SHOCK TROOPS
BRITISH COMMANDOS KING DEEPLY IMPRESSED LONDON, Dec. 7. British commando shock troops recently demonstrated to his Majesty the King the technique of modern raiding warfare. On the shores of a Scottish loch the King stood with a group of high naval and army officers, and watched, the men practising beach landings, raids and assaults. Each shock trooper has on his shoulders the word Commando, first used in the Boer War. .Drawn from every branch of the Army, they undergo severe training in swimming, marching, fighting, doing without food. The i King watched assault barges creeping slowly toward the shore, apparently undetected by the defenders. Steel platforms crashed down, and the troops holding aloft their rifles, Bren guns and Tommy guns, waded ashore. With, the guns of the defenders crashing about them, the invaders made their way up the beach. How they overcame the barrier of barbed wire is one of many secrets disclosed to the King. Most thrilling spectacle was.' the landing of the tanks. They came ashore from one big steel barge, and less than half a minute after its nose had touched land . the. big “I” tanks were charging up the beach, their gun turrets circling to bear on the enemy.
Later the King saw sappers testing new devices to surprise the enemy. Men who took part in the Lofoten raid showed the King their special methods of attack.
His Majesty left with a dramatic impression of the way in which the fighting forces are being welded together into one supreme attacking unit, utilising all the developments of modern warfare.
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20660, 10 January 1942, Page 5
Word Count
264SHOCK TROOPS Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20660, 10 January 1942, Page 5
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