Combined Operations Training Centre

The Combined Operations Training Centre, also known as No.1 Combined Training Centre, Inveraray was a military installation on the banks of Loch Fyne near Inveraray in Scotland.

Combined Operations Training Centre
Inveraray
One of the few remaining buildings at the Combined Operations Training Centre
Combined Operations Training Centre
Location within Argyll and Bute
Coordinates56.202°N 5.109°W / 56.202; -5.109
TypeTraining Centre
Site information
OwnerMinistry of Defence
Operator British Army
Site history
Built1940
Built forWar Office
In use1940-1946

History
A lecture at HMS Quebec in Inverary

The centre was established in October 1940.[1]

Each of the services had a presence at the centre, the army in the form of training staff specialising in the military engineering required for amphibious landings, the Navy in the form of HMS Quebec, a unit which trained staff in the use and maintenance of landing craft for such techniques and the air force in the form of RAF officers who could call on air support from No. 516 Squadron for training in such techniques.[1]

Around a quarter of a million troops trained at the centre prior to the D-Day landings. Some 30 senior officers, each with a staff vehicle and radio also took part in a top secret deception exercise to convince the Germans that a major sea assault was being prepared but could not be launched until at least September 1944.[1][2]

The centre closed in June 1946[1] and the site is now occupied by a caravan park.[3]

Commandants

Commandants were as follows:

References
  1. "No. 1 Combined Operations Training Centre". Combined Operations. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  2. "Major General Desmond Mangham - obituary". Daily Telegraph. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  3. "Loch Fyne, Dalchenna, Combined Operations Training Centre, HMS Quebec, Kilbride Camp". Canmore. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  4. "Inveraray in Wartime". Combined Operations. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  5. "Sir John Laurie, 6th Baronet". The Peerage. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
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