Commando Training Establishments

Holding Operational Commando (HOC)

After six weeks gruelling training, proudly wearing their green berets presented on the final day of the course, the fledgling Commandos marched away from Achnacarry on the six miles to the Spean Bridge railway station to travel to the HOC, established in late1943 at Wrexham in Wales, where the Commandos were posted to undergo further training before drafting to an operational Commando.

Commando Mountain Warfare Training Centre (CMWTC)

As well as the Basic Commando Training Depot at Achnacarry, a further Commando training centre was set up at Braemar in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland for the purpose of specialised training in mountain warfare, initially christened the CMWTC.

The instructors included a whole range of experienced mountaineers, including Major John Hunt, who later organised and led the first successful ascent of Mount Everest.
Later CMWTC moved to St Ives in Cornwall to instruct two RM Commandos in cliff-climbing techniques for their proposed roles on D Day.
Thereafter, the unit in addition to training cliff climbers also became the centre for the planning, training and experimenting for small boat and canoe raiding, and in this role several of the instructors took part in the operations at Walcheren and the crossing of the Rhine.