TheInter-Service Training and Development Centre (ISTDC) was a department under theBritishChiefs of Staff set up prior toWorld War II for the purpose of developing methods and equipment to use inCombined Operations.
The ISTDC came into being in May 1938[1] bringing together representatives from theRoyal Navy,Army, andRoyal Air Force convened with the portfolio of developing methods and equipment to use inCombined Operations.
The history ofamphibious operations in theBritish Isles reaches back at least as far asJulius Caesar's legions crossing theChannel to invade fromGaul. For centuries the Royal Navy had been landing soldiers on hostile shores, prominent examples beingQuebec 1759,Peking 1900,Zeebrugge 1918, andGallipoli 1915–16.[2] During the inter-war period, however, a combination of recent experience and economic stringency contributed to the delay in procuring equipment and adopting a universal doctrine for amphibious operations.
The costly failure of theGallipoli campaign during theFirst World War coupled with the emerging potential ofairpower satisfied many in naval and military circles that the age of amphibious operations had come to a close.[3] Still, throughout the 1920s and 1930s, animated discussion inStaff Colleges in Britain and theIndian Army Staff College atQuetta surrounded the strategic potential of theDardanelles campaign compared with the strategic stalemate of theWestern Front. The economic austerity of the worldwideeconomic depression and the government's adoption of theTen Year Rule assured that such theoretical talk would not result in the procurement of any equipment.
TheRoyal Naval Staff College at Greenwich, drafted a document detailing combined operations requirements and submitted it to the Chiefs of Staff on 22 February 1936. Its principal author was the Director of the Staff College, CaptainBertram Watson, RN. The document synthesized the results of all the inter-Staff College studies of preceding years and made specific recommendations that two new organizations should be set up: a Permanent Committee, drawn from all three Service Ministries; and a Training and Development Centre, also to be inter-service. The Centre should have a permanent force attached to it, preferably of Royal Marines, and its functions were to be as follows:
- (i)To train in all methods for the seizure of defended beaches;
- (ii)To develop the materiel necessary for such methods, with special regard to protection of troops, speed of landing, and the attainment of surprise;
- (iii)To develop methods and materiel for the destruction or neutralization of enemy defenses, including bombardment and aircraft co-operation;
- (iv)In time of war, the whole force to be employed for carrying out minor operations by itself; or in conjunction with military forces, as thecovering force to seize and hold beaches for the main landing.[4]
Another paper fromSir Ronald Adam, Deputy Chief of the General Staff, followed covering similar concerns.In May 1938 the Chiefs of Staff established the Inter-Services Training and Development Centre at Fort Cumberland, near Portsmouth.[5] The Royal Marine contingent was not authorized; but there were fourofficers representing the three services (and one serving as adjutant), a small clerical staff, direct access to the Deputy Chiefs of Staff, and £30,000 (£10,000 from each of the services).
The original officers appointed to the ISTDC were:
The ISTDC existed only briefly, from May 1938 to mid-1942 (being briefly disbanded between September and December 1939). The Centre had direct access to the Deputy Chiefs of Staff, and theJoint Intelligence Committee. It was also given authority to seek advice more broadly, contacting service departments such as theDirector of Naval Construction with regard to hulls and theSchool of Musketry at Hythe regarding small arms ballistics. Also, ISTDC engaged private industry such as Fleming about small nesting boats and the Porton Gas School to design a floating smoke bomb.[7]
The Centre was instructed to examine certain specific problems:
By the end of 1939 the ISTDC had codified a policy for landings, and defended it at Staff College discussions. Operational experience would suggest modifications to this landing policy, but it would be essentially the policy used in theTorch andHusky landings four years later.[10] The essential shape of this landing policy is described by Bernard Fergusson inThe Watery Maze,
The system provided for an approach under cover of darkness in fast ships carrying special craft; the craft being sent ashore while the ships lay out of sight of land; small-craft smoke and gun protection while the beachhead was seized; the landing of a reserve; the capture of a covering position far enough inland to secure the beach and anchorage from enemy fire; the bringing in of ships carrying the main body; and finally the discharge of vehicles and stores by other craft specially designed to do so directly on to beaches. And in all this it was important to achieve tactical surprise.[11]
The ISTDC staff went everywhere seeking material and devices and running experiments to discover how sea assaults could proceed. For ships with sufficient speed to become Landing Ships Infantry, the best available was a class of four fast passenger-carrying cargo ships (referred to as "cargo-liners") then under construction for Alfred Holt's Glen Line Far Eastern trade: theGlengyle,Glenearn,Glenroy, andBreconshire. This class could make eighteen knots, be equipped with suitable davits for hoisting out landing craft, and each be adapted to carry a complete battalion, plus some vehicles. They were duly earmarked for commandeering in the event of war.
In March 1942Louis Mountbatten was promoted to vice-admiral and was appointed to the new position ofChief of Combined Operations (CCO). Soon after, the decision was made to dismember the ISTDC. One part now came under COHQ's newly appointed Director of Experiments and Developments (later Director of Experiments and Operational Requirements, or DXOR). The other part became the Combined Operations Development Centre which in August 1942 was absorbed into the newly established Combined Ops Experimental Establishment (COXE) in North Devon.