A gauche, David Stirling
au L.R.D.G - A droite, Statue inaugurée en Juin 2002
pour son Jubilée
"Frères d'armes...Brothers
in arms..."
SPECIAL AIR SERVICE
S.A.S Battle Honour
North Wet Europa 1944-45, Tobruk 1941, Sicily 1943, Termoly, Italy
1943-45, Adriatic , Falkland
Islands 1982, Benghazi Raid, North Africa 1940-43, Landing in Sicily,
Valli di Comacci, Greece 1944-45, Middle East 1943-44, Iraq 1990,
Also known as: formerly
L Detachment Special Air Service Brigade; latterly Special Air Service
Regiment, Special Raiding Squadron; Special Air Service Brigade
Date Founded: July 1941 Mission When Founded: Small teams of men inserted
by parachute or submarine, landing behind enemy lines with surprise
to attack line-of-communication targets such as transports, vehicle
parks, fuel dumps and aerodromes. Mission During the War: Additionally
armed reconnaissance, internal security duties. Jurisdiction: North
Africa, Mediterranean, Italy, NW Europe.
Headquarters: 1 SAS: Kabrit, Suez Canal Zone, Egypt (1941-43);
2 SAS: Phillipeville, Algeria then Noci, near Taranto, Italy (1943);
Brigade HQ: Moor Park Golf Course, near Ricksmanworth, Hertfordshire
(1944); regimental HQs in the SE and East of England.
Personnel: 6 officers, 60 other ranks (1941); 83 officers, 570 other
ranks (Dec. 1942); 2,500 all ranks (1944).
HISTORY: The SAS
was conceived in an Alexandrian military hospital as Lieutenant David
Stirling was recovering from a near fatal parachuting injury that
had left him temporarily blind and paralysed. He conceived of a unit
that could be inserted behind enemy lines by parachute or submarine,
and would strike at vulnerable enemy line-of-communication targets
such as airbases and fuel dumps, making up for by surprise the small
number of men involved. Stirling managed to get into GHQ Cairo without
a pass, and whilst trying to dodge the security ended up in the office
of the Deputy Chief of Staff Middle East Forces, General Ritchie.
Taking advantage of the situation Stirling presented his hand-written
memo to Ritchie. Ritchie read the memo and said it was something he
was looking for, and would pass it to the Commander-in-Chief General
Auchinleck for his consideration. The newly appointed Auchinleck liked
the idea, as it was a modest proposal with excellent prospects if
it succeeded and few casualties if it failed. He authorised the creation
of L Detachment Special Air Service Brigade, and Stirling was promoted
to Captain. L Detachment S.A.S Brigade was named after a fictious
paratroop formation that the British were trying to persuade the Germans
was in North Africa. There was already a K detachment, and the 'L'
may have been named after Layforce, the Commando taskforce sent to
North Africa that Stirling had been part of. The unit reported directly
the Auchinleck as it didn't have a parent unit - Stirling had been
careful to avoid the controlling clutches of G(R) (S.O.E in the Middle
East) and the Director of Combined Operations to maintain his independence.
He set about recruiting men and officers from Layforce, mainly former
No.8 Commandos as this had been Stirling's original unit. Jock Lewes
and Paddy Mayne were two officers Stirling made a special effort in
recruiting, and both would feature prominently in the SAS's history.
Training for the new unit was tough and included explosives, navigation,
parachuting and night movement. Expert handling of all Allied and
Axis weaponry was expected and trained for. Troopers were also expected
to be in good physical condition. When in base Stirling expected Guardsmen-like
behaviour and turnout from his troops. Aggression was to be reserved
for the enemy. The unit's famous insignia, the flaming sword of Excalibur,
commonly mistaken as a winged dagger, was adopted after the training
period. The famous beige berets were introduced after a disastrous
white beret was tried. Insignia like this for such a small unit would
have normally been unheard of in the British Army, but General Auchinleck
approved them when he met Stirling wearing the beret and insignia
at Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo. The unit's first mission took place
on 16/17 November 1941 as part of Operation CRUSADER. The mission
continued despite bad weather conditions. Five sites were going to
be attacked. Two aircraft were lost on-route, leaving three planes
to drop troops. In the high winds the sticks were separated, weapons
and equipment lost, the troops landing miles from the planned drop
zones. Only 22 men returned from the 62 that had left. The Long Range
Desert Group [link to lrdg.htm] picked the survivors up, and the relationship
between the two groups was born. Stirling decided that for all future
raids that the L.R.D.G could deliver S.A.S units to their targets
as well as pick them up, and the L.R.D.G were agreeable to the proposal.
L Detachment bounced back from the disastrous results of their first
raid. Moving to Jalo Oasis as a forward operating base, L Detachment
started a campaign of successful airfield raids, mostly achieved by
using the improvised Lewes bombs, excellent aircraft demolition charges.
