45 Commando

As part of the 1st Special Service Brigade, the Commando participated in Operation Overlord (the D-Day Normandy landings), before going on to move through Europe into Germany, including Brachterbeek on 23 January 1945.

[6] The Commando unit was based in Hong Kong between January 1946 and May 1947, conducting internal security duties, as part of 3 Cdo Bde RM.

The Commando unit returned to Hong Kong in December 1948 and from there deployed to Malaya between 1950 and 1952 taking part in operations during the Emergency.

In September 1955 45 Commando was deployed to Cyprus to undertake anti-terrorist operations against the EOKA guerrillas who were fighting against British control of the island.

45 Commando who were in Aden boarded HMS Centaur and sailed to East Africa and anchored off-shore from Dar es Salaam.

[9] The last elements of the 45 Commando left Aden on 29 November 1967 to return to the UK for the first time since the end of World War II.

They conducted a night attack on the Two Sisters feature over the 11/12 June 1982,[4] during which the Commando unit lost 8 men killed and 17 wounded.

In 1998 the Commando unit was redirected from an exercise in Belize, to assist Nicaragua and Honduras following the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch.

[14] At the turn of the Millennium, the Commando unit was deployed to Kosovo under KFOR as part of 3 Cdo Bde RM on Operation Agricola IV.

[17] In September 2003, 45 Commando was granted the Freedom of Angus in recognition of their service in Iraq and Afghanistan and contribution to the local economy of Arbroath, where they are based.

This was split into two phases, the first of which took place with the United States Marines Corps Ground-Air Combat Centre at 29 Palms, California.

[21] October 2008 saw the Commando unit return to Afghanistan as Northern Battle Group in Helmand Province on Operation HERRICK 9.

[22] April/May 2009 saw the return of the Commando to Arbroath in Scotland for reorganisation ahead of a winter deployment to Norway to practice cold weather and amphibious tactics.

[29] In 2022, 350 marines from 45 Commando supported diplomats from the British embassy in Ukraine, and a small number may have provided weapons and training to Ukrainian troops.

Black and white photograph of marines walking away from a beach in single file
Royal Marine Commandos attached to 3rd Division move inland from Sword Beach on the Normandy coast, 6 June 1944.
Men of 45 (RM) Commando, 1st Special Service Brigade , in high spirits as they prepare to embark for the invasion, 3 June 1944.
Royal Navy Westland Whirlwind helicopters taking the first men of 45 Royal Marine Commando into action at Port Said from HMS Theseus .
Colour photograph of a marine with an anti-tank weapon pointed at the camera.
A British Royal Marine from 45 Commando watches for enemy tanks and armoured personnel carriers from behind his anti-armour weapon as part of Combined Joint Task Force Exercise '96.
Colour photograph of five fully covered marines in a huddle underneath a helicopter.
Ground crew with the Commando Helicopter Force huddle from the downwash of a Sea King helicopter on exercise in Norway.
Colour photograph of marines patrolling in single file over rough, almost barren, terrain with buildings on the horizon.
Members of Whisky Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines patrolling across barren landscape from FOB (Forward Operating Base) Jackson at Sangin in Helmand Province in Afghanistan.