Alan Beckett
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Number of posts : 484
Localisation : Scotland
Registration date : 2007-06-29
 |  Subject: Forgotten Commandos hailed at last  Sun 22 Jul 2007, 11:00 | |
| This article is from the Sctsman.com today. - Quote :
- The forgotten commandos are hailed at last for courage in war
JIM MCBETH
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A HAIL of bullets made madness of the night, hampering his efforts to drag the dead and wounded from the water.
Michael McFadden paused in his dire task to return bursts of gunfire against the German fusillade.
It was 1942. Dieppe. In the French coastal town, it was slaughter, one of the most infamous Allied disasters, and an apprentice joiner from Anderston, Glasgow, was undergoing a baptism of fire.
Then part of a new but now forgotten group of heroes, Mr McFadden was one of 80 "commandos" sent in ahead of Canadian troops involved in the abortive "invasion" mission.
Only he and eight comrades returned to Ardentinny, Argyll, where they had been training to become Britain’s deadliest warriors.
In the next four years, in Africa and Europe, the shadow warriors of the Royal Navy Commandos - not the marine commandos - would secure beachheads and "negate" enemy resistance before the arrival of the main force.
It meant the toughest, deadliest jobs, a heroic contribution that prompted the legendary German general Ernst Rommel to suggest they "won the war".
However, months after the war, they were disbanded and the better known marine commandos absorbed their glory and their job.
In a new book Beachhead Assault, the Scottish author, David Lee, is returning the heroes to their rightful place.
Mr McFadden, now 82, was one from start to finish, one of the few allowed to carry the iconic Fairbairn Sykes dagger.
He joined the navy at 19 and was chosen for what was originally called the Royal Naval Beach Parties.
Throughout the war, he would fight on two continents, including the D-Day landings, and watch comrades die around him.
"It pained me when we were not mentioned in the D-Day anniversary celebrations. We suffered badly there.
"Still, that’s the nature of things. I’m just glad that 60 years later the men who fought, died, and were forgotten are being honoured."
Mr Lee, the book’s author, said: "They are forgotten heroes. The Royal Navy Commandos undertook the most dangerous and important tasks of the war - first on the beaches, they were the last to leave.
"If you watch the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan, you can get an idea of what the war was like for an RN Commando. Dieppe, where many of them died, was their first action.
"After that, a decision was made that the landings needed better organisation and training and they were based at Ardentinny and Achnacarry.
"Right through to D-Day and beyond, they fought through to the action at Walcheren, which has its 60th anniversary in November.
Mr McFadden said: "There were five of us who became pals and, mercifully, we survived." The retired building manager still has his prestigious dagger. "I use it as a letter opener!" he said.
During the war, Mr McFadden’s comrades were part of Allied assaults on Madagascar, North Africa, Pantelleria, Sicily, Salerno, the Volturno River, Anzio, Arakan, Normandy, Elba, Walcheren and Commachio.
He and the commandos crossed the River Sheldt from Holland into Germany, where they were confronted by 40,000 Germans making a last stand.
"We were clearing a path for the 52nd Lowland Division, said Mr McFadden: "It was unbelievable."
He added: "We did get really tough jobs, but I was charmed. I stood in hailstorms of bullets, up to my knees in sea water, beside comrades who were killed.
"Traumatic? Probably. But in those days you got on with it. I was a joiner at the start of the war. In 1940, I went to war. In 1945, I went back to being a joiner. It was the way."
Mr Lee said: "They were crucial to the success of the Allied invasions, but they were disbanded and forgotten."
The dwindling of the band of brothers led to their association being disbanded last year. However, they still have a website: www.rncommando.org.uk.
• Beachhead Assault by David Lee is published in October by Greenhill books.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1020492004
Last updated: 31-Aug-04 01:05 BST Alan | |
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