Commando Training in Scotland
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2023
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
The commandos have become a byword for elite raiding and cutting-edge military operations. They were set up during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe. As Monty Halls says, they were 'well trained men who wreaked havoc'. But to be the best you have to train the hardest and where better and more challenging than the wild and rugged highlands of Lochaber, Scotland.
In today's episode Dan takes the podcast to Achnacarry Castle, the Clan Cameron headquarters turned Commando Basic Training Centre during World War Two. Both clan chief Lochiel Donald Cameron and ex-Royal Marine Monty Halls tell Dan about the gruelling initiation hike, the assault courses with live ammunition and the harsh weather that made the Commandos the best of the best.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm just driving between Fort William and Inverness down the Great Glen, one of the great |
| 0:08.1 | highways of Scotland through the Highlands and we just go through Spain, Britain. |
| 0:11.9 | It reminds me that there's actually a Commando Memorial here because this is where the Commando |
| 0:16.1 | is trained in the Second World War and one of the toughest environments that the UK had |
| 0:20.6 | on offer. |
| 0:21.6 | And I've been here before with some World War II veterans and Commando veterans. |
| 0:25.9 | It's been a while since I've been here. |
| 0:27.2 | So I thought I might just look in. |
| 0:29.0 | See how it's doing. |
| 0:34.2 | It's cold out. |
| 0:35.0 | Once I'm out of the car it's pretty cold. |
| 0:37.2 | I'm walking up to the deserted memorial. |
| 0:39.0 | It shows three Commando's looking out across the Glen, across the ground by which they trained |
| 0:47.0 | or which they prepared for their operations all over Europe. |
| 0:50.6 | Commando's with Churchill's brainchild really want to set Europe aflame. |
| 0:54.4 | If he couldn't fight after Dunkirk the defeat of the British and French armies |
| 0:58.7 | in 1940 he couldn't fight Germany conventionally on the continent. |
| 1:02.4 | He thought he could raise a band of elite warriors that could be landed, |
| 1:06.0 | can asserted support local resistance efforts to fight Nazi Germany not with a sledgehammer |
| 1:12.0 | but with a series of well-aimed lethal needle pricks. |
| 1:17.2 | This is a super memorial for the most remarkable units in the Second World War and I think |
| 1:22.0 | they were aid remarkable by training in this brutal, brutal environment. |
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