2SAS

2023-10-12 History

Author : Gavin Mortimer
Release : 2023-10-12
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 724/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis 2SAS by : Gavin Mortimer

Download or read book 2SAS written by Gavin Mortimer. This book was released on 2023-10-12. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on recently declassified files and interviews with veterans, this is a fascinating history of Bill Stirling and 2SAS – pioneering founders of modern special forces. David Stirling is the name synonymous with the wartime SAS, but the real brains behind the operation was in fact Bill Stirling, David's eldest brother. Bill was described in the SAS War Diary as a 'man from the shadows'; it was an apt description for, unlike his attention seeking brother, Bill shunned the spotlight. Now for the first time the truth – and the triumph – of 2SAS is revealed. Having originally joined the SOE in March 1940, Bill Stirling sailed for Cairo in 1941 and there had the idea for a small special forces unit to be led by his mercurial brother. But despite some success, David allowed the legendary 1SAS to drift under his leadership. Following his capture, Bill re-directed 2SAS, under his personal command, to the strategy he had originally envisaged: parachuting behind enemy lines to gather intelligence. Fully illustrated with rare and previously unpublished photographs, this compelling history details how 2SAS fought with ingenuity and aggression, from Italy and then into France before heading through Holland into Germany. The unit was capable of attacking by parachute, jeep or landing craft, establishing a template for future special forces' operations. Their feats have been overshadowed by the many books that have focused on David and 1SAS. 2SAS corrects this oversight, revealing that the real innovator was Bill Stirling – the true pioneer of Who Dares Wins.

Rogue Heroes

2016-10-04 History

Author : Ben Macintyre
Release : 2016-10-04
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 178/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Rogue Heroes by : Ben Macintyre

Download or read book Rogue Heroes written by Ben Macintyre. This book was released on 2016-10-04. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible untold story of World War II’s greatest secret fighting force, as told by the modern master of wartime intrigue—now a limited series on Epix! “Reads like a mashup of The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape, with a sprinkling of Ocean’s 11 thrown in for good measure.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • “Rogue Heroes is a ripping good read.”—Washington Post (10 Best Books of the Year) Britain’s Special Air Service—or SAS—was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young aristocrat whose aimlessness belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a World War II battlefield map and saw a protracted struggle, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite men, he could parachute behind Nazi lines and sabotage their airplanes and supplies. Defying his superiors’ conventional wisdom, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself. Bringing his keen eye for detail to a riveting wartime narrative, Ben Macintyre uses his unprecedented access to the SAS archives to shine a light on a legendary unit long shrouded in secrecy.

David Stirling

2022-05-26 History

Author : Gavin Mortimer
Release : 2022-05-26
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 567/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis David Stirling by : Gavin Mortimer

Download or read book David Stirling written by Gavin Mortimer. This book was released on 2022-05-26. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aristocrat, gambler, innovator and special forces legend, the life of David Stirling should need no retelling. His formation of the Special Air Service in the summer of 1941 led to a new form of warfare and Stirling is remembered as the father of special forces soldiering. But was he really a military genius or in fact a shameless self-publicist who manipulated people, and the truth, for this own ends? In this gripping and controversial biography Gavin Mortimer analyses Stirling's complex character: the childhood speech impediment that shaped his formative years, the pressure from his overbearing mother, his fraught relationship with his brother, Bill, and the jealousy and inferiority he felt in the presence of his SAS second-in-command, the cold-blooded killer Paddy Mayne. Stirling lived until old age, receiving a knighthood and plaudits from military forces around the world before his death in 1990. Yet as Mortimer dazzlingly shows, while Stirling was instrumental in selling the SAS to Churchill and senior officers, it was Mayne who really carried the regiment in the early days. Stirling was at best an incompetent soldier and at worst a foolhardy one, who jeopardised his men's live with careless talk and hare-brained missions. Drawing on interviews with SAS veterans who fought with Stirling and men who worked with him on his post-war projects, and examining recently declassified governments files about Stirling's involvement in Aden, Libya and GB75, Mortimer's riveting biography is incisive, bold, honest and written with his customary narrative panache. Impeccably researched and with the courage to challenge the mythical SAS 'brand', Mortimer brings to bear his unparalleled expertise as WW2's premier special forces historian to dig beneath the legend and reveal the real David Stirling, a man who dared and deceived.

The SAS in World War II

2015-06-20 History

Author : Gavin Mortimer
Release : 2015-06-20
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 770/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The SAS in World War II by : Gavin Mortimer

Download or read book The SAS in World War II written by Gavin Mortimer. This book was released on 2015-06-20. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gripping history of the SAS in World War II, supported by a collection of rare images from the SAS Regimental Association. The SAS are among the best-trained and most effective Special Forces units in existence. This book is the incredible story of their origins, told in their own words. During the summer of 1941, a young Scots Guard officer called David Stirling persuaded MEHQ to give its backing to a small band of 60 men christened 'L Detachment'. With a wealth of stunning photographs, many from the SAS Regimental Association, the book captures the danger and excitement of the initial SAS raids against Axis airfields during the Desert War, the battles in Italy and those following the D-Day landings, as well as the dramatic final push into Germany itself and the discovery of such Nazi horrors as Belsen. An exhaustive account of an elite organization's formative years, The SAS in World War II is the fruit of Gavin Mortimer's expertise and his unprecedented access to the archives of the SAS Regimental Association. Incorporating interviews with the surviving veterans, it is the definitive account of the regiment's glorious achievements in the years from 1941 to 1945.

The Small Scale Raiding Force

2013-10-23 History

Author : Brian Lett
Release : 2013-10-23
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 949/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Small Scale Raiding Force by : Brian Lett

Download or read book The Small Scale Raiding Force written by Brian Lett. This book was released on 2013-10-23. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) was formed in February 1942 by Gus March Phillips with Major General Gubbins SOE European chief's approval. March-Phillips and his Maid of Honor Force had just had complete success with their operation (POSTMASTER) off West Africa.??Equipped with a specially adapted motor torpedo boat, the SSRF immediately started planning for operations. Op FROUDESLEY, with the aim of destroying the battleship Tirpitz ran into technical problems and was delayed but, in August and September, three daring cross Channel missions were successfully carried out without loss. The author describes these and the disastrous fourth operation (ACQUATINT) when all 10 SSRF men, including March-Phillips were killed or captured.??Despite this hammerblow, SSRF now commanded by Geoffrey Appleyard made two raids on Sark a week later. Again their story is fully told in this fascinating book along with those of three further 1942 raids.??Inter-service rivalry ('the war within') led to the break-up of the SSRF in early 1943. The Author describes the many colourful characters who made up this special force including Anders Lassen VC, Graham Hayes and Andre Desgranges, the Free Frenchman whom the Gestapo 'turned'.??This superbly researched book lifts the veil on a little known but highly effective special force unit and the gallant individuals who served in it.??As seen in Dorset Magazine.?Book of the Month - Britain at War Magazine, April 2014

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