SBS – Silent Warriors: The Authorised Wartime History

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Just after midnight on April 12 1942, a single canoe, made of wood and canvas and known as a “folbot”, was lowered into the English Channel from a Royal Navy motor launch three miles from Boulogne. The two-man crew, Captain Gerald Montanaro and his paddler, Sergeant Freddie Preece, were equipped with their wits and eight limpet mines, each with a four-hour delay fuse. Their target: a 4,000-ton German tanker full of copper ore moored in Boulogne’s outer harbour. McNab tells me he "didn't want it to sound like a History Channel documentary", and it is certainly as refreshingly informal and compellingly immediate as his other books. It is incredibly refreshing to read of these fabulously daring missions: of men of astonishing courage blowing up bridges, surveying invasion beaches, sinking ships in harbour and making clandestine rendezvous with secret agents – all by canoe and midget submarine …This is a terrific book, written with all the gusto, thrills and heady excitement these SBS operations richly deserve. It really is one of the most enjoyable histories I’ve read in many a year’ Having provided his superiors with proof of concept ‑ by paddling up to and then sneaking aboard a heavily guarded ship in Inveraray harbour in the Scottish Highlands ‑ he was allowed to form the Folbot Troop, later renamed the Special Boat Section.

The book is told through the eyes of an SBS veteran with the moniker, 'Grey', who commands a Pinkie driven by 'Moth' and its HMG manned a U.S. SOF embed known as 'the dude'. Books introduce us to new worlds, exciting characters and possibilities that ignite our imagination. Whether it’s a dangerous Thriller that gets your heart racing, or a quirky debut with a distinct voice you just can’t put down; a great book can whisk you away somewhere new and stay with you for a lifetime. The book is a mix of chapters between planning/organizational and operations. I'd say 65% of the book was devoted to operations. And these are the star of the show.

Its members launched in flimsy canoes from submarines and operating at night, though a small force the SBS and its forerunners played a key role in landings in the Mediterranean and of course D-day. Falconer continues to write books and screenplays. In 2017 the film Stratton, [4] based on the main character of his books, was released. It stars Dominic Cooper as Stratton as well as Connie Nielsen, Derek Jacobi and Thomas Kretschmann. What a terrible, brutal conflict the Second World War was: some 60 million dead, cities laid waste, many more millions displaced, the horrors of the Holocaust and unspeakable misery. Saul David’s last book dealt with the ghastly Battle of Okinawa, probably the bloodiest most brutal battle of them all, so it is incredibly refreshing to read of these fabulously daring missions: of men of astonishing courage blowing up bridges, surveying invasion beaches, sinking ships in harbour and making clandestine rendezvous with secret agents – all by canoe and midget submarine. Each adventure is relayed with all the relish of a Commando comic. What a really enjoyable book! This is the history of the SBS, the Special BOAT Service, the Royal Marines' Special Forces. Whilst the Army's SAS, or Special Air Service, with their motto "Who Dares Wins" are the subject of a lot of press interest, and a slew of books, the SBS show their approach with their motto "Not By Strength, by Guile". This book helps to show how different roots led to the SBS, and their preference for stealth. And in the end one understands why Britain maintains two such distinct forces at such a high pitch. The social mobility of a 19-year-old infantry soldier is incredible because the military education is so good. I met one guy who learned to speak Pashto in three months says, McNab.

The operation is recounted in a superbly detailed way. Nicols focuses on several key characters and the reader follows them through the battle.

This is the story of the Special Boat Service in World War II. It spans 5 years from 1941 to 1945 and ranges across the Mediterranean to Normandy to South East Asia. The training regime in Courtney's SBS was brutal and relentless. One punishing exercise lasted three days and nights, remembered recruit Stan Weatherall, as they paddled the more than 80 miles across the Firth of Clyde where they "effected a landing at Craignish Point".

Despite battling heavy winds, a rising swell and a hole in their canoe (a gash they tried to stem with one of their Commando woolly hats), they managed to breach the defences of a major enemy port, having reached their target, set the mines, escaped again and rendezvoused with the launch only minutes before their canoe sank.Britain’s SBS – or Special Boat Section – was the world’s first maritime special operations unit. Founded in the dark days of 1940, it started as a small and inexperienced outfit that leaned heavily on volunteers’ raw courage and boyish enthusiasm. He must have been about 70 years old," recalled Courtney, "and had a brown leathery wiriness remarkable in a man of that age. He had come about 500 miles in a week, but he apologised mildly for being late; he stated that he had stopped once or twice along the coast to sample the seaweed." This is the sort of thing that keeps the adrenaline pumping for the 62-year-old McNab, along with adventurous expeditions. Two of Courtney's best operators were Lieutenant Robert "Tug" Wilson and Marine Wally Hughes who would, over eight months in 1941, execute a succession of daring operations.