NEW COMMANDO CHIEF
AN ADVENTUROUS CAREER RUGBY, October 2;3. Major-general R. E. Laycock, • who has-been appointed the new Chief of Combined Operations, succeeding Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, is registered as a Finnish able seaman. This came about when he sailed in a fourmasted Finnish windjammer round the Cape, from . Copenhagen to Portuguese East Africa, and spent 80 days at sea. Before the war Major-general. Laycock used to go-from port to port. In this way he visited ports in Finland, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden. He was also a keen amateur yachtsman, chartering Brixham trawlers with his fellow officers and sailing them round Britain.
The first United States Ranger Battalion to be sent to Europe was trained under Major-general Laycoek's command. He introduced the system of training these United States troops with a British unit. The result was excellent,, and great camaraderie exists to-day.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 25004, 25 October 1943, Page 4
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146NEW COMMANDO CHIEF Evening Star, Issue 25004, 25 October 1943, Page 4
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