Aristocrat, gambler, innovator and special forces legend, the life of David Stirling should need no retelling. His formation of the Special Air Service in the summer of 1941 led to a new form of warfare and Stirling is remembered as the father of special forces soldiering. But was he really a military genius or in fact a shameless self-publicist who manipulated people, and the truth, for this own ends? In this gripping and controversial biography Gavin Mortimer analyses Stirling's complex ...

A major illustrated history of the Long Range Desert Group from the foremost expert on British wartime special forces.Formed in June 1940 for the purpose of gathering intelligence behind enemy lines, the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) played a secretive but vital role in North Africa during World War II.Highly trained in mechanized reconnaissance and specializing in desert operations, the unit provided support to the Special Air Service (SAS) in missions ac...

On the night of 10-11 May 1941, the Blitz reached its terrifying peak in the skies over London.Over 500 aircraft and thousands of Luftwaffe aircrew took off for England, laden with hundreds of tonnes of bombs to drop indiscriminately on the capital's civilians. In a matter of hours, 1,486 Londoners were killed, 11,000 houses were destroyed, and millions of lives were changed for ever.This attack almost brought Britain to military collapse. Using extensive survivors' testi...

The story of the greatest Special Forces unit the world has ever seen, told by the men who fought together.In 1941, maverick officer David Stirling adventurer, gambler, rake created the Special Air Service. The soldiers came from all walks of life: miners, desert explorers, Guardsmen, bored clerks in the pay corps. All felt frustrated by the conventional army and were determined to make their mark on the war. Together they created a tradition that would survive the capture of the...

A critically acclaimed historian reveals the heroism and perseverance of a US Army special ops unit during one of the most overlooked campaigns of WWII.In August of 1943, a call went out for American soldiers willing to embark on a "hazardous and dangerous mission" behind enemy lines in Burma. The war department wanted 3,000 volunteers, and it didn't care who they were; they would be expendable, with an expected casualty rate of eighty-five percent. The men who took...

Leading expert Gavin Mortimer tells the remarkable origin story of a wartime special forces unit that defied the odds.Z Special Unit, one of the most intrepid but arguably the most unsung of Allied Special Forces of the Second World War waged a guerrilla war against Japan for two years in the south-west Pacific. On some of their 81 operations Z Special Unit slipped into enemy harbours in canoes and silently mined ships before vanishing into the night; on others the...

A gripping history of the SAS in World War II, supported by a collection of rare images from the SAS Regimental Association.The SAS are among the best-trained and most effective Special Forces units in existence. This book is the incredible story of their origins, told in their own words. During the summer of 1941, a young Scots Guard officer called David Stirling persuaded MEHQ to give its backing to a small band of 60 men christened 'L Detachment'.With a ...

'We will overcome it [and] I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge, and those who come after us will say the Britons of this generation were as strong as any' Her Majesty The QueenThe Coronavirus pandemic forced the great British people to dig to the very depths of their resolve. It was during this crisis, the gravest crisis the country has faced since the Second World War, that members of the Greates...

A concise illustrated history of the Special Air Service's lightweight, heavily armed vehicles and their combat use.The SAS, the world's most famous special operations unit, made its name in the desert of North Africa, shooting up Axis airfields from specially modified Willys jeeps. Following the start of the El Alamein offensive in October 1942, the SAS used jeeps effectively in reconnoitring and ambushing the retreating Afrika Korps. After the conclusion of the N...

An incredible history of the American WWI pilots who refused to be grounded, enlisting in the British Royal Air Force and fighting for Allied forces.In The First Eagles, award-winning historian Gavin Mortimer engagingly profiles the determined American aviators who grew tired of waiting for the their country to establish an aerial military force during World War I. It was these men who enlisted in Britain's desperate and battered Royal Flying Corps. After ...

Specially commissioned artwork, archive photographs and expert analysis combine to tell the absorbing story of the SAS's legendary raid on Sidi Haneish at the height of World War II.The night of July 26, 1942 saw one of the most audacious raids of World War II, just as the outcome of that conflict hung in the balance. In North Africa, a convoy of 18 Allied jeeps carrying Special Air Service personnel appeared out of the early-morning darkness and drove onto the Axi...

The author of Stirling's Men recounts the WWII exploits of Britain's legendary special forces unit in thefirst volume of this authoritative history.The British Army's Special Air Service was formed during World War II as a commando unit for operations behind enemy lines. Their exploits in France inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans and left a trail of destruction and disorder in their wake. In 1944, they trained the French Maquis into an effective figh...