The British SAS catch all

[davidbfpo]

Prompted by a full review (the second link) of this newly published volume set here is the author's explanation:

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:

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/

[davidbfpo]

A NYT review of Ben McIntyre's book 'Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS', which covers their birth in WW2:

...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.