R.N Commando 'Beachmasters' H.Q.

[Roy]

Greetings gents,

Navy Commando is not my specific interest but in looking through some of my original photographs the last few days I came across this really nice image of A Navy Beachmaster’s HQ. It has some nice examples of insignia being worn so thought it might be of interest to some members.

Enjoy, best wishes Roy.

[54Bty]

Nice to see both patterns of the Combined Operations badge being worn by the RN on Army BD.

[NEMO]

HI ` great image many thanks for showing , as Marc quite rightly states nice to see the tombstone as issued style and the round cut been worn at the same time , thanks again ,Nemo

[Faugh-A-Ballagh]

Super photograph indeed.
I would say that with the responsibility on those guy's shoulders at that time, the shape of the insignia was probably not exactly highest on the agenda!
However, it does show it really well.
Thanks for showing
John

[NEMO]

HI just looked at the pic again , has the sensor blocked at the fleet of ships along the top edge in white ?

[grey_green_acorn]

Is it not the case that "tombstone" shaped badges are (only) worn by ratings and therefore officers would choose to wear the circular version?

[tynesideirish]

Great pic!

Originally Posted by NEMO

HI just looked at the pic again , has the sensor blocked at the fleet of ships along the top edge in white ?

Is it not the land thats been sensored? Though why is a moot point, after all by this time the Germans would have known they where there.

I think, despite the write up, could it actually be a photo of the invasion practices in Britain? Note, lack of debris on beach, flimsy sandbag defence, lack of tin lids. Even D Day + 1,2 etc the beach was a dodgy place to plonk oneself.

[Danny]

Hi,
The caption on the photo is missing a piece of information and has been cropped slightly in addition to having the other vessels taken out. The full photo shows a bit more of the beach and a couple of Landing Craft in the background.

The photo was taken on the 13th June 1944 on Juno Beach.

The full caption is "The Beachmaster's Headquarters near Courseulles, Normandy. These Naval Commandos whose job it is to supervise landings of supplies include B C Lambert, RNVR, of Bromley, Kent; Sub Lieutenant Parsey, of Bradford, Yorks; and Leading Seaman Springall, of Poplar, London. Landing craft can be seen in the background."

Thanks for posting the photo interesting insignia and its the best quality copy of this photo I have seen.

Regards

Danny

[Roy]

Hi Chaps,

Thanks for all the comments on this great photo. I agree it’s nice to see ‘both’ versions of the Combined Ops patch being worn.

Thanks also Danny for the extra info. I also didn’t notice the censors cropping (if that is what it is). My own cropping was just to present a good images for you guys, here is a basic image of the photo. As mentioned Navy Commando is not really my thing but when I came across this image some years ago, thought it was worth getting.

I have a number of other original Commando images but as one would expect not an insignia in sight..!

Regards, Roy.

[sailorbear]

Originally Posted by grey_green_acorn

Is it not the case that "tombstone" shaped badges are (only) worn by ratings and therefore officers would choose to wear the circular version?

Interesting point, but I think the images below answer the question! Note the arm badges of the guy on the right in the first picture and the guys on the far left of the second and third pictures, wearing round combined ops patches but definately not officers! Also included a broader version of the thread picture showin landing craft.

[grey_green_acorn]

So it looks as though ratings could wear either shape but are there any pictures of Navy Commando Officers wearing the "tombstone" shaped combined operations badges?

[NEMO]

HI good morning , when time permits i plan to do a full thread on the combined operations sign and will show some examples i own ,in the mean time this will have to do .

JANUARY 1942 lord Mountbatten head of combined ops issues an invitation for designs to be submitted for insignia.

JULY 1942 the first batch were manufactured in printed form due to the need for urgency .
they were issued in the `tombstone style un cut perhaps due to the naval influence OR because the badges were manufactured by a contractor that had done naval insignia before they were made in the Tombstone style
( welcome opinions )

Is has been suggested that the ` rules ` were that RN COMMANDO officers wore the badge cut circular and other ranks the full tombstone ?

It has been suggested that the army commandos started the trend for cutting the
tombstone badges down in order to stand out from naval commandos .

At the minute the facts are .
There are period photos of RN commandos officers wearing both styles ,
( there is a photo of an RN commando officer wearing the combined ops badge cut SQUARE ` IN WW-2 )

There are period photos of junior ranks wearing both styles

There are also period photos showing the combined ops sign been worn facing the wrong way

I hope to do a full thread soon and try to dispell a few of the myths , hope this was of interest and lookforward to your help ,Nemo.