NAVY NEWS, JULY 2008 21
THE snows of northern Norway
● X Men... X Company, 45 Commando, move across the Dundrennan range during a live-fi re exercise and (above) heavily-camoufl aged
commandos of V Company await battle
are all but a distant memory.
And soon so too will be the lush rolling
terrain of Dumfriesshire for the Royal
Marines of 45 Commando as the Arbroath-
based green berets swap Europe for the
sand and dust of Helmand.
After three months in the Arctic, the e
commandos got to grips with combat in n
more familiar surroundings, one more step
down the road back to Afghanistan which
they will take with 3 Commando Brigade
this autumn.
The ranges at Dundrennan, nearneearar
Kirkcudbright, offer a 4,700-acre ‘playground’ for Britain’d’ for Brir taitaain’nnsss Armed Ar A medmedd
Forces by the Solway Firth.
Once used to prepare Britons for the liberation of Europe, this
spring it has served as the training ground for 45 from the absolute
basics of combat to troop attacks and live firing.
The images might suggest a lush landscape in the bloom
of spring (which it was), but they do not reveal the undulating
nature of Dundrennan (which it is, although it’s not, of course, as
unforgiving as northern Norway).
The RM Condor men began their exercises with basic skills and
drills at section level, then moved up to troop level, culminating
in three-hour-long attacks on ‘enemy’ positions – once they had
successfully negotiated roads, fences and other obstacles on the
range and steered their way around minefi elds which limited their
front of attack.
War inevitably means casualties and the ‘battle of Dundrennan’
was no exception. The Royals used some of the latest techniques
of ‘casualty extraction’ (moving the wounded from the front line to
fi rst aid post or fi eld hospital) based on the latest experiences in
Afghanistan and Iraq to ferry their ‘fallen’ from the battefi eld.
To new techniques were added new fi repower. All the Royals
had the chance to grapple with the GMG – grenade machine-
gun which, as its name suggests, spews out 40mm grenades at
an astonishing rate (up to 340 per minute). Coupled with the .50
heavy machine-gun in action in Dumfriesshire it made for a pretty
impressive demonstration of raw power.
Unlike the real thing, war at Dundrennan ended no later than
9pm. Like the real thing, the days were long, the fi ghting energy-
sapping (especially in the spring heat) and the satisfaction of ‘the
battle done’ was immense.
“We truly went ‘back to basics’ in terms of section, troop drills
and skills in this training package,” said unit training offi cer Capt
Ben Richardson.
“There was also the opportunity for everyone to get their hands
on the new support weapons.
“It was a hard, but rewarding week.”
Pictures: LA(Phot) Nick Tryon, 45 Cdo
0021_NN_July.indd 121_NN_July.indd 1 220/6/08 13:02:370/6/08 13:02:37
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