History

45 Commando Royal Marines was formed in August 1943, and played its part to the full throughout the remainder of World War II. This included the D-Day landings in Normandy, the subsequent fighting through Holland and thereafter the crossings of the Rhine, Weser and Elbe rivers.

The post-war years saw no let up, the Commando deployed on operations to Palestine, Suez (where it performed the first ever, operational helicopter assault in 1956), Malaya, Aden and Cyprus. The Commando finally returned to the UK in 1967 after 24 years operational service abroad and moved to its current base in Arbroath in 1971.

Throughout the 1970s at the height of the Cold War, the Commando honed its new mountain and cold weather warfare skills for its role to defending Norway and NATO’s northern flank. Amphibious exercises north of the Arctic Circle were interspersed throughout the 70s and 80s with operational tours of duty in Northern Ireland.

In 1982, the Commando demonstrated its amphibious expertise, when as part of 3 Commando Brigade, it took part in Operation Corporate, the recapture of the Falkland Islands. 45 Commando ‘yomped�?across the island of East Falkland and successfully defeated Argentine forces in the crucial battle for Two Sisters.

In the post-Cold War era of the 1990s the unit saw no reduction in operational tempo. In 1991 it deployed to Northern Iraq on a humanitarian assistance mission to provide a safe haven for the Kurdish people, and in 1994 it was dispatched to reinforce the Kuwaiti border against renewed Iraqi aggression.

In 1998 whilst exercising in the Caribbean with HMS Ocean, the Royal Navy’s new helicopter carrier, the unit was on hand to provide life saving assistance to the population and to help in repairing the infrastructure after Hurricane Mitch devastated Nicaragua and Honduras. The subsequent television and media coverage of the operation demonstrated once more the flexibility and utility of an amphibious force that was able to react quickly and effectively. In recognition of this action, the Wilkinson Sword of Peace was awarded jointly to the Commando and the ship.

The trend towards deployability and wider utility has been carried forward into the new millennium. In 2000 the unit deployed to Belize to conduct jungle environmental training, returning briefly to the UK prior to undertaking a six-month operational tour in support of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. The Unit returned in March 2001 and has since reorganised into the Commando 21 order of battle with 4 manoeuvre companies (W, X, Y, Z), Command and Logistic companies.

In March 2002 the Unit renewed its relationship with HMS Ocean providing the Landing Force component of Amphibious Ready Group (ARG). It was from this platform that the Commando deployed into Afghanistan to conduct war-fighting operations on OP JACANA in support of the War against Terrorism. In the first land warfare operations of this type since the Falklands, the Unit moved through eastern Afghanistan to the border with Pakistan, denying territory to Al Qaeda and simultaneously destroying their infrastructure and weapon caches. The Commando recovered to RM Condor in July of the same year.

In early 2003 Parliament announced the deployment of 3 Cdo Bde to Op Telic with the objective of ridding Saddam Hussein’s regime of its weapons of mass destruction. Although the unit did not deploy as a Commando Group, about 487 members deployed on operations all told. The tasking of the companies that deployed varied tremendously contributing significantly to the swift success of the Coalition forces.