Inspection of Army Commandos at Komiza on the island of Vis in Dalmatia, February 1944

Photograph, World War Two, Balkans (1941-1945), 1944.

During World War Two, Army and Royal Marine Commandos, the Special Boat Service (SBS) and the Special Air Service (SAS) all fought alongside the Greek, Albanian and Yugoslav resistance in the Balkans. They undertook raids against Axis military installations and engaged in acts of sabotage. Together they forced the Axis to garrison Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, preventing their use on other war fronts.