Dummies were parachuted into the woods to draw enemy fire as the SAS dropped into the branches.
Commandos Memorial Service


Commando Memorial


HMS Belfast's 4-inch guns in action
Sword Beach
On April 29 2004 a group of French D-Day veterans attended a special memorial service in Lochaber.  

The 10 ex-Commandos returned to their World War II training ground at Achnacarry, Spean Bridge, near Fort William.

The men formed part of No. 10 Inter-Allied Commando, which came under the command of Captain Philippe Kieffer.They were the sole Free French forces to be trained as Commandos at Achnacarry during World War Two and eventually hit "Sword" beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as part of Operation Overlord. 

The French ex-Commandos from the Commando "Kieffer" formed part of 1st Special Service Brigade, commanded by Lord Lovat, which landed at Ouistreham.

The film "The Longest Day" made in 1962 portrays Kieffer and his men's fight to take the fortified casino in Ouistreham.

Now in their 80s, they had made the arduous journey from France to remember their role in the liberation of Europe. But above all, it was to commemorate some 2,000 comrades-in-arms of all nationalities who had made the ultimate sacrifice.

They were 10 of the 300 Frenchmen who underwent special Commando training from 1942 until 1945 at Achnacarry, near Spean Bridge, remembered by many of them as "a God-forsaken spot".

For some, like 81-year-old Leon Gautier of Ouistreham, it was his first return to the rugged, unforgiving Lochaber terrain since 1943.

He remembered the "hard training" in the Highlands but also the emotion he felt as he and 177 heavily-armed colleagues plunged from a landing craft to wade ashore on the beaches of the homeland he had left in 1940.

The operation had left 10 of his countrymen dead on the sands of their native country and another 38 wounded on the first day.

The Royal Marines' wartime training camp at Achnacarry, near Fort William, turned out some of the toughest fighting men the world has seen.

But it took a special kind of strength to make it through the training regime and gain the coveted Green Beret of the commandos.
 

Now a French soldier, who fled the Nazis and took part in the D-Day landings, has lifted the lid on life inside Achnacarry. In his book 'J'ai Debarque le 6 Juin 1944' (I landed on June 6, 1944), Gwenn-Ael Bollore describes an how recruits were forced on 30-mile treks across snow-covered mountains until their feet bled.

Half the trainees who entered Achnacarry were rejected by the commandos and many were killed during exercises using real bullets.

The men were housed in draughty wooden barracks with the doors removed and, to prevent them getting too comfortable, half the straw was taken from their mattresses and replaced with bits of metal.But the grim conditions in the barracks were nothing compared to the training exercises which the recruits were subjected to. In their first week, trainees were expected to march five miles in 50 minutes while wearing full kit. Before graduation, they were expected to cover 15 miles in 170 minutes, then complete an assault course. Trainees also swam in the ocean and "yomped" cross-country through the mountains, during 36-hour exercises. Snipers and ambushes were incorporated into these yomps to add extra realism.

Weighed down with heavy equipment and wearing only canvas jackets, the men frequently shed blood, sweat and tears.

"We came back exhausted," recalls Mr Bollore. "Most of our feet were bruised and black, and blue with cold."Then we had to rip off in one quick movement our socks which were stuck to our feet with coagulated blood. Learning from experience I made the habit before these exercises of cutting the soles of my feet with a razor blade.Thus, the blisters which were forming could empty when they came up against a cut without spreading everywhere and lifting off the entire top layers of skin."

Veterans return to the area every year around Remembrance Sunday to catch up with old comrades and relive their days at Achnacarry. A spokeswoman for the West Highland Museum said the harsh conditions at the Achnacarry camp were the stuff of local legend.

"They used to literally have to get off the train and start running from Spean Bridge to Achnacarry," she explained.
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