught.
A significant number of the initial recruits were formerly policemen. Although at least one expert' was recruited straight from prison, thought by the police to be the best safe-breaker in England at the time.


30 Cdo's operational tactic was to move ahead of advancing Allied forces, or to undertake covert missions into enemy territory by land, sea or air, to capture intelligence, in the form of equipment, documents, codes or enemy personnel. 30 Cdo often worked closely with the Intelligence Corps' Field Security sections. More often than not each team consisted of two special operations Jeeps (As used by the SAS and 30AU) manned by one Naval Commander in possession of a Black Book' which listed targets from Ian Fleming's famous Black List'. The Naval Commander was the only man in each team who knew where and what the targets actually were. This Naval Commander was usually accompanied by at least one weapons expert or scientist who he relied on to evaluate the information or equipment they encountered. There were also usually at least six Royal Marines and one RM Officer whose main job was to do any fighting required and to keep the Naval Commander and any experts alive and out of trouble. (For details Reading section.)


The individual Sections served in all the Mediterranean and NW European operational theaters, usually operating independently, gathering information from captured facilities. The unit served in North Africa, the Greek Islands, Norway, Pantelleria, Sicily, Italy, and Corsica, 1942-1943 as 30 Commando.


The unit's first operation participation was part of Operation TORCH, in which No.33 Section captured the Italian Armistice Commission's building. No.33 Section perfected its tactics of advancing with leading troops in the Tunisian campaign on the advance to Tunis. The unit operated near, if not ahead of the vanguard of advancing troops.


The next action seen was as part of Operation HUSKY, the invasion of Sicily. Parts of No.33 and 34 Sections landed separately. No.33 Section made searches of enemy HQs and infiltrated enemy lines on clandestine reconnaissance missions. Plans were made for operations in Yugoslavia that culminated in the arming of factions sympathetic to the Allied causes. A part of No.34 Section was posted to Lebanon where what it did still remains secret. It was later moved to participate in the Italian campaign where it remained for the rest of the war, taking part in the capture of Genoa in 1945 and many other missions yet to be revealed.


Men from 30 Cdo also took part in raids on Norway in early 1943.


In November 1943, No.33 and 36 Sections were brought back to Britain from the Mediterranean to train for Operation OVERLORD, leaving No.34 Section on Corsica. 30 Cdo was re-designated 30 Assault Unit in December 1943, and No.33 Section was increased to three Troops A, B and X each consisting of two officers and 40 other ranks, and a tactical HQ.


In Normandy, France, 30 Assault Unit (code-named WOOLFORCE and PIKEFORCE. Also units CURTFORCE, NUTFORCE) landed on JUNO and UTAH beaches, and failed to capture a German radar station at Douvres-la-Delivrande but maintained a patrol 200 yards from the perimeter. They captured and searched many V1 sites as part of Operation Crossbow' which also included A4(V2) sites. Later they fought their way into Cherbourg and found masses of material' in an underground base at Villa Maurice, Octaville.
Ian Fleming visited the unit in the field at Carentan as they rested and re-equipped and revised operational procedures. July & August 1944 saw the unit take part in a series of races toward Rennes and Brest with the capture of various ports, E-boats and submarine bases, and part of X-troop followed Free French forces into Paris in August 1944.


September 1944 saw 30 Cdo begin a series of operations in the Channel coast ports as the Allies captured them.
Most of the unit was then withdrawn back to Britain to re-equip and retrain for the final assault on Germany. Although some stayed to monitor the Allied progress into Germany.


