Royal Marine praises the 'mind-blowing' achievements of D-Day veterans on Sword Beach

A Royal Marines officer has praised the incredible sacrifice and 'mind-blowing' operational achievements of veterans who took part in the D-Day Landing on Sword Beach.  

Major Andrew Atkinson, Squadron Commander of 47 Commando, spoke of his admiration for the incredible sacrifice and bravery of those who landed in Normandy on 6 June 1944 during a memorial service held at the town of Colleville-Montgomery, near Sword Beach.

"I've done 25 years in the military now and I've done a few deployments, but nothing to the scale of what's happened here," said Maj Atkinson.  

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"Its scale is absolutely mind-blowing.

"With the 7,000 ships and vessels out in the water, I mean, that was never seen before and will never be seen again today.

"I can try and imagine, but the scale is simply mind-blowing.

"I've done many landings, but never a combat landing. So, yeah, it must have been very terrifying for them."

Maj Atkinson spoke with tremendous admiration for the sacrifice and accomplishments of the men who took part in the landings.

Whilst no Royal Marine units landed on Sword Beach at the time, the beaches were cleared by clearance parties and crafts driven by Royal Marine personnel.

47 Commando are the amphibious experts and operate landing crafts on behalf of the Royal Marines.

"[Sword Beach] is actually one of the better landing beaches if you were an amphibious planner," added Maj Atkinson.

"However, the enemy is obviously quite well prepared.

"There was no Royal Marines landing in this area. It was done by 4 Army Commando."