Nu-mi sta in obicei sa ma bag in discutiile privind fortele speciale, daramite sa mai si deschid un topic, insa la rugamintea insistenta a lui SAS fac o exceptie de aceasta data.
Si cum toata lumea foloseste wikipedia, extrag de acolo citeva elemente...
The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces regiment within the British Army which has served as a model for the special forces of other countries.The SAS forms a significant section of United Kingdom Special Forces alongside the Special Boat Service (SBS), Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), and the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG). The SAS gained fame and recognition world wide after the Iranian Embassy Storming (or Operation Nimrod) in 1980 which was one of the first of its kind and was broadcast live all over the globe.The Special Air Service is divided into two distinct parts: the 22 Regiment Special Air Service, the regular regiment of the SAS, which is the unit associated with most well-known SAS operations; and two Territorial Army units: the 21 Regiment Special Air Service and 23 Regiment Special Air Service.
History
The SAS was a unit of the British Army during World War II formed in 1941 by David Stirling as a commando force operating behind enemy lines during the war in North Africa and Europe. It was officially disbanded on November 30, 1946. In 1947 the Artists Rifles regiment was remodelled as the nucleus of the reformed Special Air Service.
Function
Current SAS roles are believed to include: Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) activities in support of UK government Foreign Policy Counter-terrorism operations inside UK territory in conjunction with police forces Counter-terrorism operations outside UK territory Training soldiers of other nations, and training guerillas in unconventional warfare Capture of subjects of interest Intelligence collection in the battlespace Battlespace preparation by sabotage and offensive raids in the enemy territory and within key enemy structures
Organisation
The Special Air Service is a Corps of the British Army under the United Kingdom legal system which authorises the raising of military forces and comprises three battalion-sized units, one Regular and two Territorial Army (TA). Each is styled as a 'regiment' in accordance with British Army practice; 22 Regiment SAS being the Regular unit and 21 Regiment SAS (Artists) and 23 Regiment SAS being the TA units, known together as the Special Air Service (Reserve) or SAS(R).
Each Regiment comprises a number of "Sabre" Squadrons with some supporting functions being undertaken within 22 SAS; Headquarters, Planning, and Intelligence Section, Operational Research Section, Counter Revolutionary Warfare Wing, and Training Wing. ('Sabre' Squadrons are so called to distinguish the operational squadrons from administrative or HQ squadrons.)
The Squadrons also rotate through the CRW Wing (originally designated "Pagoda") and are relieved every six – nine months. The squadron is split up into two combined troops, "Red" and "Blue", with each troop made up of an assault group and a sniper team. Though the counter-terrorist teams are based at RHQ in Credenhill, a specialist eight-man team is based within the outer London region (4, south London border & 4, north London border/Hertfordshire). This team rapidly responds to any situation in London as required.
The three regiments have different roles: 21 SAS and 23 SAS - to provide depth to the UKSF group through the provision of Individual and collective augmentation to the regular component of UKSF and standalone elements up to task group (Regimental) level focused on support and influence (S&I) operations to assist conflict stabilisation. 22 SAS - Medium and deep battlespace ISTAR and offensive operations, Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW), Counter-Terrorism (CT), close protection and defence diplomacy.
Each TA Squadron and the Honourable Artillery Company, includes attached regular personnel as Permanent Staff Instructors - a ruling established by the then Brigadier Peter de la Billière, as Director SAS, specifying that promotion within the Regiment for any officer or senior NCO would be predicated on experience with the SAS(R).[citation needed]. In the 1980s and 1990s the SAS provided the Commanding Officer and some directing staff for the NATO International Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol School (ILRRPS)based at Weingarten and then Pfullendorf as well as men for the British Army Jungle Warfare Training School in Brunei.
The SAS was formerly garrisoned at Stirling Lines (formerly Bradbury Lines) 52°2′20.85″N 2°43′10.67″W, Hereford which was named after the founder of the regiment, Sir David Stirling. Stirling Lines relocated to the former RAF Hereford station in Credenhill in 1999.
Sabre squadron
'Sabre' Squadrons in 22 SAS are organised as four specialised Troops, although personnel are broadly skilled in all areas following 'Selection' and 'Continuation' training. Within each troop there is also a HQ element which comprises of officers and support staff. The specialised troop provide a focus for particular skill sets and personnel may move between Troops over the length of a career. 21 and 23 SAS do not so distinguish. Each sabre squadron contains about 60 men and each troop has about 16 "troopers" who are led by a Captain.
Air troop
Air Troop personnel specialise in airborne insertion from fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft (although all SAS personnel are somewhat trained in this area). Leaving the aircraft at high altitude personnel are capable of delivering personnel and equipment into the deep battlespace far beyond the forward edge of battle area in support of their ISTAR or offensive operations.
Personnel are trained in three principal forms of parachute infiltration; Basic static line, High Altitude, Low Opening (HALO) and High Altitude, High Opening (HAHO). HALO insertions involve a long free fall followed by canopy opening at low level, about 2,000 feet (600 m), leaving the operator exposed to detection and fire for the minimum possible period. The aircraft must overfly in the vicinity of the Drop Zone to effect delivery, risking a compromise to the mission should it be detected. HAHO insertions allow the aircraft to deliver the operators from a significantly greater range from the Drop Zone, thus reducing risk of mission compromise. Operators leave the aircraft and immediately deploy a canopy which allows a long glide over great distance. To avoid hypoxia, the parachutists are provided with an oxygen supply to survive the depleted air at high altitude and warm clothing protects from the extreme environmental conditions.
Boat troop
Boat Troop personnel specialise in water-borne insertion techniques. Personnel are trained in diving using Open and Closed Circuit breathing systems, sub-surface navigation skills, approaching the shore or vessels underway and the delivery of maritime demolition charges. Much of this training is undertaken with the Special Boat Service.
One of the main forms of transportation is the Klepper canoe. The first SAS folding boats were designed during the Second World War for use by Commandos, based on existing designs. The German Klepper has been in service since the 1960s. Other transportation methods include the Gemini inflatable, used primarily for sending small groups of soldiers onto a shore undetected, and the fibreglass hulled Rigid Raiders - fast patrol boats which are larger and can carry more personnel or cargo ashore. Entry to the water is also achieved from rotary wing aircraft and by parachute drop. In case of the former, the helicopter hovers around 50 feet (15 m) above the water and personnel simply jump out. Airborne entry to the water carries a significant risk to equipment with weapons and other equipment sealed using a dry bag.
Deployment from submarines is also taught. Submarine egress bears a high risk given the effect of pressure at depth (nitrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity), the cold, and the risks inherent in the use of mechanical breathing aids while underwater.
Mobility troop
Mobility Troop personnel specialise in vehicle insertion techniques, similar to those of the Long Range Desert Group of the Second World War and allows a more sustainable patrol in the medium to deep battlespace but create logistical and force protection challenges.