As the Allies broke through 30AU split into many Field Teams' and these were responsible for capturing many and varied targets throughout Germany.
Team 2 under Curtis captured Prof. Helmut Walter, designer of the Me163 Rocket Plane and Midget Submarines at Kiel. (Kept by the British!).
Team 5 under USN Lambie captured Prof. Herbert Wagner (10) (Handed to US Agents) designer of the guided flying bomb Hs293, already used to sink HMS Egret and to kill over 1000 troops on HMT Rohna. He went on to work for the US Navy. He did not surrender in Bavaria with Dornberger and the von Braun brothers as the Allied military would have us believe. (2) (see Reading section).
The capture of Prof. Martin V2 fuel chemist. (Handed to US Agents). He did not surrender in Bavaria as the Allied military want us to believe. (see Reading for details)
The capture of the designer of the Nazi V2 (who went on to the NASA Saturn V), Prof. von Braun and/or his brother? (Some men were convinced they were some of the scientists they caught!) Did they surrender in Bavaria as the Allied military want us to believe or was that staged afterwards? (see Beau Bête for details and FREE preview PDF, in Reading)
Team 55 under Glanville captured the entire Nazi Naval records collection at Tambach Castle'. (1)
Team 4 under Job(e) captured the Bremen dockyards with type 21 & 25 submarines and destroyers. Then took the surrender of Bremerhaven and captured Naval HQ SS Europa and Z29 Destroyer. (1)(All handed over to US Agents).
Team 2 Postlethwaite captures the Torpedo testing facility at Ekenförde. (1)
Another team captured Admiral Dönitz (as Führer).
And many other things yet to be revealed by the government!
(See Successes')


A detachment of Royal Marines was sent to the Far East in 1945, which led to the capture of at least one top ranking Japanese Admiral but the Japanese surrender precluded further operations. Subsequent activities in Singapore,
Indo-China and Hong Kong eventually provided much useful intelligence.


The unit was re-designated 30 Advance Unit in the winter of 1944/45. 30 Commando was finally disbanded in 1946, however in 2010 the Royal Marines formed 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group (30 Cdo IXG RM) which carries on the lineage of 30 Assault Unit.




30 Commando Training Template:
Demolitions, Locksmith, Military Science, Parachute, Photography, Diving apparatus, Small Boat control, Psychology, Rifle, Safecracking, Concealment, Climbing/Mountaineering, Drive Auto, Drive Motorcycle, First Aid, Grapple, Handgun, Heavy Weapons, Knife, Machine Gun, Martial Arts, Navigate, Operate Heavy Machinery, Signals, Snipe, Sub-Machine-Gun, Survival Swim.
Uniforms & equipment:
Standard British battle-dress.
Standard British equipment.
Weapons:
Fairbairn-Sykes Commando knife, Colt M1911A1 pistol,
SMLE No.1 MkIII or Lee-Enfield No.4 rifle or Thompson M1928A1 or Sten
M1 SMG or BREN MG,
No.36 Mills grenades.


This Brief History is compiled from these references:-
Attain by Surprise edited by David Nutting ISBN 095262572-5
The Paper Clip Conspiracy by Tom Bower ISBN 0-586-08686-2
Arctic Snow to Dust of Normandy by Patrick Dalzel-Job(e) ISBN 1-84415-238-3
From Pole to Pole by J.P.Riley ISBN 1-871999-02-2
The Hazard Mesh by J.A.C. Hugill - Out of print
(The original) Attain by Surprise edited by Jim Glanville/David Nutting
From Nazis to NASA by Bob Ward ISBN 0-7509-4303-3
The Papers of J.A.C.Hugill Ref:GBR/0014/HUGL-Churchill Archives.
History of 30 Assault Unit Ref GB99 KCLMA - Liddell Hart Centre.
National Archives Documents, History of 30 Commando - Ref:ADM223/214 and many others, these are all used for the website and information sources. As well as two years spent interviewing and meeting Veterans and families to collect the photographs and record recollections and memories.

[Peter Lemkin]

30 AU is little know, despite Ian Fleming's fame. Many of their missions and captures are STILL state secrets in the UK!
Many of the members have strongly suggested that a group of them had captured many of the lead V-2 rocket scientists near the Furherbunker [Nazi codename = SIII/Olga], not too far from Nordhausen, where the V-2s were build by slave labor; and that the official capture of the rocket scientists in Oberammergau was staged later by the Americans. This has never been teased out, and the needed documents are missing or denied by both the UK and US governments, still........and many of the 30AU veterans either went to their graves without saying or are still alive and still not saying.... There was a small group of U.S. intelligence men attached to 30AU which was under British Navy control. Only one name of those Americans is known, and he became a big mukamuk in the CIA. What is known is that some of the persons, weapons systems, documents on weapons systems, etc. were turned over by 30AU to the Americans....oddly....as they were a UK intelligence unit.

