The PIAT entered service with British and Commonwealth units in mid-1943, and was first used in action by Canadian troops during the Allied invasion of Sicily.
Generally British Commonwealth units on their first tour in Borneo were not allowed to undertake such audacious operations however, and consequently, although highly successful the actions of 3 RAR in their first and only tour may not have been representative of those by more experienced Gurkha and British battalions.
The ambushes were part of the wider Operation Claret which involved cross-border operations by British-Commonwealth units from bases in Sarawak, penetrating up to 10000 yards into Indonesian territory with the aim of disrupting the movement and resupply of Indonesian forces and to keep them off balance.
As commonwealth militia units, the units in the 102d Intelligence Wing are not in the normal United States Air Force chain of command.
No. 1 Squadron also flew night missions the only Commonwealth air force unit authorised to do so of up to six hours duration, dropping one bomb every half hour or so.
Drafted into military service, the C-47 (DC-3) and the four-engine C-54 (DC-4) became the workhorses for the U.S., Britain and its Commonwealth, and air-transport units of European governments-in-exile.
Southern Rhodesia, then a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom, sent two military units to fight with the Commonwealth armed forces in the Malayan Emergency of 1948 60, which pitted the Commonwealth against the Malayan National Liberation Army MNLAA), the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party.
After the creation of the Commonwealth, several new types of military units were introduced.
The British and Commonwealth system of battle honours recognises the battle by the award to 55 units of the honour Caen, for participation in the capture of Caen between 4 18 July 1944.
We have units that are recruiting a significant part of their strength from foreign and Commonwealth countries".