Personnel are required to gain skills in vehicle maintenance across the range of vehicles used by the Regiment, particularly whilst on patrol with limited opportunity for combat support. Vehicles include the Jackal (MWMIK), Land Rovers, Supacat HMT, Honda 350 cc Quad Bike, CRF450X, and the Honda 250 cc motorbike.
Mountain troop
Mountain troops' personnel specialise in the conduct of operations at high altitude and in mountainous terrain, requiring advanced skills in climbing, ice climbing, skiing and cold weather survival. Training is conducted in deserts and mountain ranges around the world. Those members that show particular aptitude are seconded to the German Army where they undertake the 18-month long Alpine Guides course in Bavaria. A number of members from the mountain troops have participated in major military and civilian expeditions to some of the world's highest peaks although this has not been without loss.
Security
All UK military personnel are bound by the Official Secrets Act and undergo various levels of vetting. Special Forces personnel are required to be cleared to higher levels than many.
Following a number of high-profile book releases about the Regiment, candidates for selection are required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, in addition to their duties under the Official Secrets Act. Ex-members of the Regiment who wrote exposés prior to the introduction of the agreement have used pseudonyms, such as Andy McNab and Chris Ryan. Books in the genre include both non-fiction and fictional accounts based on the experiences of the author.
The British Government has a standing policy of not discussing the SAS or its operations and makes few official announcements concerning their activities. When reports of military operations are given there is usually no mention of SAS, or other Special Forces, involvement. Since the inception of the British D-Notice system for the British Press during the Second World War any mention of Special Air Service operations has been one of the cautionary or non-disclosure categories of reporting.
Medals awarded to personnel are publicised in the normal manner and officially and formally via The London Gazette. However the individual's original parent Corps or Regiment, if they have such, is attributed as a matter of fact which sometimes provides security cover. The circumstances surrounding personnel killed in action are not routinely disseminated. Before 2006 three officers have been recommended for the VC: two during the Second World War and one during the Falklands. Only one has been awarded; to Major Anders Lassen, MC**, killed in Italy in 1945 when he was commanding a squadron of the Special Boat Service. His grave marker bears the badge of the Regiment because the SBS in which he served continued to wear this as their cap badge, and was considered part of the 'SAS family' even though it was a separate regiment, commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel and formed out of the Special Boat Squadron of 1 SAS.
Free French SAS Memorial in Sennecey-le-Grand, France
The SAS was raised by then Lieutenant Archibald David Stirling, (a Supplementary Reserve officer of the Scots Guards) during World War II as 'L' Detachment, SAS Brigade,[1] (so named from August 24, 1941) adding to the pre-existing 'J' and 'K' Detachments of the notional Special Air Service Brigade. Given the acting rank of Captain by the Commander in Chief, Middle East Forces and an initial authorised strength of 68 All Ranks, Stirling's No 1 Special Service Unit was originally created as an all volunteer airborne force to conduct raids and sabotage far behind enemy lines in the desert on the model of a concept worked out by Lieutenant John Steel Lewes. Lewes, an experienced Weapons Training Instructor with the Welsh Guards prior to service with No. 8 Commando, became the Detachment's first chief instructor. 'L' Detachment operated in conjunction with the pre-existing Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Guy Lenox Prendergast, Royal Tank Regiment (who later became Deputy Commander of the SAS Brigade in North West Europe in 1944)[N]. Stirling (also formerly of No. 3 and 8 Commando) selected recruits by personal interview and recruited from the disbanding Layforce and from officers and men of other units of the British Army stationed in Egypt awaiting posting at the Infantry Base Depot at Geneifa. The name ‘Special Air Service’ was used as a part of a deception operation (Operation Abeam; mounted by the specialist deception organisation 'A' Force) to suggest that Britain had increased its airborne forces capabilities over and above the single 11 SAS Bn then in existence.
The unit also adopted the basic rank style of parachutist, abbreviated 'Pct', which continued in use until succeeded by trooper, abbreviated 'Tpr' from 1944. On June 30, 1984, at the opening of the new SAS base at Stirling Lines, Hereford, Sir David Stirling declared in his opening speech, published in his authorised biography:
"... I have always felt uneasy in being known as the founder of the Regiment. To ease my conscience I would like it to be recognised that I have five co-founders: Jock Lewes and 'Paddy' Blair Mayne of the original 'L' Detachment, SAS; Georges Bergé, whose unit of the Free French joined the SAS in June 1942; Brian Franks, who re-established 21 SAS Regiment after the SAS had been disbanded at the end of the Second World War; and John Woodhouse who created the modern 22 SAS Regiment during the Malayan campaign by restoring the Regiment to its original philosophy. ..."
This reiterated his view expressed years earlier in a 1942 condolence letter to Lewes's father (Lewes was killed during an operation in December, 1941) first published in 1995 in Joy Street: A Wartime Romance in Letters: "'Jock could far more genuinely claim to be the founder of the SAS than I."
Their only operation in North Africa inserted by parachute, Operation Squatter, commenced on the moonless night of November 16–17 1941 in a single option mission to secure air superiority for the British 8th Army 24 hours before the commencement of the army main offensive Operation Crusader. Five Bristol Bombay aircraft of No. 216 Squadron, Royal Air Force, carrying 54 All Ranks of the Detachment attempted a clandestine night drop with statichutes on two DZs adjacent to the Axis airfields at Gazala (three aircraft) and Timimi (two aircraft) behind enemy lines in support of General Sir Claude Auchinleck’s offensive. Forecast, but discounted, adverse weather conditions with winds gusting to Force 7-8, wrecked the insertion plan, the men and their equipment and the mission was aborted with the loss of one aircraft, its crew, a GHQ Army observer officer, and SAS casualties of five killed and 28 prisoner of war. Only 21 out of 54 effectives reached the agreed rendezvous point with Easonsmith's Patrol of the LRDG. (Of the dead, Pct David Keith, Scots Guards, was killed at sea as a prisoner of war when the Italian ship he was being transported on to Italy was torpedoed by a British submarine. Of the other prisoners of war, seven were released at the Armistice with Italy in 1943 and two, Pct. James ("Jim") Blakeney [not Joseph. Info confirmed by his sister Joan Holland in 2009 and by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission LINK entry for him, service number 2660354 then of 1 SAS], Coldstream Guards, and Pct Roy David Davies, Welsh Guards, were killed together on April 8, 1945 on Operation Archway.)
Stirling subsequently managed to organise another surreptitious assault against the Axis airfields at Agedabia, Sirte and Agheila, this time transported by the LRDG in support of Bencol operations aimed at the capture of Benghazi. They destroyed a large number of enemy aircraft without a single casualty although the claims for aircraft destroyed on the ground do not correlate well with Axis operational records. [N] Fitzroy Maclean, supposedly one of the inspirations for James Bond, describes in his memoir Eastern Approaches the two raids he undertook to Benghazi. Both involved driving with the LRDG from Alexandria or Cairo. The first was with Stirling and Randolph Churchill, son of the prime minister, and, although it had been intended as a raid, became reconnaissance only. The second was a full-scale assault.
