Special Air Service

Special Air Service (SAS), British special forces unit formed in October 1941 by Lt David Stirling (1912–90) from members of Layforce. It came directly under the C-in-C Middle East, General Auchinleck, who was persuaded by Stirling that small groups of specially trained parachutists could wreak havoc among the Axis desert airfields before being exfiltrated by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG). Brigadier Dudley Clarke, who was in charge of deception in the Middle East, had just created a fictitious unit, 1st Special Air Service Brigade, to deceive the Germans into believing that a powerful airborne force existed in Egypt. To make the deception more convincing Stirling's unit, as ‘L Detachment’, was, notionally, made part of it. In fact, it was, initially, No. 2 Troop of Middle East Commando.

The LRDG and Stirling's men proved a successful combination. One of Stirling's officers, Paddy Mayne, destroyed 47 aircraft in a single night, possibly more than the RAF's highest-scoring fighter ace (‘Pat’ Pattle who shot down 40–50 aircraft), and Stirling's force was soon expanded to include Free French paratroopers. In November 1942, after it had become 1st SAS Regiment, the SAS also absorbed the Special Boat Section which, with a troop of the Greek Sacred Regiment, became 1st SAS's D Squadron in January 1943. A second regiment, 2nd SAS, raised by Stirling's eldest brother Bill, became operational in early 1943. Both regiments undertook sabotage and reconnaissance operations behind the Axis lines in the North African campaign, but after David Stirling was captured in February 1943 1st SAS was dissolved. D Squadron became the Special Boat Squadron, the other squadrons the Special Raiding Squadron (SRS), though both retained the SAS insignia and beret.

Both 2nd SAS and SRS fought in the Sicilian and Italian campaigns, mounting long-range penetration patrols and seaborne raids against German lines of communication. In early 1944 both returned to the UK to form a real SAS Brigade which comprised SRS (now called 1st SAS again), 2nd SAS, two French regiments, one Belgian squadron, and a squadron of the Phantom Regiment. On the night of the Normandy landings (see OVERLORD) ten SAS men executed TITANIC, part of a deception operation (FORTITUDE) that simulated major airborne landings. This distracted a German regiment away from OMAHA beach for the whole morning of 6 June. Thereafter members of the brigade established bases well behind German lines in France from which they attacked German lines of communication and relayed intelligence. Later, SAS units were also dropped into Belgium and the Netherlands, and some saw action with British and Canadian forces during the battle for Germany. In December 1944 a newly formed SAS squadron worked with Italian partisans and at the end of the war the brigade disarmed 300,000 German troops who were garrisoning Norway.

Bibliography

Hoe, A. , David Stirling (London, 1992).
Strawson, J. , A History of the SAS Regiment (London, 1984).