Origins Of The Sas

[angie999]

On 16 November 1941, 60 former members of the Special Service Brigade, originally intended to attack Rhodes, took off in five aircraft to parachute into the Gazala-Tmimi area of Cyrenaica. Their objective was to attack airfields in the area, particularly those operating the new German Bf 109F fighters.

The raid was a fiasco due to adverse weather in the landing area, Many were killed on landing and they were dropped way off target, with no chance of reaching their objectives. The raid was abandoned and twenty-two survivors, including Capt. David Sterling and Lt. "Paddy" Mayne, made it out to the rendezvous point, where they were brought back by the LRDG.

Sterling and Mayne went on to be founders of the SAS, drawing correct conclusions from this fiasco about the conduct of such operations in the future.

I do wonder if the modern 22 SAS regiment is numbered in tribute to these 22 survivors.

[morse1001]

Originally posted by angie999@Dec 3 2004, 01:08 PM

I do wonder if the modern 22 SAS regiment is numbered in tribute to these 22 survivors.

Quoted post

It was part of a deception, it waqs to make the germans beleive that there were 21 other battalions!

[angie999]

Originally posted by morse1001+Dec 5 2004, 02:33 PM-->

It was part of a deception, it waqs to make the germans beleive that there were 21 other battalions!

Quoted post

[/b]

Nice one. Actually, the wartime SAS regiments started with 1SAS, 2SAS, not sure if there was a third.

[morse1001]

Originally posted by angie999+Dec 5 2004, 03:00 PM-->

Nice one. Actually, the wartime SAS regiments started with 1SAS, 2SAS, not sure if there was a third.

Quoted post

[/b]

actully the original unit was called "L detachment Special Air Service" The Special Air Service title itself was an example of deception by the british Army!

H.Q. S.A.S. Brigade
(plus F Squadron Phantom)
ist S.A.S. Regiment 2nd S.A.S. Regiment
3rd S.A.S. (French) Regiment 4th (French) Regiment
1st Belgian (Independent) Squadron

Cowles, Virginia., The Phantom Major , Guild, London, 1983 P307

[handtohand22]

Operation Crusader and Force 'E'
When Operation Crusader was launched, the Coleraine (6th LAA) Battery was part of a unit called Force 'E' commanded by Brigadier Reid. 'E' Force (or Oasis Force) was a diversion to the main attack in Operation Crusader. Both operations were launched on November 18th 1941.
According to a security unconscious BBC news item at the time, the Eighth Army had 'started a general offensive in the Western Desert, with the aim of destroying the German-Italian forces in Africa'. Stewart (2002) The Allie's main objectives were to lift the siege on Tobruk, retake Cyrenaica and then advance into Tripoli. The Oasis Force diversionary line of attack was based on an earlier plan that had been rejected because of the difficult terrain involved.
[attachmentid=796]

Operation Crusader was also the debut of the SAS. On the night of 16/17 November 1941 the SAS were tasked to attack Axis airfields in the Gazala-Timimi areas. This was a tragic operation. The parachute drop left the troops dispersed and separated from their munitions. Only a third of the troops reached the final rendezvous with the LRDG As a consequence of this failure, the SAS used the LRDG to insert and extract them in future operations. This marriage was a total success. When the Western Desert War was concluded, the SAS had accounted for over 400 Axis aircraft, tons of stores and had also restricted the free movement of the Axis forces at night.
There was a relationship of types between L Detachment and 6th LAA Battery because the respective Commanding Officers knew each other personally. Blair Mayne of L Detachment and the Officer Commanding the 6th Battery, Jack Christie, had been to Queens University Belfast at the same time. They were reading Law and graduated as solicitors in April, 1938.
In 1939 Blair Mayne was commissioned into the 5th Light Anti Aircraft Battery at Newtonards and Jack Christie was commissioned into the 6th Light Anti Aircraft Battery at Coleraine.X
On 4 April 1940 Blair Maine transferred to the Royal Ulster Rifles and was then seconded into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in late spring 1940. (Ross, 2003) In the same year Mayne went on to volunteer for 11th (Scottish) Commando. Blair Maine then moved on to L Detachment.
By 28 Sept 1942, L Detachment had been absorbed into the unit called 1 SAS Regiment.X
When Blair Maine and Jack Christie met up in the desert for the first time, the interaction went like this. Jack Christie was out on a Jock Column patrol when the came upon a camouflaged and tented area. Jack pulled back one of the tent flaps to have a look in and was greeted by Blair Maine, "Christie, what the F*** are you doing here. Clear off before you compromise us!" ...End of exchange.

[angie999]

But the point is that the mission in November 1941 was carried out by former members of the Special Service Brigade, formed to carry out a different mission which was cancelled. Some of the survivors went on to form the SAS, but the mission itself was not carried out by the SAS, which had yet to be formed.

If you like, it is part of the SAS's prequel.

[handtohand22]

Correct, but I have done some more research on the origins of the SAS and Mortimer in "Stirlings Men" has completed the SAS prequel for me.

After their initial disaster on 16/17th November, ‘L’ Detachment Special Air Service Brigade redeemed itself in the following operation.
Force ‘E’ mounted a diversion to the main Op Crusader attack.

When Operation Crusader started on 18/19 November 1941 the 6th Battery Troops were south in the area of Jarabub.

It was in December that Stirling’s unit achieved a spectacular operational success by supporting the next phase of the Force ‘E’ operation.

Stirling approached a fellow Scots Guards officer, Brigadier John Marriott. He let it be known that he was looking for a suitable operational tasking. Marriott passed him on to Brigadier Reid, the officer who had taken over his 29 Brigade command. Brigadier Reid informed him that on 22nd December, Force ‘E’ had to meet up with Marriott in the Antelat-Agedabia area. Because there was a threat of Axis aircraft from Agedabia interdicting his column, Reid wanted Stirling to deal with the threat. Mortimer (p29-30, 2004)
Stirling duly obliged on the night of 14/15 December by tasking Paddy Mayne to Tamit where he destroyed twenty four aircraft. On the same night Frazer and three troopers were inserted by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) to the Agedabia airfield. These men destroyed thirty seven aircraft that night.

On Christmas Eve, Jock Lewes destroyed an aircraft at Nofilia and Paddy Mayne returned to Tamit and destroyed another twenty seven aircraft. This action allowed Force ‘E’ to meet up with Marriott’s group without serious opposition from Axis aircraft.

By October 1942 ‘L’ Detachment, SAS Brigade was renamed the 1st Special Air Service Regiment.

Before his unit was named the SAS, Stirling had accounted for 99 Axis aircraft in December 1941 alone.

[Gibbo]

I thought that the Special Air Service Brigade was so named in order to make the Germans think that the British had 3,000 elite paratroopers in the Western Desert when in fact the unit was barely a company strong &, apart from its first mission, generally penetrated enemy lines by vehicle.

I believe that 22 SAS Regiment was so named when formed in Malaya in the early 1950s because there was already a Territorial Army unit called 21 SAS Regt. However, I don't know why this unit was numbered 21.

[handtohand22]

1942 - 1945
1 SAS (British)
2 SAS (British)
3 SAS (French)
4 SAS (French)
5 SAS (Belgian Independant Parachute Company)

1946
21 SAS (TA)

1947
21 SAS (Artists) Volunteers (TA)

1950
Malayan Scouts (SAS)

1951
22 SAS

1959
23 SAS (TA)

[adrian roberts]

isn't it true that you could be shot as a spy if recaptured

I think he would be have been covered by the "Commando" order