On 8 December 1941, L Detachment raided Sirte and Tamet airfields.
Mayne's force destroyed 27 aircraft, three lorries, two trailers of
spare parts and several fuel dumps at Tamet. 37 aircraft were destroyed
at Agedabia shortly afterwards by Fraser's force. L
Detachment then repeated raids on the Sirte, Tamet, Agedabia and El
Agheila airfields. L Detachment suffered the loss of Jock Lewes who
was killed by a strafing bomber after a successful raid on Nofilia
airfield. L Detachment returned to raiding in January 1942 starting
with a raid on shipping and fuel dumps at Bouerat port. Two men from
the Special Boat Section [link to sbs.htm] accompanied the SAS team
for the first time. Stirling had been promoted to major and given
permission to enlarge L Detachment by recruiting six officers and
up to forty other ranks. One of the officers recruited was Fitzroy
Maclean who would go on to have a 'colourful' war .
The S.A.S was slowly growing by absorbing other units. In January
1942 the 1st Company of Free French Paratroopers
(1ère C.C.P) under the command of Commandant
Bergé joined L Detachment. In March 1942 the Special Interrogation
Group came under L Detachment's control. The S.I.G were formed by
Captain Herbert Buck M.C and consisted of 12 German Jewish émigrés
to Palestine who had volunteered to operate in German uniform, despite
the expected consequences if caught. Two Afrika Korps prisoners were
recruited to teach current German military procedure. Numbers were
seriously depleted in a failed raid on airfields in the Derna-Martuba
area in June 1942 after one of the ex-prisoners betrayed the party
to the Germans, and by the doomed raid on Tobruk in September 1942.
By December 1942 the unit had ceased to exist due to problems of recruitment.
March 1942 saw a recce of Benghazi carried out, and a series of raids
on airfields in the Benghazi area was also attempted. However only
Mayne managed to destroy any aircraft, blowing up 15 at Berka Satellite
airfield. The Germans recaptured Jalo and the SAS had to relocate
their forward operations base to Siwa. In June 1942, three airfields
on the coast were raided. The Free French S.A.S
Squadron blew up an ammunition dump at Barce. Bergé and Lieutenant
the Earl Jellicoe raided Heraklion airfield on Crete, but Bergé was
captured and a Free French COrporal was killed whilst escaping. Since
December 1941 raids against enemy airfields, fuel dumps and port installations
had occurred every month, leaving the enemy feeling insecure. Stirling
instilled the principles of absolute aggression whilst in the field,
ordering his troops to machine-gun sleeping troops, bombing barracks,
machine-gunning vehicle rest stops. S.A.S successes were such that
the Germans trained security battalions in anti-S.A.S duties to track
and capture patrols after an attack. The Germans knew Stirling as
the 'Phantom Major'. Willys Jeeps became available in July 1942. These
freed the S.A.S from the restraints of the L.R.D.G, and allowed the
S.A.S to mount three to four week missions behind enemy lines. Previously
the SAS had raided during the moonless period of each month and were
inactive the rest of the month. The jeeps were armed with twin .303"
Vickers K machine guns, mounted front and rear (some versions substituted
the front pair of Vickers with a 50 Browning heavy machine gun, and
some had a single Vickers machine gun that the driver could operate).
A water condenser was fitted to the radiator and the suspension strengthened.
Extra fuel tanks gave an extended range of 650 kilometres. Sand channels,
water containers, jerry cans, spare ammunition, camouflage nets, personal
kit and a sun compass completed the load. After a trial run on Bagush
airfield on the first jeep raid, the full firepower of the Vickers
K gun was demonstrated on the second jeep raid. Sidi Haneish airfield
near Fuka was full of Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft. 40 aircraft
were destroyed in a hail of bullets; seriously hampering Rommel's
resupply plans for one man killed and two jeeps destroyed. However
Stirling was frustrated by poor intelligence provided by the Eighth
Army, and the problems acquiring resupplies. Stirling and his raiding
forces were recalled in preparation for the ill-fated raids on Benghazi
and Tobruk in September 1942. L Detachment was to raid Benghazi port,
but was spotted on its approach and the raiders withdrew. For the
first 14 months of the SAS's existence Stirling was fighting against
MEHQ taking control of his unit, his unit being merged with other
special forces units in the Middle East, or the S.A.S being used in
a tactical role rather than a strategic one. Participation in the
Benghazi raid had guaranteed Stirling the continued existence of his
unit and its establishment as a regiment. On 28 September 1942, L
Detachment was formally renamed the 1st Special Air Service Regiment.
