The history of the British, Inter-Allied, and French Commando forces, is both long and meritorious. There are dozens of authoritative books in print which can provide hours of exciting reading on the units, the men, their training, and weapons of their trade. Tales abound of heroes and heroines who risked everything in their fight to save the free world from the onslaught of the German Nazis, Italian Fascists, and Japanese forces. Some of these brave souls fought in uniform while others ventured clandestinely behind enemy lines risking capture, torture, and sure death.
  
In May of 1940 England struggled to recover and regroup having barely escaped the jaws of death at Dunkirk beach. As a result of the debacle, the morale of England was badly battered and its future bleak. Many military stores had been abandoned on the French beaches in the scramble to board ships and boats to escape across the channel to safety. This frantic withdrawal left the already marginally armed forces mangled and even shorter of weapons, munitions, and supplies. 

Some strategy needed to be implemented to retaliate against the Axis powers with what few resources were available and to reap a maximum return for their efforts. In 1899 the mighty British army in South Africa had suffered many embarrassing defeats at the hands of much smaller Boer Commando units. These painful lessons provided the seed for establishing the British Commando forces. The concept was simple: create small, highly trained units, capable of striking quickly and unexpectedly at the soft spots in the German war machine.

This site is all about the famed commando knife, but, the Commando’s greatest weapon was their ability to instill fear in their enemies. Churchill proudly referred to them as his “Iron Fist from the Sea.” Like the dreaded Norsemen of old they would strike without warning, wreaking havoc and chaos, and then silently disappear into the night or back across the sea. Their heroic raids are the stuff that legends are made of. Their recent exploits in far away places like the Falkland Islands, Afghanistan, and Iraq, continue to add to their laurels.

Achnacarry Castle (shown abov) is the ancestral homestead of Lochiel, Chief of the Clan Cameron. A small museum is located in the nearby village of Spean Bridge. The monument shown at the top of the next column lies just outside of the village and commemorates the sacrifices made by these brave soldiers.