I am delighted to reveal that the Royal Marines WW2 HQ will be dug in at the spectacular 'We Have Ways' WW2 Festival in September this year. Over 78,000 Royal Marines eventually took part in WW2. Present in every theater, from the first actions until the last, they saw service in most major campaigns from Norway to Africa, the Mediterranean and Europe as well as the Far East. Also present at almost every major sea engagement and took part in most allied amphibious landings fr

Lt Peter Haydon from 41 CDO RM was 19 years old and had served for less than six months in the Royal Marines when he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (D.S.O.) Originally recommendation for an Military Cross (M.C.) for actions at Salerno, after returning wounded provided witness statements of the action in which Lt. Haydon was involved the citation was later updated to recommend a Victoria Cross (V.C.) After consideration the GOC-in-C decided to grant an immediate D

On the 24th of May a Royal Marine Quickfiring Regiment was projected to man 12-pounder naval guns in an anti-tank role in an attempt to stop the German panzers. The first battery was formed from the R.M. detachments of H.M.S. Effingham:, recently sunk off Norway, which marched into barracks that afternoon, the remainder from the Land Defence Force of M.N.B.D.O. (I). British troops prepare a QF 12-pounder Naval gun mounted on a Albion BY-series truck at Fort Horsted as part of

Recently I was delighted to be credited as a researcher along with Elizabeth Simmons and Andy Saucisson-Hayden for a video produced for Standing With Giants called Royal Marines in Normandy - a Legendary Fighting Force. Produced by Roy Martin, merging contemporary interviews and videos, narrated by Nicholas Witchell, this short video is both educational and thought provoking. Please follow the link below to watch the full video. This Standing with Giants short video shares pe

Sgt. SHARPLES is the senior NCO in the Assault Pioneer Platoon of 27 RM [116th Infantry Brigade]. He has invariably performed his duties in a more than exemplary manner. He has directed a large number of difficult mine clearance, with marked skill. By his leadership and unsurpassed example he has encouraged men working under him to complete seemingly impossible tasks in exposed positions, under fire. On the night 9th-10th March 1945, in the HEDIKHUIZEN area, it was necessary

A Z Craft beached on the Myebon Peninsula loaded with 25-pdr guns used to fire on the Japanese lines less than 6 miles away, 13-18 January 1945 To support our operation we had some Z-craft with four 25 pounders of 18th Field Regiment Royal Artillery. They were going to move up and down the Chaung and fire from a moving Z-landing craft. [https://burmastarmemorial.org/archive/stories/1405841-the-battle-for-hil-60?q=] The term "Z-craft" refers to flat-bottomed, pontoon-style la

James Moulton was appointed GSO3 in the operations section of the General Headquarters, British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium, 9/1939-6/1940 and was involved in the evacuation at Dunkirk, 1940. Frustrated by the lack of Naval liaison and coordination on the beach he hitched a ride from the Dunkirk beach to Dover in a sloop to brief Admiral Ramsey on the situation on the beach including the selected embarkation points before returning to France and rejoining the HQ

Unit/ Formation: Memorial Location: Great Britain Period/ Conflict: World War II Year: 1952 Date/s: 1952 The Commando Memorial is a Category A listed monument in Scotland, dedicated to the men of the original British Commando Forces raised during World War II. Situated around a mile from Spean Bridge village, it overlooks the training areas of the Commando Training Depot established in 1942 at Achnacarry Castle. The Commando Depot at Achnacarry, redesignated as the Commando B

Cabinet War Rooms – Churchill’s Royal Marine Guards Beneath the busy streets of Westminster lies one of Britain’s most important wartime strongholds — the famous Churchill War Rooms. I visited this amazing Museum recently and discovered an amazing connection to the RM. The Cabinet War Room as it looked in WW2 with a Royal Marine preparing the room for the war time leadership. While visitors today explore the underground command centre where Winston Churchill led his cabinet a

There are some places where history doesn’t just sit quietly behind glass cases it jumps out at you, tangible and immediate, a visit to the Castletown D-Day Centre on Portland is exactly that kind of experience, and made me both smile and shed a quiet tear. In June 1944 Portland was one of the key embarkation points along with Weymouth for Allied forces, in particular US Troops, heading to Normandy. Thousands of American and British troops along with tonnes of equipment passe

Unit/ Formation : 46 Cdo RM Location : Wesel Period/ Conflict : World War II Year : 1945 Date/s : Friday, March 23, 1945 Brigadier Mills-Roberts summarised his plan: 'I decided to send 46 Commando over first in the Buffaloes and go with them with a small Brigade Headquarters. No. 46 had to capture the bank of the river and 6 Commando – which would be next ashore from the storm boats – had to sweep up the river bank and enter Wesel. The other two commandos would be brought acr

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 depicting Royal 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 103) f

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...