Later redesignated 1 Special Air Service Regiment, known in abbreviated form as '1 SAS', from the notional date of 21 September, 1941 (When the Detachment was actually on Operation Bigamy.) David Stirling's elder brother 'Bill' or William Joseph Stirling, a Regular Army Reserve officer of the Scots Guards also raised a second regiment, again known, in abbreviated form as '2 SAS', from a detachment of the Small Scale Raiding Force or SSRF also designated for cover reasons as No. 62 Commando.
During the desert war, the SAS performed many successful and daring long range insertion missions and destroyed aircraft and fuel depots. Their success contributed towards Adolf Hitler issuing his Kommandobefehl order to execute all captured enemy personnel of the type now commonly known as Special Forces. When the Germans stepped up security, the SAS switched to hit-and-run tactics. They used jeeps, which had been sent over to North Africa, armed with Vickers K machine guns (although this feature was part of the SAS’s modifications of the vehicles) and used tracer ammunition and Lewes bombs to ignite fuel and aircraft.
David Stirling — who was by that time sometimes referred to as the “Phantom Major” by German controlled radio, was captured in January 1943 and he spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war, escaping numerous times before being moved to the supposedly 'escape proof' Colditz Castle. Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne Royal Ulster Rifles, TA subsequently took command of 1 SAS after an interim period when 1 SAS was commanded by Lt Col Henry J. 'Kid' Cator, MC, Royal Scots Greys. 'Bill' or William Joseph Stirling, Scots Guards (Subsequently William Joseph Stirling of Keir on the death of his father) was succeeded in command of 2 SAS by Brian Morton Franks, Middlesex Yeomanry, TA who subsequently re-raised the SAS in the post-war British Army.
The SAS were used in the invasion of Italy. At the toe of Italy, they took the first prisoners of the campaign,[citation needed] before heading deeper into Italy. At one point, four groups were active deep behind enemy lines laying waste to airfields, attacking convoys and derailing trains. Towards the end of the campaign, Italian guerrillas and escaped Russian prisoners were enlisted into an ‘Allied SAS Battalion’[2] , which struck at Kesselring’s main lines of communications. In 1945, Major Roy Farran made one of the most effective raids of the war. His force raided the German Fifth Corps headquarters, burning the buildings to the ground and killing the General and some of his staff.
SAS men were inserted into France in 9-man 'sticks' from the Normandy Invasion to help maquisards of the French Resistance. The 4 SAS (French) participated to Operation Dingson and Operation Samwest and was the first allied troop to be dropped for the Invasion of Normandy [3]. In a reversal of their by now customary tactics, SAS often travelled during the day when Allied fighter bombers drove enemy traffic off the roads, and then ambushed enemy troops moving in convoy under the cover of darkness.[citation needed] In Operation Houndsworth, 144 SAS effectives parachuted with jeeps and supplies into Dijon, France. During and after D-Day they continued their raids against fuel depots, communications centres and railways. They did suffer casualties - at one stage the Germans, under the Commando Order, executed 34 SAS soldiers and a US Air Force pilot who were captured while participating in Operation Bulbasket. At the end of the war, an SAS War Crimes Investigation Team, commanded by Major Eric Alistair 'Bill' Barkworth Somerset Light Infantry TA (Subsequently AAC) of 2 SAS traced all the SS and Gestapo personnel responsible for these killings and handed them over to the Allied authorities for trial as war criminals.[N] By that time, the SAS in the UK had been expanded to five battalion sized units, known according to British practice as regiments, of which two were French (known as 3 SAS and 4 SAS) and one Belgian (known as 5 SAS). In the Middle East the other SAS units were the Special Boat Service (Disbanded on August 15, 1945) commanded by Lieutenant Colonel David George Carr Sutherland, Black Watch who was appointed CO of 21 SAS May 10, 1956 - January 1, 1960 (not to be confused with the identically named Special Boat Service operating from the UK, or in the Far East where they were predominantly manned by the Royal Marines, or the Special Balkans Service of the OSS) and the separate and single mission regiment known, for cover and deception purposes, as No 1 Italian Special Air Service Regiment with all volunteer personnel drawn from the Italian Co-Belligerent Nembo and Folgore units. An American Special Air Service Regiment had been mooted by the US Army command element at 18 Army Group HQ but, in the event, was never formed due to American antipathy to the idea.
About 2,500 individuals served with the SAS and SBS (SAS) in World War II; from 1944 specially selected volunteers from the Auxiliary Units of the Home Guard were included in this figure as well as a small number of women who crewed the 'DZ cover' ambulances in the UK.
1946 - 1979
The War Office disbanded the UK based British SAS regiments on the notional date of November 30, 1946. The French and the Belgians were returned to their own authorities; the French on October 1, 1945 and the Belgians on September 21, 1945. The British SAS were re-raised as Territorial Army unit 21 SAS on May 1, 1947. In April 1948, however, the Malayan Races Liberation Army began an insurrection which transformed into the Malayan Emergency. Two years later former Brigadier Mike Calvert, RE now in the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel re-created an SAS type commando unit similar to jungle troops like the Chindits which he had once commanded. Personnel from a specially formed squadron, known as 'K', of 21 SAS were redeployed from the Korean War[citation needed] and sent to Malaya to join Calvert's unit, some of whom were recruited from personnel of the original SAS, other units and Rhodesia. The unit name "Malayan Scouts" was incorporated with the title SAS as SAS (Malayan Scouts).
Training new recruits took time. They learned tracking skills from Iban soldiers from Borneo. They began to patrol in teams of 2 or 4 men. Less than sanitary conditions forced them to learn first aid. They also learned local languages and respect for the local customs and culture. Patrol periods in the jungle were progressively extended to three months. Soldiers unsuitable for jungle warfare were RTU'd (Returned to Unit). At that stage some troopers were armed with pump-action shotguns. They also earned the respect of some of the indigenes by helping them. By the end of 1955 there were five SAS squadrons in Malaya. They stayed in mopping up operations until the end of 1958.
Many other missions followed. The SAS fought anti-sultan rebels in Jebel Akhdar, Oman in 1958-1959. They fought Indonesian-supported "guerillas" during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation in Borneo, Brunei and Sarawak in 1963-1966. They also tried to pacify the situation in Aden in 1964-1967 before the withdrawal of British troops. They fought against another insurrection in Dhofar, Oman in 1970-1977. SAS soldiers were involved, secretly, in the South Asia conflict in the early to mid 1970s.
Most of these deployments were deniable and covert. Membership, missions and the whole existence of the SAS became more secret. The SAS's role was expanded to bodyguard (BG) training and Counter-Terrorism (CT) work. They also began to work in civilian clothes on missions unless they could use the uniforms of some other unit as a disguise. The British Secretary of State for Defence still does not discuss the SAS or its operations.
