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MEMORIALS, MONUMENTS AND
PLAQUES -
We honour the memory and celebrate the achievements of those who served under
the Combined Operations Command in WW2 by listing here all forms of public
recognition anywhere in the world. Combined Operations was
much more than a single event and it's likely that individual Commando raids and
landings, technological achievements, bases, training centres and so on have
been recognised over the years by the erection of memorials, monuments or
plaques.
Future generations may wish to trace the wartime service of their loved
ones and to remember them in these special places. E-mail
your nominations
providing information similar to that below. Photographs will be displayed if
provided.
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Subject - Commando
memorial. Location - Spean Bridge, about 10 miles
NE of Fort William on the A82 to Inverness. Other info - Commandos of many nationalities
did much of their training in the surrounding hills and at nearby Achnacarry. The monument was unveiled by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in
1953.
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Subject - HMS Quebec a RN base situated amidst the No 1 Combined
Training Centre training beaches and camps. Location - a few miles
south of Inveraray, Scotland on the A83. Turn into the Argyll Caravan Site.
Other info -
plaque is
fixed to the door of a WW2 building (opposite) which now serves as the caravan
site reception office.
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Subject - the deaths of two hurricane pilots while taking part in a
combined training exercise. Location - Ardnamurchan Peninsula,
Scotland (see map). A long walk over rough terrain is involved. Other
Info - erected and
consecrated in 1995 at the instigation of Phillip Jones. More
information on this site at
516 Combined Operations Squadron |
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Subject - RN Commandos.
Location. The Memorial Plaques on the left are situated in Ardentinny
Church on Loch Long in Scotland close to where the RN Commandos training
base camp at HMS Armadillo was located. Other Info. These men
often went ashore in the early stages of a landing. |
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Subject - RN Commandos. No.3 R.N. Commandos were billeted in the town of Hythe prior to
embarkation for Normandy from Hythe Pier.
Location. The Memorial Stone is situated in
a small park close to Hythe Pier. Other Info. The stone was erected
by the town's folk to commemorate the event. |
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Subject - Naval
Commandos.
COMBINED
OPERATIONS.
British and allied naval commando units sailed from the Hamble River
on the night of 5th June 1944 for the D-Day landings on the Normandy
Beaches. Location - Memorial to the D-Day Landings, Warsash Pier,
Warsash, Hampshire Other Info. - This memorial was unveiled by
Countess Mountbatten 5th June 1984 during the 40th Anniversary
Commemoration. |
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Subject - Mulberry Harbours.
Location - Conwy, North Wales. Follow signs for the marina. The plaque
is situated in the council car park next to Conwy Marina. Other Info - read the full story
about the design, testing, development and manufacture of the
Mulberry Harbours and of the key
role of a local boy cum civil engineer.
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Subject -
Operation
Tiger - the disastrous USA amphibious landing training
exercise in Lyme Bay involving the loss of 749 men. Location - Slapton Sands on
the A 379 about 10 miles south of Brixham.. Other information - see
Operation Tiger on this website.
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Subject -
officers and men of 46 Royal Marine Commando whose HQ was
in the Upper Chine School prior to the Normandy landings.
Location - in
the wall of Church Rd A3055 and Priory Rd in Shanklin on the Isle of
Wight. It is situated just through the old Village. Other info -
the building was used throughout the war and at one stage
was the HQ of No.2 Commando... it
was
demolished in 2002. Also in Shanklin Chine there is a cafe with lots of
photographs of the commandos training in the area. It is well worth a
look. See also bottom of
PLUTO.page.
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Subject - Royal Canadian Army Service Corps.
Location - in the New Forest close by the town of Southsea. Other
Info - the site was occupied prior to the D-Day landings. |
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Subject - Royal Navy Servicemen (Walcheren).
Location - St Michael's Church,
Blandford Road, Hamworthy, Near Poole. Other Info - As a Petty
Officer on LCH 269 (Commander Sellar's ship) for the
Walcheren Operation, Basil Woolf recalls that on return to Poole the
ship's company decided to make a collection for a temporary Lych gate in a
church. Years later more money was obtained, and a permanent Lych gate was
installed on July 5th 1952. It was unveiled by the Bishop of Salisbury.
Attending, among survivors, were Admiral of the Fleet Sir Phillip Vian,
Commander Sellar, and a representative of the Dutch Embassy. Please
Contact Us (bottom of page) if you have any information about, and/or photos
of the Lych gate which we could add to this page. (Photo; temporary sign).
Also on Walcheren Page. |
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The RM Commando memorial at Sannerville a few miles east of Caen.
[The mason was Auvray DJONNY and the Architect Marcel CONTI]. |
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Subject - Operation Chariot
- the raid on the dry dock at St Nazaire.
Location - St Nazaire, France. The memorial and the 12 pounder gun
taken from HMS Campbeltown, are situated side by side at Place du
Commando which is at the eastern end of Boulevard President Wilson. Other Info -
The inscription below the gun reads 'Canon du destroyer Cambeltown
qui percuta le caisson sud de la forme joubert Commando Anglais du 28 Mars
1942.'
Click here for more information
on
Operation Chariot. Photos courtesy of Graham Francis. |
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Subject - Crews of Landing Craft and Landing
Ships who died in action off Normandy. Location - Arromanches,
Normandy, France. Other Info - Photo courtesy of
Andrew Bystram. |
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Subject - No 3 Commando action at Merville Battery.