[Magda Hassan]

Many of the members have strongly suggested that a group of them had captured many of the lead V-2 rocket scientists near the Furherbunker [Nazi codename = SIII/Olga], not too far from Nordhausen, where the V-2s were build by slave labor; and that the official capture of the rocket scientists in Oberammergau was staged later by the Americans.

FWIW In our family circles there was a (former?) German officer who was a rocket scientist who had worked on the V-1 project and was captured by the British then sent to Australia to work on the Woomera rocket project. Woomera was a British base at the time. The British also had much of their nuclear program nearby using Maralinga as drop zone. When the British had finished with him they gave him to the Americans and he was given a job working for NASA.

[Peter Lemkin]

Many of the members have strongly suggested that a group of them had captured many of the lead V-2 rocket scientists near the Furherbunker [Nazi codename = SIII/Olga], not too far from Nordhausen, where the V-2s were build by slave labor; and that the official capture of the rocket scientists in Oberammergau was staged later by the Americans.

FWIW In our family circles there was a (former?) German officer who was a rocket scientist who had worked on the V-1 project and was captured by the British then sent to Australia to work on the Woomera rocket project. Woomera was a British base at the time. The British also had much of their nuclear program nearby using Maralinga as drop zone. When the British had finished with him they gave him to the Americans and he was given a job working for NASA.

Hmmmm....very interesting. At least that was a 'transfer' presumably for 'favors' within the Commonwealth. It is a tad more difficult for me to understand why the UK handed over [apparently] many of the scientists and secret Nazi projects to the Americans - one wonders what kind of 'deal' or 'pressures' had been worked out.

Officially, both the Americans, French, Soviets, and UK had their own competing teams [often multiple teams for each country] searching for the same scientists, the same secret projects, etc. I have long been researching this and can name the groups. I also have declassified documents showing that, in one case, the UK was demanding the Americans hand over one person they felt the Americans surely had [but were not admitting they had] for trial for war crimes, into UK hands and prison. The 30AU is the only such group I know if that had a few [I'd guess less than 5%] Americans embedded within it - yet seems to have turned a very large portion of what they 'found' and 'captured' over to the Americans. Yes, the UK owed much to the Americans for being in the War on their side, but everyone wanted the spoils of War for themselves. The French did quite badly, presumably due to 'Vichy' and other allies got very little, as far as I can tell. It is very complicated, for at the same time, some within the Allied camps were aiding Nazis in escape and survival clandestinely outside of Europe.

My focus has long been on SS General Hans Kammler - a name not well known, but by the end of the War definitely in the top ten most wanted Nazi list....yet he seems to have disappeared. Oh, officially there are five different versions of how and where he committed suicide or asked to be shot by his aide de camp on May 9, 1945 south of Prague, CS [the locations vary, but are fairly near each other]. However, I have documents that strongly support him still alive after this date and other information that says he was likely not in Prague at the end of the War.

It is well known that a large number of rocket scientists [and other scientists/engineers/technicians/torture experts/espionage experts/etc.] fell into American hands under what was first called Operation Overcast [changed later to Operation Paperclip]. The Soviets and UK got smaller, but not small, numbers of others. France got some. The rest got almost none for all their hard work in the Allied effort in the War. Kammler was unique in that he was just about the only person in the Reich at the end of the War who know all of these projects and persons, where they were, where the documents about them were, etc. Kammler was definitely not part of 'Paperclip', but many directly under him were. While one can understand the desire to get the secret weapons projects, it is much harder to understand the desire to have the hardened Nazi experts - and then to let many of them become rich and famous - some rising to the top of, for example, NASA.

Gen. Walter Dornberger was directly under Kammler and was the head of the Nazi's rocket programs [there were several interconnected programs]. He wound up soon after the war in Bell Aviation as vice President!....at first in the NE of the USA and then in Ft. Worth, just next to Dallas. In 1963, working directly for Dornberger was a CIA-connected engineer named Michael Paine, at who's home in November was staying one Marina Oswald and child - with all of Lee's belongings in the garage, so they could be 'salted' for the patsy set up. An interesting and not accidental association! Remember too that Garrison discovered to his puzzlement that many around Oswald suddenly got jobs at NASA in their 'security' division, just before the Assassination. Small world!

