The War Illustrated, Volume 9, No. 215, Page 301, September 14, 1945.

Among recruiting suggestions considered in the early days of the Commandos was whether it would be better to use real toughs or gangsters either from the United States or British cities rather than soldiers. The view taken, it is revealed in "Soldier", the British Army magazine, by Brig. Dudley W. Clarke, who recruited the first Commandos, was that the gangster was too unreliable. The idea was dropped. So, too, was a proposal from a convict who offered to form a Commando of convicts and warders!

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