No history of the Commandos in World War II, no matter how brief, is complete without some details of 'Achnacarry', as the Commando Basic Training Centre, is best known – and remembered.

Initially all volunteers for the Commandos received their specialist training within their individual Commandos, but this became increasingly unsatisfactory as the need for fully trained replacements became crucial. Accordingly in 1942 a training centre, able to provide a steady flow of reinforcements trained to the high Commando standards, was set up in hutted camp based on Achnacarry Castle in the Western Highlands of Scotland, to meet this need.

Located on the banks of the river Arkaig in the heart of Lochaber, near Spean Bridge, this historic seat of the Chief of the Cameron Clan, was ideally sited for the rugged and realistic training.

Fortunately, already serving in the Commandos was the right man to take command of the new centre, namely Lieut. Colonel Charles Vaughan, OBE, a formidable old veteran of World War I.

He recruited a splendid and devoted staff of instructors with the result that 'Achnacarry' quickly became a byword for the most strenuous 'Battle School' of the Allied Forces. Indeed it became the model for such training elsewhere, whilst 'Commando Training' became a new military term with a universal understanding of its meaning and implications.

Following the establishment of Achnacarry no volunteer could join a Commando unit or wear the coveted green beret without passing the six-week course.

Training was carried out in accordance with a laid-down and structured syllabus, and the programme had to be followed regardless of adverse weather conditions, because Vaughan argued there would be times on active service when Commandos would want to use such factors as poor weather or hostile terrain as an ally to achieve surprise - an important principle in operational success.

Obviously, physical fitness was one of the first aims, and a series of progressive and infamous 'Speed Marches', starting with 5 miles and working up to 15 miles in set times and in 'battle order' i.e. carrying weapons, ammunition and full equipment, and always concluding with the assault/obstacle course or a firing practice played a prominent part.

High priority was placed on the skilled handling and firing of all weapons, British, Allied and even captured enemy weapons. Field-craft, the art of moving across all types of terrain; unseen and unheard at night, in the age-old manner of the hunter/poacher was also a basic subject.

The remoteness of the location afforded opportunities for unlimited, but strictly controlled, 'field firing' using live ammunition and explosives, thus adding realism to the training plus a 'baptism of fire'.

The list of subjects on the training programme was lengthy, but none was so novel to the British Army in those days as the introduction of 'unarmed combat'. As its name implies it taught not only how to defend and attack an enemy when unarmed, but equally important it imbued that extra fighting spirit that expressed itself whenever the Commandos went into action.

Another unique feature of the Achnacarry course was the introduction of the 'Me and My Pal' principle, whereby every new Commando trainee teamed up with another; together they faced the course and its rigours as a team, albeit a team of two. Many of these friendships forged at Achnacarry even continued after the War.

So after six weeks, 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 Holding Commando at Wrexham prior to being posted to an operational Commando and action overseas.

Some never returned to these islands, however, they, in particular, are remembered by the magnificent Commando memorial purposely sited in the heart of the Achnacarry training area.

And for those who did survive, the words of Lord Louis Mountbatten, written after the War, provide a fitting conclusion:

"I shall never forget the impact Achnacarry made on me when I visited it in 1942, after taking over the Combined Operations Command, and I suspect that neither will those who went through the course, since many told me afterwards they found the real thing less alarming than 'the Opposed Landing Exercise' which Charles Vaughan used to finish up each course."