Unit/ Formation : Memorial Location : Indian Ocean Period/ Conflict : World War II Year : 1944 Date/s : 12th February 1944 On 5 February 1944 Khedive Ismail left Mombasa bound for Colombo carrying 1,324 passengers including 996 members of the East African Artillery's 301st Field Regiment, 271 Royal Navy personnel, 19 WRNS, 53 nursing sisters and their matron, nine members of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry and a war correspondent, Kenneth Gandar-Dower. She was part of Convoy K

Unit/ Formation : Royal Marines Location : Bukit Timah, Singapore Period/ Conflict : World War II Year : 1942 Date/s : 8 February 1942 The last British troops to cross the causeway which links Johore with the island of Singapore were the 2nd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Lieutenant-Colonel I. M. Stewart, D.S.O., O.B.E., M.C.). They came over with their pipes playing "Hieland Lassie" and blew up the causeway behind them. Their strength had been reduced to 250, and the mar

A painting commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee and d epictin g Roy al Marine AA Gunners bring down a V1 Flying-bomb is described on the IWM site as ' Four marines take cover in a ditch as a flying-bomb, trailing smoke, plummets to earth' But the painting provides only a small hint of the Royal Marines involvement in the V1 and V2 story. The V-1 was the first of the Vergeltungswaffen  (V-weapons) deployed for the terror bombing of London. German V1 (Fiesler Fi

Unit/ Formation: HM Ships Location: Trincomalee Period/ Conflict: World War II Year: 1942 Date/s: 9th April 1942 The Indian Ocean raid , also known as Operation C or Battle of Ceylon in Japanese, was a naval sortie carried out by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) from 31 March to 10 April 1942. Japanese aircraft carriers under Admiral Chūichi Nagumo struck Allied shipping and naval bases around British Ceylon, but failed to locate and destroy the bulk of the British Eastern

Months after its formation 47 RM Cdo was given its first active service task. It was asked to select a detachment for ‘special duties’. Of the officers who volunteered, two were selected, Captain Isherwood and Lt Bennett, and they were asked to nominate their own men, 30 in number.  The title ‘Timberforce’ was given to the detachment as it would be serving in boats of wooden construction. The force set off on 4th October 1943 for Lerwick in the Shetlands. It was to operate wi

In July 1940, Churchill began to prod the Ministry of Supply – his memorandum of 7th July reads `What is being done about designing and planning vessels to transport tanks across the sea for a British attack on enemy countries?’ The design was given to a young Naval Constructor, Mr. Roland Baker. Fortunately for the Navy, Baker happened to be the ideal man for the job, a constructor with an inventive mind, exuberant spirit and no respecter of rank. Within three days he had pr

Unit/ Formation: RM Airmen Location: Wick & Hatston Period/ Conflict: World War II Year: 1940 Date/s: July - October 1940 56 Fleet...

What a wekend! 'We Have Ways Festival' 2025! Al Murray and James Holland opening the Way Have Ways Fest 2025 Well the 'move order' worked...

Unit/ Formation : Royal Marines Location : Malaysia Period/ Conflict : World War II Year : 1945 Date/s : 28 August 1945 Operation Jurist...

On August 6 and 9, 1945, the Allies dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. On August 9, the Soviet Union declared...

Unit/ Formation: 42 Cdo RM Location: Great Britian Period/ Conflict: World War II Year: 1943 Date/s: 1st August 1943 Formed on 1st August...

Unit/ Formation : Royal Marines Location : Sicily Period/ Conflict : World War II Year : 1943 Date/s : 20 July 1943 7th Battalion Royal...

16 July 1943 HMS Cleopatra 1941 HMS Cleopatra was hit amidships by a torpedo from an Italian submarine, she sustained major damage to...

Unit/ Formation: 40 Cdo RM/ 41 Cdo RM Location : Augusta Harbour Period/ Conflict : World War II Year : 1943 Date/s : 17 July 1943 After...

Unit/ Formation: Royal Marines Location: Sicily Period/ Conflict: World War II Year: 1943 Date/s: 10 July 1943 The comparatively small...

A video of a Christmas Day Patrol by members of 47 Royal Marines Commando on the banks of the River Maas near Raamsdonk, Holland. Royal...

On the 8th June 1940, whilst on passage from Norway the British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her two destroyer escorts, HMS Ardent...

Commando Men an Epic Mini Series by Si Biggs You asked for it, yes you did! A British Private Ryan and Band of Brothers (at last!)  Live,...

Sergeant Wilson E Troop was the last man from 45 Commando to be killed in action in WW2. Grave of Jock William Allan Wilson EX/4194 45...

Royal Marines served from the first day of WW2, in every theater and in almost every major sea engagement in the Second World War and...