Location - In Normandy near the village of Merville-Franceville
on the D514. Other Info - during the early hours of D-Day, 6th June
1944, the German Battery of 4 guns was seized by the 9th Parachute Battalion
and the guns put out of action. On June 7 Nos 4 and 5 troops of No 3
Commando, under Major JBV Pooley, MC, on orders from the 6th Airborne
Division, attached the strongpoint which had been reoccupied by the Germans.
It was recaptured in a gallant action in which many casualties were
suffered. The photos were taken at the laying ceremony
on the 61st Anniversary of the action. (Photos taken by Bern and
Fay Robins). |
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Subject - Commando Action in the area of Le Plain
Gruchet. Location - Goustranville, near the Auge Hills between the N175 and D27
Roads. Other Info - the action involved the British 1st Special
Services Brigade (No 3, 4, 6 Commando, 45 RM Commando and the 1st Battalion
of the French Marine Brigade. (Photos courtesy of Bern and
Fay Robins). |
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Subject - US 1st Engineer Special Brigade.
The inscription reads; In proud memory of our dead. 1st Engineer Special
Brigade. H Hour 6.30 hr D Day 6th June 1944. Location - It is known
that some memorials were constructed during, or shortly after, WW2 as per
this explanation by Charles B
MacDonald, a former deputy chief historian at the US Army's Center of
Military History.
Soon after the end of the war, veterans
of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade, which incurred the heaviest losses in
Exercise Tiger, did just that, erecting a
monument on
Omaha Beach (now known to be Utah Beach - see below)
to their dead, presumably to include those
who died at Utah Beach and those who died in preparation for D-Day.
One source
indicates that the memorial was unveiled in June 1945.
One
visitor writes... My father
was part of that unit. He camped near that spot on the beach. There's an
interesting book called Storming Ashore, by Kenneth Garn (available on
Amazon) about the 1st Engineers Special Brigade. The book notes that that
monument was on the site of one of the first German machine gun pillboxes seized
on Utah Beach on D-Day.
A number of years ago I visited Utah beach. And there it was. It was part
of our family history to show children photographs taken when we were at
Utah. |
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Subject - The action to take Pegasus Bridge. Location - The Cafe Grandee near Pegasus Bridge. Other
Info - see text on the plaque. (Photos courtesy of Bern
and Fay Robins). |
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Subject - No 3 Commando 1st Special Services Brigade. Location
- Petiville. Other Info - Under the command of Lt Col Peter Young the
brigade liberated Petiville on August 17th 1944. (Photos courtesy of Bern
and Fay Robins). |
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Subject - the 'Bold' Memorial to the Canadians
who landed on Juno
beach on D-Day. Location - the town square of
Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. Other Info - this Sherman tank
of the 1st Hussars nicknamed 'Bold' sunk on D-Day and was pulled from the
water in 1971 (with the assistance of 4 Service Bt). It was restored and
over the years bronze plaques have been added commemorating the Canadian
units, regiments and corps which took part in the landing |
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Subject. The Royal Canadian Army Service Corp
(RCASC) who served on D-Day
and in the Battle of Normandy. Location.
The “BOLD” tank in Courseulles-sur-Mer (Juno Beach).
Other Info The plaque
was unveiled on 7 June, 2004,
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Subject - the landing of the
52nd Lowland Division on 1st Nov '44 against entrenched German defensive positions. Location
- 'Uncle Beach' Vlissingen, Walcheren
Island, Scheldt Estuary, Holland.
Other Info - the heavily fortified island blocked the River Scheldt to Allied shipping and thereby to the newly captured Antwerp. See
Walcheren
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Subject - the landing of
No
4 Commando Brigade* on 1st Nov '44 against entrenched German defensive positions.
Location - Westkapelle, Walcheren
Island, Scheldt Estuary, Holland.
Other Info - the heavily fortified island blocked the River Scheldt to Allied shipping and thereby to the newly captured Antwerp. See
Walcheren [*
At the time of the action they were called No 4 Special Services
Brigade being re-designated No 4 Commando a few weeks later.]
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Subject - a monument to
No 4 Commando near
the Orange Mill (where they landed). Location - Flushing, Walcheren Island,
Scheldt Estuary, Holland. Other Info - the
original plaque attached to the monument is not in place in this photo
(left) but the text can be seen in the photo (right). See
Walcheren
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CANADA |
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Subject - the
construction of top secret experimental "ice ships"
in 1943. Location - Patricia Lake,
Jasper, Alberta, Canada. A few miles outside the town.
Other info - plaque was erected by the National Research Council of Canada in 1989.
More information on this site at
Pykrete - Ice Ships. |
Photo of inscription
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~
Correspondence ~
St Michael's Church, Blandford Road, Hamworthy, Near Poole. I served
as a Petty Officer on LCH 269, (Commander Sellar's ship) for the Walcheren
operation. When we returned to Poole the ship's company decided to make a
collection for a temporary Lych gate in a church, which we did with whatever
money we could scrape up! I found out a few years later that more money was
obtained, and a permanent Lych gate was installed on July 5th 1952 at St
Michaels Church, Blandford Road Hamworthy. It was unveiled by the Bishop of
Salisbury. Attending, among survivors, were Admiral of the Fleet Sir Phillip
Vian, Commander Sellar, and a representative of the Dutch Embassy. I was not
there as I had emigrated to the US in 1952 where I reside in (Paradise) sunny
Florida. Basil Woolf
Please Contact Us (bottom of page) if you have any information about, and/or
photos of the Lych gate which we could add to this page.
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