Mae Brussell was the first to really demonstrate that there was a Nazi connection to the JFK assassination....and there was - although the trail is not direct and can be misleading if one doesn't understand the deep political machinations before, during and after the War......but I digress.

Oh, one last thought on this, some of those within 30AU who have spoken out [most have/had not - but kept their silence on all missions] have stated that they do not believe Kammler died, but was somehow gotten into American hands. If anyone might know, the 30AU were a likely group to know. Of all of the hunt teams, it is generally acknowledged that 30AU was the best of the best.

It should come as NO surprise that Fleming's novels have such interesting story lines - he was drawing from his own real-life experiences!

[Magda Hassan]

Many of the members have strongly suggested that a group of them had captured many of the lead V-2 rocket scientists near the Furherbunker [Nazi codename = SIII/Olga], not too far from Nordhausen, where the V-2s were build by slave labor; and that the official capture of the rocket scientists in Oberammergau was staged later by the Americans.

FWIW In our family circles there was a (former?) German officer who was a rocket scientist who had worked on the V-1 project and was captured by the British then sent to Australia to work on the Woomera rocket project. Woomera was a British base at the time. The British also had much of their nuclear program nearby using Maralinga as drop zone. When the British had finished with him they gave him to the Americans and he was given a job working for NASA.

Hmmmm....very interesting. At least that was a 'transfer' presumably for 'favors' within the Commonwealth. It is a tad more difficult for me to understand why the UK handed over [apparently] many of the scientists and secret Nazi projects to the Americans - one wonders what kind of 'deal' or 'pressures' had been worked out.

I'm not sure either. I'm assuming the British rocket tests came to an end and they had no further use for him and could cash him in? He was something of child prodigy and had 3 doctorates in his early 20's. Engineering was one of them and if I recall correctly music and chemistry were the others. Maybe they were interested in his other skills? But probably his rocket related skills. Though I never knew why he ended up working with dolphins after NASA. If only I'd paid more attention to the interesting conversations around me growing up but I had no idea at the time this was unusual nor was my understanding of deep state politics that developed then.

[David Guyatt]

On "deals and pressures":

I think that by the end of WWII Britain was so thoroughly broke that the US kept us afloat - and in exchange we loosened our trouser belts and bent over for Queen and country. Since then, it's been all knees to the floor for ever afterwards.

What for me is really quite interesting though, is that the Brits taught the US about espionage and black skills and shared their secrets. This was for reasons of survival. But that knowledge ultimately led to todays US intelligence community.

I knew about this unit but what I didn't know is that a lot of its operations still remain classified. Interesting about 30AU on Kammler, Pete.

[Peter Lemkin]

On "deals and pressures":

I think that by the end of WWII Britain was so thoroughly broke that the US kept us afloat - and in exchange we loosened our trouser belts and bent over for Queen and country. Since then, it's been all knees to the floor for ever afterwards.

What for me is really quite interesting though, is that the Brits taught the US about espionage and black skills and shared their secrets. This was for reasons of survival. But that knowledge ultimately led to todays US intelligence community.

I knew about this unit but what I didn't know is that a lot of its operations still remain classified. Interesting about 30AU on Kammler, Pete.

Yes, many [most, in fact!] of the operations of 30AU are still classified, and those remaining living members of 30AU are still not allowed to say what they did! If one thinks the USA is bad about secrecy, the UK outdoes the US by a lightyear. Fleming himself has not spoken about his missions or those he obviously knew of. Even the size of 30AU is still kept a secret, but it was not very large, compared to military units of the War.

Yes, Dave you are correct that the British really developed the modern arts [sic!] of espionage and counterespionage (and related matters) - and taught the Americans. Thanks a lot chaps, we really needed that!

The 30AU member who spoke most about Kammler is now dead, or I'd try to interview him. I'd love to view the documents on 30AU, but they are NOT available for review by any researcher. There is a very very limited 'official history' of the unit - totally sanitized. I think a good number of the operations are kept secret still to not embarrass the Americans, who mostly got to 'write the history' of the War - as some of that would have to be re-written in ways that would be embarrassing or not in the interest of 'national security interests'.