1980 - 2001
SAS troopers parachute from a C-130 Hercules to land in the water near HMS Cardiff during the Falklands War
On 30 April, 1980, six Iranian terrorists took over the Iranian Embassy in Princes Gate, London. After six days of unsuccessful negotiations and one hostage's murder, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered an assault. At 19:26 on Monday 5 May, the SAS went in. More than thirty effectives entered the building, including some who went in across the now famous balcony broadcast live by the BBC. A diversionary attack was staged and other men went in through the ground floor. One hostage was killed by the terrorists, but within minutes the terrorist threat had been eliminated, with five of the six having been killed and one captured. Of the original 26 hostages, 24 were safe. The operation was hailed as a great success and was to change the way the public viewed the regiment.
During the Falklands War of 1982, SAS teams worked alongside the Special Boat Service (SBS) in many operations before the main force landings at San Carlos and after the landings ahead of the Forward Edge of Battle Area (FEBA). These included operations in South Georgia, guiding Harrier strike aircraft attacks on Stanley airport to destroy Argentine helicopters, and the destruction of eleven Pucará attack aircraft on Pebble Island, known as the Raid on Pebble Island. During the war, 22 SAS, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Mike Rose, had its own voice satellite communications to the UK which was utilised on one occasion by a press reporter, Max Hastings, given exceptional access, to file a 'scoop': a matter which was subsequently raised in Parliament.
Throughout the 1980s, the SAS helped train Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, mostly in the use of land mines, as well as psy-ops.
In 1987, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered an SAS team into the high-security prison at Peterhead, Scotland. A rebellion by inmates had resulted in one of the prison officers being taken captive. The soldiers were armed with staves and entered the building by way of a skylight. After subduing the inmates with what was called a "hard arrest", which was violent but disciplined and in this case caused no injury, the SAS team freed the prison officer and the operation ended. Some time after the incident, the Prison Service relaxed its zero tolerance attitude to drug use in that prison.
Some soldiers (officially former members of the Regiment) fought in the Vietnam War training US Combat Tracker Teams 1965-1971 and helped the Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. There was also official SAS training of Mujahideen in Scotland in the 1980s, with particular emphasis on shooting down Soviet-made helicopters with American-made FIM-92 Stinger, man-portable surface-to-air missiles. Some ex-members have also become mercenaries or private military contractors.
During Gulf War 1991, the SAS were deployed deep into Iraqi territory to gather intelligence and track mobile Scud missile launchers. The most famous of these patrols was Bravo Two Zero, popularised by books written under pseudonyms by three patrol members. Discovered by the local Iraqis, the patrol attempted to make the Syrian border on foot, but became separated. Four members of the patrol were captured and three died during action. Only one member, Chris Ryan escaped to Syria. The first two accounts published by patrol members were widely criticised by members of the SAS such as Peter Ratcliffe and Michael Asher.
In September 2000, members of 'D' Squadron were tasked with the hostage rescue of six members of the Royal Irish Regiment and one Sierra Leonean Corporal in Sierra Leone. The operation was named Operation Barras. The soldiers had been taken hostage by the West Side Boys, led by Foday Kallay, and were held in the dense jungle in western Sierra Leone. Alongside the SAS, members of the SBS and A Company of 1st Battalion, the Parachute Regiment fought in the battle. Twelve British soldiers were wounded in the operation and one SAS Lance Corporal was killed. The operation was a success and many rebel leaders were captured; not long after, the West Side Boys had been all been defeated.
2002 - present
After the 11 September 2001 attacks, the SAS were involved in operations in Afghanistan. Operation TRENT employed a proportion of the Regiment in a successful attack on an $85,000,000 opium storage plant in Helmand province, which doubled as an Al-Qaeda local command centre. SAS members also participated in the Battle of Tora Bora with their American counterparts.
On January 30, 2005, an RAF Hercules crashed near Baghdad after being shot down by rockets fired by guerillas, killing ten British servicemen. The plane had just dropped off fifty members of 'G' Squadron north of Baghdad for an operation to combat the increased insurgency.
On 19 September, 2005, two supposed SAS (now thought to be Special Reconnaissance Regiment) members were arrested in Basra in Iraq. Iraqi police claimed the two were arrested trying to plant bombs dressed in civilian clothing and had shot at police officers. The arrests sparked clashes in which British armoured personnel carriers came under attack from petrol bombs. Later, official Iraqi sources said that British armoured personnel carriers knocked down a wall storming the city's jail and rescuing the soldiers. The British Ministry of Defence initially said that the men's release was negotiated and the armoured personnel carriers were merely trying to collect them. They later, however, claimed that the police had illegally handed the men over to Shi'a militia and it was from these that they had to be rescued.
On 23 March 2006 'B' Squadron, 22 SAS assisted in an operation to free British hostage Norman Kember from a town north of Baghdad in Iraq.
In October 2008, Major Sebastian Morley, commander of some Territorial Army SAS troops in Afghanistan, resigned over what he described as "gross negligence" on the part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) that contributed to the deaths of four British troops under his command. Morley stated that the MoD's failure to properly equip his troops with adequate equipment forced them to use lightly armoured Snatch Land Rovers to travel around Afghanistan. In June 2008 a Land Rover transporting Corporal Sarah Bryant and SAS soldiers Corporal Sean Reeve and Lance Corporals Richard Larkin and Paul Stout hit a mine in Helmand province, killing all four.
Northern Ireland
The Regiment was deployed to Northern Ireland from the early stages of what became known as 'The Troubles', starting in 1969. The SAS initially operated as an openly uniformed regiment, wearing their distinctive sand-coloured beret with the winged dagger cap badge, later they assumed a more undercover posture and focused on counter-terrorism operations. Initial detail of this deployment have been routinely released to general public scrutiny on January 1, 2007 in files held at the National Archives of the United Kingdom.
Over the course of the Troubles the SAS worked closely with the intelligence agencies, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Special Branch and are reported to have operated jointly with the Special Boat Service with some personnel serving with 14 Intelligence Company on long term attachment. Personnel are likely to have had access to the military intelligence systems deployed to the province to inform their positioning of covert Observation Posts and ambush operations.
The use of a shoot-to-kill policy has created some controversy. For instance, on 10 July 1978, John Boyle, a sixteen-year-old Catholic, was exploring an old graveyard near his family's farm in County Antrim, when he discovered an arms cache. He told his father, who passed on the information to the RUC. The next morning Boyle decided to see if the guns had been removed and was shot dead by two SAS soldiers who had been waiting undercover.
The Troubles were classed as an internal United Kingdom matter and employment of the British Army in the Province is Military Aid to the Civil Power, as such British military personnel were not permitted to cross the border with the Republic of Ireland, technically an invasion. Despite this legal obstacle to the conduct of the mission, personnel did pursue suspects into the Republic of Ireland with a number being apprehended by the Garda Síochána, although rarely charged with firearms offences but returned to British authority.[citation needed] On one occasion, in March 1976, Seán MacKenna, an IRA commander, was allegedly abducted from his home in the Republic by the SAS and handed over to a British Army patrol once across the border.[citation needed]
In the 1970s the IRA started to attack British Army personnel on the European mainland, in 1989 the Germany|German]] security forces discovered an SAS unit operating in Germany without the permission of the German government.
