In his book Western Desert 1941 Pitt is very damning of certain special forces that sprang up. He singles out raids code named Rookery, Nook and Cuckoo as especially farcical. Which units were responsible for these I wonder? Len
Looks like Layforce and / or early SAS SAS Zero Hour: The Secret Origins of the Special Air Service By Tim Jones
Thanks for your reply. Suspected it might have been Layforce but could not find a reference. Just finished rereading The Crucible of War, Western Desert 1941 and as I mentioned above Barrie Pitt is pretty scathing towards special forces except the LRDG. Reckons they were amateur set ups for well connected rich young men who would have been better employed as 'normal' regimental officers. Len
Well, the SAS did straighten up, and destroyed a lot of aircraft. I think Popski's Private Army did some useful things too. I'm not sure about any others.
Powerful argument - Barrie Pitt was a great writer - wasn't he one of the editors of the Purnell History of the Second World War partwork?
An interesting gentleman and writer (Barrie William Edward Pitt, 1918 - 2006). I have always enjoyed his writing. Obituary from Telegraph below, hopefully of interest for folks who've not seen it before. I did look into the POW side of things upon his death in 2006 but other events took over and enquiries fell by the wayside (the two possible I found at the time were "E W Pitt, Bombardier R.A. 1509349, and W E Pitt (Iinitials transposed on records maybe?) Corporal, The Gloucestershire Regiment 5179470", both (coincidently?) in Lamsdorf. All too thin for me and priority of other events at the time pushed it off the back burner. Kind regards, always, Jim.
There are three records within the British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945 database on FindMyPast: 1. First name(s) B W E Last name Pitt Year 1940 Service number 7360447 Rank Corporal Rank as transcribed Cpl Regiment Royal Army Medical Corps Regiment as transcribed Royal Army Medical Corps Theatre of war France Archive reference WO 417/19 Listed as missing on 15/6/1940 (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM/WO417/0119787) 2. He is listed as a Prisoner of War (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM/WO417/0212177) 3. In which he is listed as Previously reported as a Prisoner of War now repatriated (https://www.findmypast.co.uk/transcript?id=GBM/WO417/0613217)
Thank you so much for posting this BFBSM, very much appreciated. Back in 2006 I looked in the copy of "Prisoners Of War British Army 1939 - 1945" that I had, and I didn't find the above (which is not to say it isn't there, just that I could have missed it at the time!). His branch of service being RAMC explains much. Again, thanks for posting. Kind regards, always, Jim.
Now into volume 11, Alamein 1942, and he is now quite enthusiastic about both Popski and the SAS. He seems to have reserved his ire for Layforce and Keyes' raids believing that they used up too many high quality men and valued resources to little effect. I have seen a similar argument used about the airborne forces and indeed I believe it goes on to this day. Not an argument I hold with. See avatar haha! Len
Indeed the same criticisms were levelled at SOE. Twas ever thus, back in the eighteenth century amphibious raids on the French coast were condemned as 'throwing golden guineas to break windows'.