Commando Memorial, Spean Bridge, Scotlandbio life

Commando Memorial, Spean Bridge, Scotland

In June 1940, retreating British forces were evacuated from Norway and France when Britain was faced with the real possibility of an imminent invasion from sea and air. To keep fighting the enemy in occupied Europe, Winston Churchill ordered that special troops should be trained for raids and sabotage behind enemy lines.

Combined Operations Badge

The Scottish highlands played a pivotal role in the development of this irregular special training during the Second World War. The remote and rough highland region offered the landscape where mountain terrain, sea lochs and challenging weather offered perfect conditions to train men for the demanding reality of deadly missions that were to follow.

A select team of instructors including polar explorers, mountaineers, colonial policemen and ghillies from nearby highland sporting estates carried out this special training. The school Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Vaughan selected these instructors with care. "I don't want enthusiastic amateurs", he would say to would-be instructors. "I do want professionals. Are you professional enough to fire live ammunition close to my men, very close, without killing them?" He also told them, "I don't care if you are unpopular but I care very much if you are not respected."

Unarmed Combat

These special schools included the Commando Basic Training Centre at Achnacarry - where training was legendary for its toughness: A special winter training school at Braemar - which taught mountaineering skills, skiing and survival: A special centre for Norwegian Commandos in the Cairngorms. Other remote properties in the Scottish highlands were transformed into special training centres to teach new tactics such as sabotage and close combat fighting for Special Operations Executive (SOE) personnel, these agents carried out highly dangerous work supporting and organising resistance movement in enemy-occupied countries. SOE training centres were situated in highland estates in the Arisaig and Morar area.

Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge, a small village 8 miles (13 km) north-east of the town of Fort William in the Scottish Highlands stands the Commando Memorial. The monument consists of a cast bronze sculpture of three Commandos in characteristic dress, complete with cap comforter, webbing and rifle, standing atop a stone plinth. The three Commandos are depicted looking south towards Ben Nevis. The entire monument is 17 feet (5.2 m) tall.

This monument stands as memorial to more than 25,000 men who trained as Commandos during World War II, not only British but US Rangers, Frenchmen, Belgians, Danes, Dutchmen, Norwegians and Poles. The monument overlooks the areas in which these men trained. Unveiled in 1952 by the Queen Mother, it has become one of Scotland's best-known monuments, both as a war memorial and as a tourist attraction with stunning views of Ben Nevis and Aonach Mòr.

In 1942 the Commando Basic Training Centre was established at Achnacarry Castle, some six miles north west of the site of the monument. Arriving prospective Commandos would de-train after a 14-hour journey, load their kit bags onto waiting trucks and then speed march the 7 miles (11 km) to the training centre in full kit with weapon, weighing a total of 36 pounds (16 kg), past the site on which the monument now stands. Anyone not completing the march in under an hour immediately failed the course and caught the next train south, back to their units.

Speed March on arrival.

Training was carried out over large parts of highland Lochaber and was highly intensive, often using live ammunition. Once trained theses men formed an elite force capable of conducting irregular warfare in a range of different environments and went on to serve with distinction across the globe.

During World War II, 1,700 Commandos lost their lives, while many others were seriously wounded: eight men serving with the Commandos were awarded the Victoria Cross.

A large inscription on the plinth reads "United We Conquer", while the plaque on the front of the plinth reads: "In memory of the officers and men of the Commandos who died in the Second World War 1939–1945. This country was their training ground."

In recent years an Area of Remembrance has been established at the Memorial. Many who served as Commandos during World War II use this area as a final resting place for their ashes.

Sadly, the area is also home to many memorials of modern day Royal Marine Commandos and others who have died in more recent conflicts, including Iraq and Afghanistan.