The Her Majesty's Royal Marines better known as the Royal Marines are the naval infantry force of the United Kingdom, they depend administratively on the Royal Navy.
Although the British Empire has spread over the centuries to all the seas of the globe, at the beginning of the 21st century the United Kingdom only fields a relatively small naval infantry force, made up of a single brigade, known as the 3 Commando Brigade, and special forces units fielding a total of 6,500 elements.
The origin of the specialty dates back to 1664 with the creation of the Duke of York an Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, then renamed more simply Admiral's Regiment for regiment of the Lord Grand Admiral, and, finally, Corps of Royal Marines (RM). P>
Embarked on Her Gracious Majesty's ships, the Royal Marines took part in all the most important battles and campaigns fought by Great Britain and then the United Kingdom:Gibraltar (1704), Belle-Isle (1761), Trafalgar (1805) , Sudan (1898), Boer War (1899-1902), China (1900), etc.
During the First World War, the RM corps, 55,000 strong in 1918, was engaged both on land and at sea, in Ostend, Gallipoli and Zeebrugge.
Regrouping 12,000 men at the start of the Second World War, the Royal Marines fought their first battle during the Norwegian campaign.
Then, they took part in the landing of Dieppe in 1942 and in many other operations, in Europe and in the Far East, in particular in the campaign of Italy, in Salerno (September 1943), in Anzio (January 1944) and in Comacchio (April 1945), the battles of Walcheren (September 1944) in Holland and the Burma campaign (January 1945).
From 1945, the corps of Royal Marines was engaged again in all major British post-war overseas operations and interventions, from Palestine to the 2003 Iraq war, via Korea, Cyprus, Oman, Kuwait, Belize, Borneo, Tanzania, the Falklands and the former Yugoslavia.
In 1951
During the Korean War, the green berets of Commando 41, attached to the American 1st Marine Division, distinguished themselves in Chosin by breaking the encirclement of the Chinese "volunteers" of the People's Liberation Army; in June 1956, those of Commandos 40, 42 and 45 formed the spearhead of the Franco-British landing in Port-Saïd during the Suez crisis. During the 1960s, they provided assistance to the forces of the Sultanate of Brunei against Indonesian pressure; from 1964, they were deployed in Oman to fight the rebellion of the Rafdan mountains.
After the British withdrawal west of Suez, the Royal Marines were redeployed as a rapid intervention force for the defense of NATO's northern flank (Denmark, Norway, Iceland).
Their amphibious capabilities will once again be put to the test in 1982, during the Falklands War during which the 40, 42 and 45 Commandos were engaged which, after having landed in South Georgia and San Carlos, took storming the Argentine positions around Port Stanley.
In May-June 1999,
the Royal Marines, in particular those of the Amphibious Ready Group then formed from Commando 40, were engaged in the context of the Kosovo war.
In mid-June 2000,
Commando 42 landed in Sierra Leone to replace the paratroopers who held "at arm's length" the government areas facing the attack of the RVE rebels. In 2003, they were part of the first wave of attacks during Operation Liberation of Iraq.
Organization
In 2001, the corps of the Royal Marines comprised two major commands:
* Head Quarter (HQ) Training and Reserve Forces Royal Marines, responsible for training personnel and reserve units (Royal Marines Reserve).
* Head Quarter Commando Forces Royal Marines, the latter represents the operational component of the corps which includes, in addition to the SBS:
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o the staff of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines (CBRM).
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o three battalions of commandos-marines, numbered 40, 42 and 45 aligning on paper 798 men each, based respectively in Tainton, Plymouth and Arbroath.
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o an artillery regiment (29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery), 105 mm Light Gun pieces, dependent on the British Army
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o a logistic support regiment (mixed Army/Marines unit)
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o an anti-aircraft defense battery (British Army)
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o a military engineer squadron (59 Independent Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers),
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or a squadron of amphibious assault vehicles (539th Assault Squadron, Royal Marines), it includes a hundred men.
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o a helicopter squadron (3rd Air Squadron, Royal Navy), on Gazelle and AH-7 Lynx
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o a unit originally specialized in mountain and arctic combat, the Brigade Patrol Troop (BTP)
There is also an additional engineer squadron, 131 Independent Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers which, like one of the batteries of the artillery regiment, belongs to the Territorial Army.
The maritime-oriented anti-terrorist group known as the Commachio Group, comprising 300 to 500 elements, is directly dependent, for employment, on the Admiralty, via the staff of the Royal Marines Corps.
The 3 CBRM is likely to detach elements for the benefit of the JRDF, the Joint Rapid Deployment Force created on August 1, 1996.
Fleet Standby Rifle Troop
It should be noted the creation, in 1996, of a new structure, the Fleet Standby Rifle Troop (FSRT), which provides a force capable of intervening throughout the world at very short notice. This is made up of several teams of a dozen men, whose numbers are provided by rotation of the various units of the corps. On permanent alert, these teams can intervene within 8 hours. Although not part of the British special forces, they are nevertheless capable of carrying out special missions such as the evacuation of nationals in countries in crisis, the release of hostages and anti-drug operations. Little publicized, the FSRT nevertheless intervened at least 5 times during its first two years of existence:in Albania, in Congo, in Sierra Leone, in the Virgin Islands and in Indonesia.