Independent company (military)

An independent company was originally a unit raised by the English Army, subsequently the British Army, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for garrison duties in Britain and the overseas colonies. These units were not part of larger battalions or regiments (although they may have originally been detached from them), and would remain permanently assigned to the garrison.

In the twentieth century the name was used for a temporary expeditionary formation of the British Army during the Second World War. Initially there were ten independent companies, who were raised from volunteers from Territorial Army divisions in April 1940. They were intended for guerrilla-style operations in the Allied campaign in Norway. The companies were disbanded after returning to Britain at the end of the campaign but No. 11 Company was formed from volunteers from the first ten Independent Companies on 14 June 1940 and took part in the first British commando raid, Operation Collar.

After the Second World War, the concept of the independent company was maintained in the airborne forces with the formation of a pair of company sized units operating independently within larger formations.