Special Boat Section

Special Boat Section (SBS), British sabotage and reconnaissance unit founded in July 1940 by a commando officer, Roger Courtney, which later became two distinct organizations. Initially known as the Folboat Troop, after the type of folding canoe employed in raiding operations (see also canoeists), and then the Special Boat Section, it worked with Layforce from April 1941 carrying out several successful operations during the battle for the Mediterranean before becoming, briefly, part of the Middle East Commando. In December 1941 Courtney returned to the UK where he formed 2nd SBS, and 1st SBS became attached to the Special Air Service (SAS). In September 1942 1st SBS lost irreplaceable men during a raid on Rhodes, was absorbed into the SAS in November, and together with a troop of the Greek Sacred Regiment became its D Squadron in January 1943. In April 1943, after SAS was dissolved, D Squadron was re-formed as the Special Boat Squadron, became part of Raiding Forces, and operated among the Dodecanese and Cyclades groups of islands in the Aegean, raiding a total of 70 islands 381 times. In August 1944 it joined Land Forces, Adriatic (see Balkan Air Force) and worked with the Long Range Desert Group in operations in the Adriatic, on the Peloponnese (see British expedition to Greece), in Albania, and, finally, Istria. It was disbanded in 1945.

The 2nd SBS, which retained its name, Special Boat Section, throughout the war, took Maj-General Mark Clark ashore before the North African campaign landings in November 1942 (TORCH) and later one group, Z SBS, based in Algiers from March 1943, undertook eighteen Mediterranean operations, including the beach reconnaissance for the Salerno landings and a raid on Crete, before moving to Ceylon to work with SOE's Force 136 and later with Special Operations Australia. The rest of 2nd SBS became part of South-East Asia Command'sSmall Operations Group, operating on the Chindwin and Irrawaddy rivers, and in the Arakan, during the Burma campaign. See also UK, 7(e).

Bibliography

Courtney, G. , SBS in World War Two (London, 1983).
Pitt, B. , Special Boat Squadron (London, 1983).