D-Day training exercise hosted near Torpoint ahead of the 80th anniversary

Royal Marines from 47 Commando will gather on Tregantle Beach to carry out beach surfing training reminiscent of the events of D-Day.

A D-Day commemoration will be held in south-east Cornwall ahead of the 80th anniversary.

Royal Marines from 47 Commando will gather at Tregantle Beach, near Torpoint, to carry out beach surfing training using modern inflatable raid boats in scenes reminiscent of the events of D-Day.

The training exercise is based on a contemporary combat scenario and takes place just weeks before 47 Commando lands on Gold Beach on June 6, 2024, to commemorate its 80th anniversary.

The area was very prominent at the time – with about 8,900 American personnel and their equipment sheltered on a spur of land between Whitsand Bay and Plymouth Sound before the D-Day landings.

In May 1944 the 29th Division HQ moved to Tregantle Fort to set up camp near Millbrook with elements scattered nearby including Antony House near Torpoint. The headquarters of the US 115th RCT joined the headquarters at Tregantle Fort, which had been used as an Army gas school since 1942.

By the end of May 1944, senior officers knew that the Normandy invasions were planned for 5 June.

In 1943, 47 Commando RM was formed and saw its first action on the Normandy beaches during Operation Neptune, better known as D-Day. They landed at Gold Beach at 09:50 on 6 June near the town of Asnelles. Leaving the beaches in the afternoon, they advanced towards their main objective, the port of Port-en-Bessin. Fighting as they advanced through the village of La Rosiere, they dug in around Escures for the night before the planned assault on Port-en-Bessin on 7 June.

Today, the modern-day Commandos of 47 Commando will retrace the steps of their Second World War predecessors as part of the 80th D-Day commemoration.

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