# Former Commando training area in Scotland



## bossi (30 Apr 2004)

Okay - I‘m partial to Scotland, but ...
If you ever get a chance to visit, it‘s something worth doing (IMHO).

* D-Day heroes return to Highland training base *
By Gillian Harris, Scotland Correspondent

BRITISH and French commandos who stormed the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day landings were re-united yesterday for the first time in 60 years. 
Ten veterans from the French commando unit Kieffer and two of their British counterparts took part in a memorial service at their former training ground in the Highland village of Spean Bridge. 


Watched by about 30 spectators, they climbed a hill to the village's commando memorial to relive old memories. They were part of the first special service brigade which took Sword Beach on June 6, 1944. More than 150 of their comrades were killed during the battle with German forces. 

The French troops, named after their late commander, Captain Philippe Kieffer, were the only commando-trained Free French forces to land in Normandy on D-Day. The exploits of the commandos and their fight to take the fortified casino in Ouistreham were immortalised in the film The Longest Day. 

Yesterday's service was also attended by British Royal Marine Commandos from HM Naval Base Clyde. A piper from the 51st Highland Regiment played Flowers of The Forest and other airs as a Royal Marine chaplain conducted a brief service. Royal Marine buglers sounded Last Post and Reveille before a three-minute silence. 

Afterwards Leon Gautier, 81, one of the French commandos, said: â Å“I feel very emotional after 60 years. It has been a long time but I am pleased to come back here and meet my friends again.â ? 

Mr Gautier spoke of the tough regime at the commando base at Achnacarry. â Å“Like every commando, British or French, it was very hard training â â€ for example, seven-mile runs in one hour in full gear, close combat and fighting with live ammunition,â ? he said. 

Mr Gautier said it was a privilege to lead the attack on the Normandy beaches. â Å“When I first saw the coast of France we had a lot of apprehension, with shells coming all around. After that we had a job to do â â€ we could not think about it. We knew we were going to liberate a country.â ? 

Another of the Frenchmen, Gwen-Ael Bollore, who spent three months at Achnacarry, said that his experience was the toughest of the war. 

Yesterday the veterans visited their former headquarters at nearby Achnacarry Castle, the ancestral seat of the Clan Cameron. 

Commandos were the brainchild of Winston Churchill, who realised the need for a band of well-trained men to create chaos by moving rapidly at the front and behind enemy lines. The Highland training headquarters, with its harsh mountain and forest terrain, was ideal for teaching survival, night attack and ambush skills. Lochs and flooded rivers were used to practise assault landings. 

A number of troops died during training, which always involved live ammunition from machine guns, mortars, tracer bullets and controlled explosions.


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