Band of brothers: remembering the fallen soldiers of the SAS
France maybe the focus here, then you read this:
Quote:
During its five-year cycle of remembrance, the regiment lays 371 wreaths at memorials and individual graves in 20 countries, commemorating 493 casualties sustained during the Second World War and in post-war operations. There are 100 casualties commemorated in France, and monuments adorn places as distant as Sarawak in northern Borneo and the Silent Valley of South Yemen.
Living up to their motto 'Who Dares Wins' after D-Day:
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he squadron did not parachute their way into Occupied France, as the men involved in Loyton did, but simply drove their 20 Jeeps through enemy lines in darkness as the Battle of Normandy raged about them. For 250 miles they journeyed, in British uniform, through the heart of enemy territory, often in broad daylight.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/w...f-the-SAS.html
The SAS and LRDG Roll of Honour 1941-47
Prompted by a full review (the second link) of this newly published volume set here is the author's explanation:
Quote:
A seminal project that brings together the moving stories of every Special Air Service and Long Range Desert Group casualty of the Second World War. Meticulously and passionately researched over 13 years, this exhaustive work is a unique combination of operational reports, personal service records and medal citations, all given colour and depth through correspondence with next of kin and the recollections of those that were there. Lavishly illustrated, with many photographs published for the first time, it celebrates the extraordinary and largely unreported bravery of 374 casualties now commemorated in seventeen countries.
Link:http://www.sas-lrdg-roh.com/index.html
The review article starts with some history of their first mission:
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Exhausted and filthy, the soldiers of the newly-formed SAS stand side-by-side in the desert. Hours earlier, an abortive raid had seen more than half their comrades either killed or captured, but the men of the soon-to-be-famous force still manage to raise a grin. The newly-discovered photograph from 1941 is the only known picture of the elite unit’s first ever raid, carried out by founder members known as the Originals.
Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016...th-of-the-sas/
Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS
A NYT review of Ben McIntyre's book 'Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS', which covers their birth in WW2:
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...this volume features an ensemble of eccentrics, mavericks and malcontents. And, in this case, one visionary, David Stirling, who invented an elite commando unit that would become the prototype for a new kind of modern warfare...
Link:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/bo...acintyre.html?
The book awaits attention here, so one day my review.
In those days there were the true experts, Michael Sadler and his navigation skills, so necessary to get the SAS in their initial airbase raiding mode across the desert.