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"'We've been approached something like 25 times since the war. I kicked each out the window because they weren't going to make it with the integrity we require the story of the SAS to be told.' - Colonel Sir David Stirling, OBE, DSO, Founder of the SAS"
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Book Description
A military history exclusive - the most important book ever written about the SAS in the words of its founding members
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
With bookshop shelves positively groaning with SAS books, one might wonder if there's space for yet another. But Gordon Stevens's account of the regiment's formation and Second World War service bears scrutiny. Not so much for its literary merits as for its directness, being the transcripts of interviews with founding members: David Stirling and others tell how the regiment began with the theft of the means to make its first camp.
Since the war the press and politicians have become bewitched by `special forces', but at the time `private armies' were anathema to many officers, often with good reason, and their true value remains a subject of fierce debate. This book won't help to conclude it, but it is a useful historical record. Indeed, the unit which began as L Detachment, just 65-strong, was almost stillborn on its first operation. It lost two-thirds of its strength in an abortive parachute drop. But David Stirling was determined on success and this he achieved, showing characteristic tenacity.
There are interesting details such as the origin of the famous cap badge, although 'it's not a winged dagger', recalled Johnny Cooper. 'They're flames ... When the Winged Dagger came out, we laughed our bloody heads off.' The name Special Air Service came from a deception brigade of parachutists, and the original aim was to destroy enemy aircraft on the ground. At this the regiment became immensely successful, but the truth is that once operating in Europe following the desert campaign, they were less effective in the strategic role Stirling originally envisaged. This book provides a very personal account of the difficult birth of the regiment, and in so doing provides an illumination of its modern ethos.
Since the war the press and politicians have become bewitched by `special forces', but at the time `private armies' were anathema to many officers, often with good reason, and their true value remains a subject of fierce debate. This book won't help to conclude it, but it is a useful historical record. Indeed, the unit which began as L Detachment, just 65-strong, was almost stillborn on its first operation. It lost two-thirds of its strength in an abortive parachute drop. But David Stirling was determined on success and this he achieved, showing characteristic tenacity.
There are interesting details such as the origin of the famous cap badge, although 'it's not a winged dagger', recalled Johnny Cooper. 'They're flames ... When the Winged Dagger came out, we laughed our bloody heads off.' The name Special Air Service came from a deception brigade of parachutists, and the original aim was to destroy enemy aircraft on the ground. At this the regiment became immensely successful, but the truth is that once operating in Europe following the desert campaign, they were less effective in the strategic role Stirling originally envisaged. This book provides a very personal account of the difficult birth of the regiment, and in so doing provides an illumination of its modern ethos.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the story of the SAS written by the founders of the SAS. They don't care whether you buy the book or not. It is all transcripts of tapes done decades ago. It is very readable.
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