The Regiment are reputed to claim that its reputation resulted in the IRA surrender in the Balcombe Street Siege once the deployment of the SAS had been publicised.
Regiment personnel were involved in Operation Flavius in Gibraltar in which three IRA volunteers Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) Volunteers, Seán Savage, Daniel McCann and Mairéad Farrell, were killed.
Colossus February 1941 first airborne raid, raid on Tragino aqueduct in Italy by 'X' Troop, No. 1 Special Air Service Battalion origin of the term 'SAS' (but not the organisation). Operation Squatter 16/17 November 1941 raid on forward Axis airfields in North Africa Operation Green Room Operation Bigamy September 1942, raid on the port of Benghazi Shown as Snowdrop in all publications which follow uncritically the initial editions of William Boyd Kennedy Shaw's book Long Range Desert Group which used this appellation for the first time as War Office security policy would not permit him to use real operational code names on first publication. Operation Palmyra Chestnut July 1943 raids supporting Sicily invasion. Narcissus July 1943, capture of lighthouse in Sicily. Begonia/Jonquil October 1943, rescue of POWs in Italy. Candytuft October 1943 raid on railroad targets in Italy. Maple Driftwood 1944, raid of railroad targets in Italy Baobab January 1944, raid on rail targets serving Anzio, Italy Operation Titanic IV June 6 1944 Nelson Planned June 1944, operation in the Orleans Gap. Samwest 6 June 1944, 4th SAS Battalion dropped in Côtes-du-Nord (Britanny) Operation Grog /Grog 4 SAS in conjunction with Operations Dingson and Samwest June 5 1944 Dingson 6 June 1944, 4th SAS Battalion (Free French) dropped to Morbihan (Britanny) Operation Bulbasket 2nd SAS failed operation 6th of June 1944 Cooney 8 June 1944, 18 teams of the 4th SAS Battalion (Free French) dropped to Britanny to break communications ways. Houndsworth June 1944 Lost 1944 Swan 1944 Gain 1944 (Originally issued as *Cain but corrupted in transmission and the latter adopted) Defoe July 1944, patrols in Normandy. Barker 1944 (Originally issued as *Barkers as it is named for a famous London department store, but subsequently truncated) Derry 1944 Gaff July 1944, attempt to kill or capture Erwin Rommel. Dunhill August 1944, raid in support of the breakout from the Normandy beachhead. Loyton August 1944, operations near the Belfort Gap. Haggard(Part of a series of randomly allocated cryptonyms derived from famous writers) Moses (Part of a series of randomly allocated cryptonyms derived from the Bible) Newton August 1944, attacks on German rear areas. Noah August 1944, attack on retreating Germans in Belgium. Canuck January 1945 operation in Northern Italy. Cold Comfort (subsequently Zombie ) February 1945 failed SAS raid on railroad targets near Verona. Brake(Part of a series of operations named after parts of aircraft) Tombola March 1945, major operation around Bologna Archway March 1945, reconnaissance in support of the crossing of the Rhine. Amherst In the night of 7 April 1945, more than 700 Free French SAS of the 3rd and 4th SAS were dropped in Holland between Hoogeveen and Groningen. Keystone April 1945, operation near Ijsselmeer.
Alte operatiuni cunoscute
Claret, June 1964, Indonesia,Series of high risk deniable cross-border patrols into Indonesia. Fire Magic, October 1977, Somalia, Highjack of Lufthansa Flight 181. Supplemented German GSG9 commando operation. Nimrod, April 1980, England, Rescue of hostages in the Iranian embassy siege in London. Folklore Keyhole, 1982, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Operations on South Georgia Island. Pebble Island, Raid, 14-15 May 1982, Falkland Islands, Attack on Argentinian-held airbase in the Falklands. Flavius, March 1986, Gibraltar, Operation in Gibraltar against the IRA. Granby, January 1991, Iraq, Included the well documented Bravo Two Zero patrol. Barras, September 2000, Sierra Leone, Rescue of 6 captured Royal Irish Rangers in Sierra Leone. Trent, November 2001, Attack on an Al Qaeda opium plant and command centre. Condor, May 2002, Afghanistan Marlborough, July 2005, Iraq
Ar fi interesant de aflat care era misiunea celor doi militari SAS in Basra.Curios, ei trebuiau sa traga asupra unor ofiteri de politie(siit, cai in Irak [,] cam ce tine de Interne si politie e luat de shiiti)...sa nu uitam ca Basra e un oras infestat cu violenta interetnica...
Pt Leul Alb! Nu stiu cat ar fi de interesant asta dar in primul rand mai interesant ar fi cred eu sa pornim de la principiile SAS! Daca le intelegem principiile atunci le vom intelege si misiunea in Basra! Haideti mai bine sa pornim de la deviza lor...... WHO DARES WINS! (cine indrazneste castiga)! Cred ca este elocventa in a le arata tuturor ce vor sa faca! Principiul lor de baza este ONE SHOT ONE KILL...... automat ne duce gandul spre o unitate de eliminare....... initial asa a fost vazuta, pe plan international, ulterior, prin actiunile lor ne-au demonstrat ca pot orice ca mai apoi s devina redutabili!
Si acum propun sa incepeti sa faceti cunostinta macar pe aceasta cale cu cei mai vestiti SAS: Ben Griffin Benjamin Griffin (born 1977) is a former British SAS soldier who refused to return to Iraq and left the Army, citing not only the "illegal" tactics of United States troops and the policies of coalition forces but also that the invasion itself was illegal, being contrary to international law. He expected to be court-martialled, but was instead let go with a glowing testimonial from his commanding officer.He had previously served a three month tour in Baghdad alongside American forces, including Delta force personnel.
In an interview for the Sunday Telegraph, he told Defence Correspondent Sean Rayment:
The Americans had this catch-all approach to lifting suspects. The tactics were draconian and completely ineffective. The Americans were doing things like chucking farmers into Abu Ghraib or handing them over to the Iraqi authorities, knowing full well they were going to be tortured.
The Americans had a well-deserved reputation for being trigger happy. In the three months that I was in Iraq, the soldiers I served with never shot anybody. When you asked the Americans why they killed people, they would say 'we were up against the tough foreign fighters'. I didn't see any foreign fighters in the time I was over there.
I can remember coming in off one operation which took place outside Baghdad, where we had detained some civilians who were clearly not insurgents, they were innocent people. I couldn't understand why we had done this, so I said to my troop commander 'would we have behaved in the same way in the Balkans or Northern Ireland?' He shrugged his shoulders and said 'this is Iraq', and I thought 'and that makes it all right?'
As far as I was concerned that meant that because these people were a different colour or a different religion, they didn't count as much. You cannot invade a country pretending to promote democracy and behave like that.
