Mac Shimidh ag innse mu oideachadh nam feachdan Commando

B' e Sìm Friseal, 17mh MacShimidh (1911-1995), an 25mh Ceann Cinnidh air na Frisealaich. Choisinn e cliù mar Chommando Breatannach anns an Dàrna Cogadh. Chaidh a dhroch leòn anns an ionnsaigh air Normandaidh ann an 1944, ach dh'fhàs e na b' fheàrr. Anns na bliadhnaichean an dèidh a' chogaidh, chuir e seachad mòran ùine ann am poileataigs, agus air oighreachdan an teaghlaich mun Mhanachainn.<br /> <br /> <br /> Anns a' chòmhradh seo ri Sam Marshall bho Moray Firth Radio, tha MacShimidh a' beachdachadh air na rinn e gus na Feachdan Commando a chur air chois ann an 1940.<br /> <br /> <br /> 'And we were lucky I think in Commandoes because there were some very good early officers who were all imbued with this determination to take the war back to the enemy. They didn't like the idea of having to retrain on a barrack square and probably not be fit as combatants for a very long time to come. And what troops, and what trained men were available, were all being sent to the Mediterranean where, of course, as you know the Eighth Army were fighting Rommel in the desert. So there seemed no future unless one did something different. Nobody wanted to go on training, marching about on barrack squares, and having very limited facilities to carry out things which obviously could be done if one had boats and could fire off our weapons. <br /> <br /> So the Highlands suddenly became a very important area for training volunteers and the Commandoes moved into the Western Highlands in - within a week of the fall of Dunkirk, and the evacuation of Norway, and I was one of the earlier people who was chosen as instructors along with two or three other Scots Guards officers, including two cousins; Colonel David and Bill Stirling who were my first cousins, as it happened. And one of those cousins raised the S.A.S. Regiment after having been an instructor at Lochailort. And we started a training centre at Lochailort which was called the Irregular Warfare School and requisitioned all the deer forests from Achnacarry right out to Knoydart in the far west, so we had 250,00 acres to train over, and we were given as much ammunition, as high explosives as was needed for blowing things up and shooting at each other, and we really conducted a war of our own. And the ones that couldn't make it were given the sack and sent back to their regiments, but we did eventually come out as a pretty fine organisation consisting of twelve Commandoes.'