Commando Country

Abstract

• Mountains and lochs, rugged terrain, challenging weather, seclusion: the Scottish highlands had everything that was needed to prepare soldiers for Commando warfare. From 1940-44 highland properties were selected and transformed into special training centres to teach guerrilla methods, assault landings and survival techniques. Commando Country looks across the origins and development of new forces like the Commandos and Special Operations Executive, finding common ground for the intensive training they relied on to carry out raids and resistance operations throughout occupied Europe and beyond. Drawing on official sources and the testimony of trainees and their instructors, Stuart Allan considers not only the military utility of the highland environment but also its relationship to the ethos of this most uncompromising kind of warfare