Commenting in similar vein to another former British SAS soldier, Griffin also gives his account of how the Americans view Iraqis:
As far as the Americans were concerned, the Iraqi people were sub-human, untermenschen. You could almost split the Americans into two groups: ones who were complete crusaders, intent on killing Iraqis, and the others who were in Iraq because the Army was going to pay their college fees. They had no understanding or interest in the Arab culture. The Americans would talk to the Iraqis as if they were stupid and these weren't isolated cases, this was from the top down. There might be one or two enlightened officers who understood the situation a bit better, but on the whole that was their general attitude. Their attitude fuelled the insurgency. I think the Iraqis detested them.
He is quoted in an article in The Scotsman as saying:
"I saw a lot of things in Baghdad that were illegal or just wrong. I knew, so others must have known, that this was not the way to conduct operations if you wanted to win the hearts and minds of the local population. . . and if you can't win the hearts and minds of the people, you can't win the war."
For the avoidance of doubt, it needs to be made clear that at no stage did Ben Griffin apply for discharge from the Army as a conscientious objector, and has always stated that he does not regard himself, nor does he wish to be regarded, as a conscientious objector. He is happy to be described as an Iraq War resister.
THE former SAS colonel Jim Johnson ran Britain's clandestine war against Egyptian forces in Yemen during the mid-1960s, an experience that inspired him to set up KMS, Britain's first postwar private military company. Proud of his Australian blood, he ran a private guerilla army with style and success in a war that indirectly protected British interests in the Gulf and Suez.
Henry James Johnson OBE, who has died at 84, was the son of a Sri Lanka tea planter who worked on the Enigma project to crack German codes during World War II. A forebear guarded Napoleon on St Helena. Jim's mother, Dorothy Bird, was of the H. S. Bird & Co provisioners, based in The Rocks, Sydney. She met Paul Johnson on a voyage back to Australia and married him in Colombo, where the couple settled and ran their own tea plantation.
Jim Johnson went to Sandhurst and fought with the Welsh Guards to liberate Brussels in World War II.
Six years after the allied withdrawal from Suez in 1956, the Yemeni monarchy was overturned in a military coup by Egyptian-trained officers, an event that threatened the British protectorates of Aden and Oman. The British government was divided between those ready to recognise the new Yemeni regime and those favouring a guerilla campaign on behalf of the displaced ruler, Imam al Badr.
Egyptian aircraft bombed tribal villages with phosgene poison gas while MI6 dithered. Colonel David Stirling, founder of the Special Air Service, suggested that Johnson could "put something together" to redress the balance of forces. Johnson, then commanding 21 SAS, arranged for volunteers to join his mercenary force, along with former French Foreign Legion men.
A cheque for £5000, signed by al Badr's foreign minister, was paid through the bank account of the Hyde Park Hotel, where the SAS Colonel Commandant, Brian Franks, was chairman of the board. Johnson resigned his official military command and took leave from his job as a Lloyd's underwriter.
When the British War Minister, John Profumo, resigned because he had lied to the House of Commons about his affair with Christine Keeler, the Foreign Office took fright that any hint of freelance military activity would add to the fuss. But it was too late to stop Johnson's team. As a reconnaissance team, led by Major John Cooper, changed planes in Libya, plastic explosive spilled from one of Cooper's suitcases. He coolly explained that it was marzipan; Libyan officials helped with the repacking.
Johnson and his men conducted a three-year resistance campaign, wearing down Egyptian forces sent by President Gamal Abdel Nasser. The Saudi Arabian government funded the Yemeni royalists and dictated overall strategy. The conflict became a war of attrition and stalemate; Egypt lost 10,000 men.
The Israelis were grateful for the impact on Egyptian military strength as they planned their pre-emptive 1967 blitzkrieg on Egypt. During his final audience with one of the Saudi royal family, Johnson requested the orderly disposal of the heavy weapons, and for his men to receive an enhanced month's severance pay, warning: "French mercenaries have a habit of blowing up the aircraft of national airlines if they don't get paid properly." The payments were made.
In 1975 Johnson and David Walker, a former officer in 22 SAS, set up their firm to operate in the grey area "between the politically acceptable and the officially deniable".
Johnson's first wife was Judith Lyttleton, with whom he had a son, Rupert, and daughter, Lottie. They survive him, with his widow, nee Jan Gay, whom he married in 1982.
John MacAleese John MacAleese (Mac) served in the British Army for 22 years, 15 of which were spent in 22 Special Air Service where he was awarded the Military Medal. Mac was part of the counter-terrorist team that entered the Iranian Embassy from the front balcony, using charges to blow out windows. He is a specialist instructor in demolitions, close protection, weapons and special projects.
John Mac Aleese este adorbail asi putea spune si ma pot mandri cu asta! El chiar poate sa iti intre la inima in timp ce poate sa te faca sa lupti cu adevarat!
Paddy Mayne Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Blair "Paddy" Mayne DSO & 3 Bars (11 January 1915 - 14 December 1955) was a Northern Irish soldier, solicitor, rugby union international, amateur boxer and polar explorer.
Early life and sporting achievements "Paddy" Mayne was born in the County Down market town of Newtownards, the second youngest of seven children. The Mayne family were prominent landowners, and owned several retail businesses in the town. He was named Robert Blair after a second cousin, who at the time of his birth was a British Army officer serving in World War I. The family home, Mount Pleasant, is situated on the hills above Newtownards.
He attended Regent House Grammar School. It was there that his talent for rugby union became evident, and he played for the school 1st XV and also the local Ards RFC team from the age of 16. While at school he also played cricket and golf, and showed aptitude as a marksman in the rifle club.
On leaving school he studied law at Queen's University of Belfast, studying to become a solicitor. While at university he took up boxing, becoming Irish Universities Heavyweight Champion in August 1936. He followed this by reaching the final of the British Universities Heavyweight Championship, but was beaten on points. With a handicap of 8, he won the Scrabo Golf Club President's Cup the next year.
Mayne's first full Ireland cap also came in 1937, in a match against Wales. After gaining five more caps for Ireland as a lock forward, Mayne was selected for the 1938 British Lions tour to South Africa. While the Lions lost the first test, a South African newspaper stated Mayne was "outstanding in a pack which gamely and untiringly stood up to the tremendous task". He played in seventeen of the twenty provincial matches and in all three tests. On returning from South Africa he joined Malone RFC in Belfast. In early 1939 he graduated from Queen's and joined George Maclaine & Co in Belfast, having been articled to TCG Mackintosh for the five previous years. Mayne won praise during the three Ireland matches he played in 1939, with one report stating "Mayne, whose quiet almost ruthless efficiency is in direct contrast to O'Loughlin's exuberance, appears on the slow side, but he covers the ground at an extraordinary speed for a man of his build, as many a three quarter and full back have discovered."
His legal and sporting careers were cut short by the outbreak of World War II.
