2SAS: Bill Stirling and the forgotten special forces unit of World War II

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Urban, Mark (19 January 2012). "Inside story of the UK's secret mission to beat Gaddafi". Newsnight. BBC. Broadcast 18 January 2012 BBC2 . Retrieved 25 January 2021.

The last recorded meeting between Mayne and Stirling was at an SAS reunion in December 1947 in London; a reporter from the Observer newspaper was present and wrote of Mayne that his ‘immense charm and cunning could only be compared to his mountainous physical proportions’. He described Stirling as ‘a sleepy imperturbable Scot’. Nations around the world particularly wanted a counter-terrorism capability like the SAS. The Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Office often loan out training teams from the Regiment, particularly to the Gulf States to train bodyguard teams now focused on CT. The Regiment has also had a long-standing association with the US Army's Delta Force, with the two units often having swapped techniques and tactics, as well as conducting joint training exercises in North America and Europe. Other nations' CT units developed close ties with the Regiment, including the Australian SAS, New Zealand SAS, GSG 9 and GIGN. [81] Saxon, Wolfgang (6 November 1990). "Sir David Stirling, 74, the Founder of Britain's Elite Commando Unit". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved 1 February 2017.In 1942, a downtrodden Britain desperately needed a hero. The widespread respect – even grudgingly – enjoyed in Britain by charismatic General Erwin Rommel, the commander of Hitler’s Afrika Korps, was a source of particular frustration to Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In March 2018, SAS Sergeant Matt Tonroe was killed in a blast in Manbij, northern Syria during an anti- Islamic State mission while embedded with Seal Team 6. An investigation concluded that Tonroe had been killed by the accidental detonation of explosives carried by coalition forces. [184] [185] Libya (2014–present) [ edit ] Jellicoe, George (2004). "Mayne, Robert Blair (1915–1955)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.

Macintyre, Ben (2016). Rogue heroes: the history of the SAS, Britain's secret special forces unit that sabotaged the Nazis and changed the nature of war (Firsted.). New York. ISBN 9781101904169. OCLC 934676482. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link) The first task was to select the officers, and among Bill’s choices was Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne, star Irish rugby player and, now, exemplary soldier. Mayne had the measure of David Stirling within minutes of meeting him. They both knew Stirling would command L Detachment in name only. Psychologically, Mayne would lead. Bill knew David did not have it in him to lead a guerrilla unit by example. a b c d e f Macintyre, Ben (2016). Rogue Warriors. New York: Crown Publishing Group. pp.48–49, 143–146, 149–154. ISBN 978-1-101-90416-9. the other units were A Squadron, which had been formed from 100 local volunteers mostly ex Second World War SAS and Chindits and C Squadron formed from volunteers from Rhodesia, the so-called 'Happy Hundred'. By 1956 the Regiment had been enlarged to five squadrons with the addition of D Squadron and the Parachute Regiment Squadron. [28] [29] After three years service the Rhodesians returned home and were replaced by a New Zealand squadron. [30] In mid-January 2006, Operation Paradoxical was replaced by Operation Traction: the SAS update/integration into JSOC, they deployed TGHG (Task Group Headquarters Group): this included senior officers and other senior members of 22 SAS – to JSOCs base at Balad. This was the first deployment of TGHG to Iraq since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the upgrade now meant that the SAS were "joined at the hip" with JSOC and it gave the SAS a pivotal role against Sunni militant groups, particularly AQI [164] In March 2006, members of B squadron SAS were involved in the release of peace activists Norman Kember, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden. The three men had been held hostage in Iraq for 118 days during the Christian Peacemaker hostage crisis. [165] in April 2006 B squadron, launched Operation Larchwood 4 which was an intelligence coup which led to the death of AQI's leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In November 2006, Sergeant Jon Hollingsworth was killed in Basra whilst assaulting a house containing a senior al-Qaeda member; he was decorated for his service in this unit. [166] On 20 March 2007 G squadron raided a house in Basra and captured Qais Khazali; a senior Shia militant and an Iranian proxy, his brother and Ali Mussa Daqduq, without casualties. The raid turned out to be most significant raid conducted by British forces in Iraq, gaining valuable intelligence on Iranian involvement in the Shia insurgency. During the Spring and summer of 2007, the SAS suffered several men seriously wounded as it extended its operations into Sadr City. [167] From 2007 to early 2008, A squadron achieved "extraordinary" success impact in destroying al-Qaeda's VIBED network in Iraq, ultimately saving lives. [168] In early 2008, B squadron carried out the regiments first HAHO parachute assault in Iraq. [169] In May 2008, the SAS replaced their Humvee's for new Bushmaster armoured vehicles. [170] On 30 May 2009, Operation Crichton; the UKSF deployment to Iraq ended, [171] over the course of the war, 6 SAS soldiers were killed and a further 30 injured. [172] Somalia and Yemen [ edit ]After the war, the SAS were disbanded only to be reformed as a Territorial Army regiment, which then led onto the formation of the regular army 22 SAS Regiment. The SAS has taken part in most of the United Kingdom's wars since then. [1] Second World War [ edit ] SAS patrol in North Africa during the Second World War in SAS jeeps. In August 1974, before Stirling was ready to go public with GB75, the pacifist magazine Peace News obtained and published his plans. [25] His biographer Alan Hoe disputed the newspaper's disparaging portrayal of Stirling as a right-wing ' Colonel Blimp'. [26] Undermining trades unionism [ edit ]

Hattersley, Giles (4 March 2007). "Playboy trying to keep the kingdom united". The Times . Retrieved 1 February 2021. Agreement was a joint operation by the SAS and the LRDG who had to seize an inlet at Mersa Sciausc for the main force to land by sea. The SAS successfully evaded enemy defences assisted by German-speaking members of the Special Interrogation Group and captured Mersa Sciausc. The main landing failed, being met by heavy machine gun fire forcing the landing force and the SAS/LRDG force to surrender. [10] Operation Anglo, a raid on two airfields on the island of Rhodes, from which only two men returned. Destroying three aircraft, a fuel dump and numerous buildings, the surviving SBS men had to hide in the countryside for four days before they could reach the waiting submarine. [11] [Note 1] 1943 [ edit ] Jennings, Christian (2013). Bosnia's Million Bones: Solving the World's Greatest Forensic Puzzle. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1137278685. Revealed: Ryan Gosling is the most DANGEROUS name to search online - while looking up Emily Blunt or Jennifer Lopez could also land you in hot waterHe also kept a paternal eye on them away from the battlefield. The anecdote that in my view encapsulates Mayne was told to me by Bob Francis, a 21-year-old when he joined the SAS in early 1944. By the start of March 1941, the Allies believed they had all but won the desert war. In two months General Richard O’Connor’s Western Desert Force (subsequently the Eighth Army) had beaten an army of four corps during an advance of 500 miles, capturing 13,000 Italians, 400 tanks and 1,290 field guns. The Desert War in Libya was in the balance but Bill saw how a small guerrilla force could launch hit and run raids against the Germans deep inside their territory. Obituary – Major Alastair McGregor". The Daily Telegraph. London. 3 October 2002 . Retrieved 19 March 2010.