The armored knights were the elite fighting men of medieval Europe. With their horses, armor, lances, and swords, they were both costly warriors and a figure with high cultural and social prestige. Although warfare rarely lived up to the ideal of mounted nobles clashing in chivalrous combat, knights were highly skilled soldiers who adapted well to the constantly evolving challenges of the medieval battlefield. In the 12th century, knights of the Christian kingdoms in Palestine formed military monastic orders such as the Knights Templar. Obeying austere religious rules, these fighting monks became elite forces dedicated to the struggle against the invading Islam. Named after the Temple in Jerusalem where they had their headquarters, the Templars accumulated wealth that attracted the envy of kings. The order was condemned for alleged heresy and suppressed in 1312.

Medieval society expected any young male of social standing to seek glory in war. Training was taken very seriously. Boys served first as pages and then as squires in the household of a knight who ensured their education in horsemanship and the use of the sword and lance. After graduation to knighthood, training continued through tournaments that honed fighting skills, and through more or less constant warfare. If there was no fighting to be had close to home, knights would seek it out, traveling to the edges of the Christian world to fight the “infidels.” The classic form of knightly combat was the charge with couched lance on horseback. But knights were also effective on foot, wielding swords, maces, or battle-axes. The code of chivalry to which knights subscribed expressed a Christian ethic of warfare, but in practice the plundering, skirmishing, and sieges of medieval warfare left little place for idealism. In the relatively rare pitched battles, knights were sometimes routed by disciplined foot soldiers or bowmen, but they remained a dominant force into the 16th century. Fought in August 1346, the Battle of Crécy was one of the encounters that questioned knights’ dominance on the battlefield. Although French and English knights did engage with lance and sword, the flower of French chivalry was mown down by Welsh longbow men.

The garishly dressed, swaggering mercenary bands known as the Landsknecht were founded in 1486 by the German Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, who wanted his own infantry force to match the Swiss pikemen who had been victorious at the battles of Murten and Nancy in 1476–77. Officially, the Landsknecht were bound to serve the emperor, but the lure of pay and plunder soon led many of them to seek alternative employers. Feared and admired, they were a ubiquitous presence on European battlefields in the first half of the 16th century. Together with the Spanish Tercio, these German fighters were the fiercest warriors in Europe.

In 1525, at the Battle of Pavia, during the Italian Wars, the Landsknecht Black Band, employed by French King Francis I, fought to the last man, being defeated by the Spanish Tercio Infantry of Charles V (I of Spain), while the rest of the French forces fled the field. However, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, hired their services after this war, and, in 1527, during a conflict between the Emperor and the Pope, the Landsknecht and Spanish forces occupied and looted Rome, wreaking havoc as they went. The occupation lasted nine months, with the mercenaries refusing to leave until they had been paid.

The Roman legionary was a professional soldier engaged for 20 years active service plus five years lighter duties as a veteran. Legionaries were recruited from Roman citizens, mostly volunteers from the poorer classes. They were organized into centuries of 100 men, led by a centurion. Six centuries made a cohort and ten cohorts a legion. The system encouraged group loyalty at every level. Rigorous training and daily drill made the Roman legionary a disciplined, hardened fighting man. He was trained to march 20 miles (322 km) in eight hours and to fight with absolute ruthlessness. Drawn up for battle, legionaries waited until the enemy was almost upon them before throwing their pilum (spear), then attacking with the gladius (short sword). Punishments for lapses of discipline were brutal—a man who slept on guard was clubbed to death by his colleagues. On retirement, the legionary received a plot of land or a lump-sum payment in recognition of his service.

When the Roman Empire was at its height, legionaries wore simple bronze helmets and segmented armor (lorica segmentata). Under the armor, they had a belted tunic and, on their feet, sturdy metal-studded sandals. The ability of the Roman state to equip all its soldiers with armor and helmets contrasted with the Empire’s "barbarian" enemies. As weapons, the legionary carried the gladius and the pilum and were protected by a rectangular infantry shield called scutum.

The 40 Commando RM is a light infantry unit of the British Royal Marines that operate in a wide range of theaters, such as desert, tropical jungle, and mountains. This battalion-sized, highly-trained unit was created during World War II, participating in Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 and the Battle of Anzio in 1944. In May 1982, during the Falklands War, the 40 Commando RM secured the beachhead at San Carlos (Blue Beach). During the 1991 Gulf War it was deployed in northern Iraq to protect the Kurdish people from Saddam Hussein’s troops. During the Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, the troops of the 40 Commando RM, commanded by Lt Col Gordon Kenneth Messenger, seized and secured important oil infrastructure and captured a large chunk of enemy territory, defeating several Iraqi units deployed on the outskirts of Basra. This fierce and effective attack carried out by the men of the 40 Commando killed 200 Iraqi soldiers as more than 400 prisoners were taken. The unit was also deployed in Afghanistan where it conducted several operations against the Taliban.

The 40 Commando Royal Marines is composed of skillful professional soldiers, who has been highly and extensively trained to successfully their missions in a wide range of geographical environments. After basic training, their recruits take the Commando course, which include: 1) a 9-mile speed march, carrying full fighting gear, to be completed in one and a half hour; 2) the endurance course, which is a six-mile course across rough moorland and woodland terrain with water-filled tunnel, pipes, wading pools, and underwater culvert; 3) the Tarzan assault course (zip-line, climbing rope, etc.); 4) the thirty miler, which is a 30-mile (48-km) march across upland Dartmoor, carrying full fighting equipment. Completing the Commando course successfully entitles the recruit to wear the green beret. However, the officer will keep training in military exercises in his career. Some marines are trained in military parachuting to allow flexibility of insertion methods for all force elements.

40 Commando RM in Action in Afghanistan (Operation Herrick 12)

The Special Boat Service, SBS, is a British Royal Navy élite unit created in 1940 by Commando officer Roger Courtney as the Folboat Troop, so named after the type of folding canoe employed in raiding operations; in January 1941, the Folboat Troop was renamed No1 Special Boat Section, and in December 1943, when the second section of this special forces was formed, it was renamed the Special Boat Squadron (SBS). So, during World War II, there were Nº1 SBS and Nº2 SBS, which worked with the 1st Submarine Flotilla based at Alexandria, carrying out beach reconnaissance of Rhodes, evacuating troops left behind on Crete and a number of small-scale raids and other operations in the Mediterranean area. In March 1943, the Special Boat Squadron conducted beach reconnaissance operations for the Salerno landings and a raid on Crete, before moving to Ceylon to work with the Special Operations Executives, Force 136 and later with Special Operations Australia.

The British Navy Special Boat Service is composed of five squadrons: 1) C-Squadron, which conducts swimmer and canoe operations; 2) M-Squadron, counter-terrorism operations and ship-boarding; 3) S-Squadron, water borne craft and mini-sub operations; 4) X-Squadron, which is a new squadron formed from volunteers from the SAS and the SBS; and 5) SBS Reserve, which consists of reservists to serve with the regular SBS squadrons, rather than forming independent teams. Only candidates with military experience are eligible to enlist in the SBS Reserve.

Special Boat Service (Video)