World War II In March 1939, prior to the outbreak of World War II, Mayne had joined the Territorial Army in Newtownards. After training with the Queen's University Officer Training Corps, he received a commission in the 5th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Artillery. In April 1940 he transferred to the Royal Ulster Rifles. Following Churchill's call to form a "butcher and bolt" raiding force following Dunkirk, Mayne volunteered for the newly formed 11 (Scottish) Commando. He first saw action in June 1941 as a lieutenant with 11 Commando, successfully leading his men during the Litani River operation in Lebanon against the Vichy French Forces.
It was after this particularly brutal and confused action, in which 130 officers and men, around a third of the strike force, were wounded or killed, that Mayne reacted violently against what he believed was the ineptitude of his Commanding Officer, whom he considered inexperienced, arrogant and insincere. Some sources state that Mayne struck him, and was awaiting court-martial and almost certain dismissal.
However, his leadership on the raid had attracted the attention of Captain David Stirling who recruited him as one of the founder members of the Special Air Service (SAS). From November 1941 through to the end of 1942, Mayne participated in many night raids deep behind enemy lines in the deserts of Egypt and Libya, where the SAS wrought havoc by destroying hundreds of German and Italian aircraft on the ground.
Following Stirling's capture in January 1943, 1st SAS Regiment was reorganised into two separate parts, the Special Raiding Squadron and the Special Boat Section (the forerunner of the Special Boat Service). As a major, Mayne was appointed to command the Special Raiding Squadron and he led the unit with distinction in Italy until the end of 1943. In January 1944 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed commanding officer of 1st SAS Regiment. He subsequently led the SAS with great distinction through the final campaigns of the war in France, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Norway, often campaigning alongside local resistance fighters including the French Maquis.
During the course of the war he became one of the British Army's most highly decorated soldiers and received the Distinguished Service Order with three bars, one of only seven British servicemen to receive that award four times during World War II. Mayne pioneered the use of military Jeeps to conduct surprise hit-and-run raids, particularly on enemy airfields. By the end of the war it was claimed that he had personally destroyed 130 aircraft.
In recognition of his leadership and personal disregard for danger while in France, in which he trained and worked closely with the French Resistance, Mayne received the second bar to his DSO. Additionally, the post-war French Government awarded him the Legion d'honneur and the Croix de Guerre, the first foreigner to receive such a dual honour.
It has often been questioned why Mayne was not awarded a Victoria Cross, and even King George VI was to express surprise at the omission. The answer almost certainly lies in Mayne's abrasive attitude to some of his superiors, combined with the Army hierarchy's askance view of the unconventional attitudes and tactics of the special forces.
In 1945 Mayne was recommended for a VC after single-handedly rescuing a squadron of his troops, trapped by heavy gunfire near the town of Oldenberg in north-west Germany. After the squadron became pinned down and sustained casualties, Mayne rescued the wounded, lifting them one by one into his Jeep before destroying the enemy gunners in a nearby farmhouse. However, although the VC recommendation was signed by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, commander of the Allied 21st Army Group, Mayne instead received a fourth DSO.
Major General Sir Robert Laycock, Post War Chief of Combined Operations, wrote :
“ I feel I must drop you a line just to tell you how very deeply I appreciate the great honour of being able to address, as my friend, an officer who has succeeded in accomplishing the practically unprecedented task of collecting no less than four DSO's. (I am informed that there is another such superman in the Royal Air Force.) You deserve all the more, and in my opinion, the appropriate authorities do not really know their job. If they did they would have given you a VC as well. Please do not dream of answering this letter, which brings with it my sincerest admiration and a deep sense of honour in having, at one time, been associated with you. ”
An Early Day Motion put before the House of Commons in June 2005 and supported by more than 100 MPs also stated that:
“ This House recognises the grave injustice meted out to Lt Col Paddy Mayne, of 1st SAS, who won the Victoria Cross at Oldenburg in North West Germany on 9th April 1945; notes that this was subsequently downgraded, some six months later, to a third bar DSO, that the citation had been clearly altered and that David Stirling, founder of the SAS has confirmed that there was considerable prejudice towards Mayne and that King George VI enquired why the Victoria Cross had `so strangely eluded him'; further notes that on 14th December it will be 50 years since Col Mayne's untimely death, in a car accident, and this will be followed on 29th January 2006 by the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Royal Warrant to institute the Victoria Cross; and therefore calls upon the Government to mark these anniversaries by instructing the appropriate authorities to act without delay to reinstate the Victoria Cross given for exceptional personal courage and leadership of the highest order and to acknowledge that Mayne's actions on that day saved the lives of many men and greatly helped the allied advance on Berlin. ”
After the war After a period with the British Antarctic Survey in the Falkland Islands, cut short by a crippling back complaint that had begun during his army days, Mayne returned to Newtownards to work first as a solicitor and then as Secretary to the Law Society of Northern Ireland. Suffering severe back pain, which even prevented him from watching his beloved rugby as a spectator, and ill at ease with the mundanity of post-war life among provincial lawyers, Mayne became reserved and isolated, rarely talking about his wartime service.
On 13 December 1955, aged 40, he had been drinking and playing poker in a pub not far from his home in Newtownards. He later left, and went on to a friend's house where he drank some more. He drove homewards in his Riley sports car at 4am. The car collided with a lorry parked with no lights in the middle of the road just a short distance from his home. The town of Newtownards came to a standstill and his death was mourned across Northern Ireland.
Reputation During the 1938 Lions tour it is said that Mayne relaxed by "wrecking hotels and fighting dockers". He was allegedly under arrest for knocking out his Commanding Officer when David Stirling came to recruit him for the SAS however this has later been proved to be false and was recruited whilst actually residing in a hospital in Cairo recovering from Malaria. It is supposed incidents like this, as well as resentment and suspicion by some senior officers in the British Army of the SAS's unorthodox behaviour and unconventional tactics, which are cited as the reasons why his Victoria Cross was downgraded.
Many urban legends of his post-war years exist in Belfast and Newtownards. These mostly tell of incidents in which, after drinking for several hours, Mayne would challenge every man in the bar to a fight, which he would invariably win. Other accounts describe him as a courageous leader of his men and a ferocious opponent. Mayne is also described as growing increasingly withdrawn as the war progressed, preferring books to the company of friends. This tendency was said to have become more marked after the death of his father during World War II. Mayne was refused leave to attend the funeral and a apocryphal story has him embarking on a drinking binge and rampage in central Cairo in an effort to find and beat up Richard Dimbleby. In the course of this, Mayne is said to have smashed up a half-dozen restaurants, beat up a squad of Redcaps and a Provost Marshal. This incident has also been proven to be false when David Dimbleby had actually been in London for 9 months prior to the suposed incident. Michael Asher in his history of the early SAS, believed this to be an exaggeration or confabulation of several incidents. Asher also describes Mayne as complex, empathetic, and intelligent, though with a terrible, frightening temper that came out when he drank.
Mayne was inclined to remonstrate with colleagues in the armed services who showed little or no understanding of the complex politics of Northern Ireland.
