The 4th Battalion Commando (4 Bn Cdo) was established on 2 April 1959 with the conscripts and part of the Officers and non- commissioned officers of the 2nd Battalion Commando that was flown to the Belgian Congo from 10 January as a result of the mutiny at Leopoldville.

The Battalion settled in Kitona and from then on ensured a permanent presence of the Metropolitan Forces in Lower Congo.

In April 1960, after a one-year stay in Baki, the Battalion leave Congo to settle in Rwanda. It must intervene several times to maintain calm and to prevent bloody fighting between Batutsi and Bahutu.

In July 1960, the platoons of heavy weapons of the Staff and Services Company intervened twice to help the people of Goma and to capture the airfield.

The 1st Company carries out a parachuted operation on Bunia and then a platoon advances to Mongbwalu to relieve two columns of European refugees. Under the road, the platoon falls into three ambushes, three Commandos are shot and mortally wounded: DELAHAUT – HOSSELET -SOSNOWSKI.

In January 1961 at Kisenyi, the 1st Company resisted an attack by the National Congolese Army (ANC) from Goma. The Commando C. RENARD, captured during a night patrol, is assassinated by the Congolese soldiers.

The 4th Battalion Commando will carry out the task of maintaining law and order in Rwanda until the independence of this country, on July 1, 1962.

His personnel will be repatriated during the month of July and the Battalion will be officially disbanded on October 1, 1962.

In the 70s, the 4th Battalion Commando becomes a reserve Battalion formed with reservists from the other Battalions while the Officers and non-commissioned officers and other personnel is provided by the Center Training Commando (CTrg Cdo). It is composed of the 23th, 24th and 25th Companies and a Staff and Services Company.

Recalls of this Battalion in 1974, 77, 83, 86 and 90.

Creation and the standard

The Royal Decree n° 7397 of 23 October 1959 assigns a Standard to the 4th Battalion Commando. The Standard was given handed by H.M. the King Baudouin to Major V. BRUNEAU during a ceremony that takes place on the Esplanade of the Fiftieth Anniversary on April 1, 1960.

After the dissolution of the Battalion, the Standard is deposited in the Royal Museum of the Army (RMA).
On April 20, 1976, he was awarded to the CTrg Cdo.
On February 18, 2011, the Standard of the 4th Battalion Commando is awarded to the HQ of the Light Brigade (Para-Commando) in Marche-en-Famenne.
The CTrg Cdo receives a Flag (Royal School of Noncommissioned Officers in its place.
On 3 July 2018, after the evolution of the Light Brigade in Special Operation Regiment in Heverlee, the Standard is awarded to the Special Operations Regiment (SO Regt).
On March 22, 2019, the Standard of the 4 Battalion Commando will be definitively awarded to the CTrg Cdo.

Traditions

The 4 Bn Cdo had taken the traditions of the Commandos, green beret and the badge of the 2nd Battalion Commando. During the 70s, the Battalion, reserve Battalion of the Para-Commando Regiment then has its own license plate, the copy of the coat of arms, designed in 1962 by its Corps Commander, Major V. BRUNEAU: a dagger and a palm tree with the African Star as a background.

Quarters

At its foundation in 1959, in Baki, then in Rwanda, the Staff and Services Company at Kigali, the 1th Company at Astrida then at Kisenyi and the 2nd Company at Shangugu.