'45 Commando RM'

Formed as 45 RM Commando in August 1943 from the disbanded 5th RM Battalion. World War 2 operations included the Normandy landings and the crossings of the rivers Rhine, Weser, Aller and Elbe. Redesignated 45 Commando RM in March 1946.

Read the WW2 history of the unit here [45RM Commando history].

The Commando was one of the three RM Commando Units not disbanded after the war.  On 31 january 1946, at Chatham, 45 embarked on board the aircraft carrier HMS Rajah for the Far East arriving at Port Said on 11 February and Singapore on 1 March. They arrived at Kowloon on 7 March.*

It was redesignated as 45 Commando Royal Marines in March 1946.

The post-war years saw the Commando deployed on operations to Palestine, Suez, Malaya, Aden and Cyprus. The Commando finally returned to the UK in 1967 after 24 years operational service abroad and moved to its current base in Arbroath in 1971.

Since then they have been deployed in Northern Ireland, and, in 1982, the Commando took part in Operation Corporate, the recapture of the Falkland Islands. In 1991 the Commando deployed to Northern Iraq on a humanitarian assistance mission and in 1994 it was dispatched to reinforce the Kuwaiti border against renewed Iraqi aggression. More recently the Commando has been deployed on operations in Afghanistan.

* The book  45 - The Story of 45 Commando Royal Marines 1943-1971, author David Young

Gallery images of RM Commandos post WW2


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