Legacy A lifesize bronze statue of Blair Mayne stands in Conway Square, Newtownards, and the western bypass of the town is also named in his honour.
In 2003 a temporary British Army base in Kuwait, occupied by the first battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, was named after him - Camp Blair Mayne. It was there that Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins, 1Royal Irish Regiment's commanding officer, gave his celebrated address to his troops on the eve of the Gulf War.
A film of Blair Mayne's life has long been mooted. Eddie Irvine has become executive producer for the film. Three books have been written about Mayne, the first being Colonel Paddy by Patrick Marrinan (1960). Rogue Warrior of the SAS: the Blair Mayne legend was written by Ray Bradford and Martin Dillon (1989, updated 2003) features a foreword by David Stirling. Paddy Mayne by Hamish Ross (2004) has sought to debunk the numerous myths and legends concerning Mayne's character and exploits, preferring a more circumspect account based on tangible evidence. Ross' book is the only biography endorsed by the Mayne family. Another book, SAS: The History of the Special Raiding Squadron: Paddy's Men by Stewart McClean was published in early 2006.
Stirling's Men: the inside history of the SAS in World War Two, by Gavin Mortimer [Cassell, 2004], also features extensive accounts, both of Mayne's exploits and of his character, by many soldiers who served with him in the SAS.
Sir Archibald David Stirling Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling DSO OBE (15 November 1915 - 4 November 1990) was a Scottish laird, mountaineer, World War II British Army officer, and the founder of the Special Air Service.
Life before the war Stirling was born at his family's ancestral home, Keir House in the parish of Lecropt in Perthshire (near Stirling). He was the son of Brigadier General Archibald Stirling of Keir and Margaret Fraser, daughter of Simon Fraser, the Lord Lovat (a descendant from King Charles II of England). His cousin was Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat. He was educated at Ampleforth College and Trinity College, Cambridge. A tall and athletic figure (he was 6 ft 6 in [1.98 m] tall), he was training to climb Mount Everest when World War II broke out.
World War II and the founding of the SAS Stirling was commissioned into the Scots Guards from Ampleforth College Contingent Officer Training Corps on 24 July 1937.[2] In June 1940 he volunteered for the new No.8 Commando under Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Laycock which became part of Force Z (later named "Layforce"). After Layforce (and No.8 Commando) were disbanded on 1 August 1941, Stirling remained convinced that due to the mechanised nature of war a small team of highly trained soldiers with the advantage of surprise could exact greater damage to the enemy's ability to fight than an entire platoon.
Aware that taking his idea up through the chain of command was unlikely to work, Stirling decided to go straight to the top. On crutches following a parachuting accident he sneaked into Middle East headquarters in Cairo in an effort to see Commander-in-Chief General Claude Auchinleck. Taking cover in an office, Stirling came face to face with Deputy Commander Middle East General Ritchie. Stirling explained his plan to Ritchie and Ritchie convinced Auchinleck to allow Stirling to form a new Special Forces unit. The unit was given the deliberately misleadingly name "L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade" to reinforce an existing deception of a parachute brigade existing in North Africa.
His initial attempts at attacking by parachute landing were disastrous and resulted in a high percentage of his men being killed or wounded. Escaping only with the help of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) he decided that approaching by desert under the cover of night would not only be the safest but also the most effective means of approach. As quickly as possible he organised raids on ports using this simple method, often driving through checkposts at night using the language skills of some of his soldiers to bluff the guards. Stirling was captured by the Germans in January 1943. He escaped on four occasions, before being sent to Colditz Castle, where he remained for the rest of the war. After his capture his brother Bill Stirling and Blair 'Paddy' Mayne took command of the SAS.
In the fifteen months before Stirling's capture, the SAS had destroyed over 250 aircraft on the ground, dozens of supply dumps, roads, wrecked railway communications, and had put hundreds of enemy vehicles out of action.
Mercenary work Worried that Britain was losing its power after the War, Stirling organised deals to sell British weapons and military personnel to other countries, like Saudi Arabia, for various privatised foreign policy operations. Stirling along with other associates formed Watchguard International Ltd, formally with offices in Sloane St (where the Chelsea Hotel now stands) before moving to South Audley Street in Mayfair. Business was chiefly with the Gulf States. He was also linked along with an associate Denys Rowley in a failed attempt to overthrow Gaddafi of Libya in 1970/71. Stirling was the founder of private military company KAS International (aka KAS Enterprises). Television Stirling also ran another of his companies, Television International Enterprises, from the same offices as Watchguard International. T.I.E was responsible for bringing the children's program Sesame Street to Britain. Peter Orton, working at T.I.E., developed the Muppet Show and a couple of decades later Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder.
Later life Stirling was the founder of the Capricorn Africa Society - a society for promoting an Africa free from racial discrimination. Founded in 1949, while Africa was still under colonial rule, it had its high point at the 1956 Salima Conference. However, because of his emphasis on a qualified and highly elitist voting franchise, Africans opposed it. Conversely Caucasian settlers believed it to be too liberal. Consequently the society was ineffective, although surprisingly the South African Communist Party used Stirling's multi-racial elitist model for its 1955 "Congress Alliance" when taking over the African National Congress of South Africa. Stirling resigned as Chairman of the Society in 1959.
Stirling was concerned about the political power of trade unions in Britain, so in 1975 he set up the organisation GB75, which he described as 'an organisation of apprehensive patriots' which would help the country in the event of strikes. He was knighted in 1990, and died later that year aged 74.
In 2002 the SAS memorial, a statue of Stirling standing on a rock, was opened on the Hill of Row near his family's estate at Park of Keir.
The current Laird of the Keir estate is his nephew Archie Stirling, a millionaire businessman and former Scots Guards officer.
SAS Stirling founded the SAS (Special Air Servce). When he founded it he had 5 other co-founders; Lt-Col 'Paddy' Blair Mayne and Jock lewes (both of which came from the original 'L' detachment), Georges Berge (his unit of Free French joined the SAS in January 1942), Brian Franks (who re-established 21 unit of SAS after the SAS had been disbandeed after the end of the Second World War) and John Woodhouse (who created the modern 22 SAS regiment during the Malayan Emergency).
Other Stirling House at Welbeck college is named after him.
•He is mentioned in a description of a playable character in the game Counter-Strike Source. David Stirling is mentioned in the brief description of the SAS model when choosing the SAS player model in Counter Strike.
Am avut norocul si onoarea sa cunosc un membru al sectiunii SAS , SBS. Am avut onoarea sa ma antrenez alaturi de el, si sa inot alaturi de el .Pot sa va spun ca daca pe uscat pare un om normal , ce e drept cu calitati fizice de invidiat, in apa m-a facut praf, desi am cateva concursuri de inot castigate, si apa e placerea mea. Din pacate a pastrat discretia asupra modului de pregatire in apa...am ramas siderat de ce putea sa faca sub apa , la liber doar cu slipul pe el......
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