The SBS had come under S.A.S control after Stirling's lobbying in
August 1942. The disbandment of the Middle East Commando, the last
remnant of Layforce, allowed Stirling to recruit a further 10 officers
and 100 men. 1 S.A.S consisted of 500 men of 1 SAS, 100 men of the
Free French S.A.S Squadron, 55 men of
the S.B.S, and the 114 men of the Greek Sacred Squadron. Greek Sacred
Squadron was formed in August 1942 by officers of the Royal Hellenic
Army who had escaped from Greece after the German invasion. This was
the unit's third incarnation: the first was the Theban Sacred Band
that had helped free Greece of Spartan domination at the Battle of
Leuctra in 371 BC; the second incarnation, the Sacred Battalion had
served in the Greek War of Independence 1821-1829. The name of the
unit came from the pledge of faithfulness that the Boetian lovers
of the original Sacred Band made at Iolaus' tomb. The Greek Sacred
Squadron (or Regiment) had a tradition of refusing no task set it,
and dying to the last man if necessary. It was rumoured that they
expected 50% casualties in a raid and felt frustrated if they didn't
get them. Its motto was 'Return Victorious or Dead' - said to be the
parting words of wives to their warrior husbands departing to the
wars in Ancient Greece. The Greek Sacred Squadron later worked with
the S.B.S raiding the Aegean and Dodecanese Islands by caïque. Stirling
was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, but his independence was crippled,
as 1 S.A.S now came under the control of the Director of Military
Operations through the newly formed G (Raiding Forces) department.
1 S.A.S was also reorganised into an H.Q squadron and four squadrons:
A, B, C (the Free French) and D (the
S.B.S). Each squadron was divided into three troops each with three
sections. Paddy Mayne commanded A squadron which mostly consisted
of the L Detachment originals. A squadron then harassed the enemy
through October-November 1942 from a forward operating base in the
Great Sand Sea, setting out from Kufra. Railway lines, petrol supplies
and airfields were hit. B squadron started raiding from Bir Fascia
in December 1942 but within days most of the patrols had been killed
or captured. D squadron was being trained to use Greek caïques in
Beirut. The success of 1 S.A.S was temporarily interrupted by the
capture of David Stirling in January 1943. Whilst en route to raid
Sousse, Stirling's patrol had lain up in a wadi in the Gabès Gap area,
when a German patrol arrived and started searching. Stirling and another
man were trapped in a cave and caught. Stirling managed to escape
two days later, but was betrayed by Arabs and recaptured by Italian
troops. Stirling's patrol had been part of the last great raid of
the Desert War designed to coincide with Montgomery's attack on Tripoli.
One patrol was to create havoc to the west of Tripoli, a second patrol
was to attack communications in the Gabès Gap on the coast, a third
patrol was to recce the Mareth line between Tripoli and Gabès, and
the fourth patrol was to penetrate enemy lines to link up with the
First Army. Due to the success of 1 S.A.S, formation of a second S.A.S
unit was authorised.
2nd S.A.S Regiment was formed in January 1943, made a few ineffectual
jeep raids in March/April, and became operational in May 1943 at Philippeville,
Algeria. Lieutenant-Colonel William Stirling, brother of David,
commanded 2 S.A.S. He brought some SSRF members with him. 2 S.A.S
consisted of five squadrons: A, B, C, D and a Free French contingent
known as French Squad 2nd S.A.S. 2 S.A.S
never managed 1 S.A.S's initial independence, and answered to 15th
Army Group Special Operations Branch. After Stirling's capture, a
few raids took place, but 1 S.A.S became prey to MEHQ control. In
April 1943, A and B squadrons were brought up to strength and renamed
the Special Raiding Squadron under Paddy Mayne's command. D squadron
became the Special Boat Squadron commanded by Major the Earl Jellicoe.
The Free French returned to French command.
Both the S.R.S and the S.B.S reported to H.Q Raiding Forces. The British
authorities regarded the S.R.S as glorified assault or shock troops,
and planned to employ them en masse rather than in number of smaller
parties. S.R.S involvement in the Italian campaign started with an
assault on a coastal battery at Cape Murro di Porco, south of Syracuse,
Sicily. This was taken easily on 12 July 1943, and the S.R.S were
immediately tasked to take the town of Augusta, which was achieved
with minimal casualties. In September 1943 the S.R.S was tasked to
capture the port of Bagnara in order to cut German communications
and ease the advance of Montgomery's ground forces advancing from
Reggio. The S.R.S's next mission was to capture Termoli, which it
did on 3 October 1943. The Germans launched a heavy counterattack
two days later. The S.R.S and 2 S.A.S were both part of the town's
defences and it was the first time that the two regiments had fought
together. The S.R.S took heavy casualties. However Termoli was to
be the last mission for the S.R.S, in December 1943 the unit shipped
to Scotland for reorganisation. 2 S.A.S's were more involved in the
Italian campaign. 2 S.A.S had taken part in a series of submarine-delivered
reconnaissances of Mediterranean islands in May 1943. During the invasion
of Sicily 2 S.A.S took part in two operations: NARCISSUS and CHESTNUT.
A squadron assaulted a lighthouse in Operation NARCISSUS. In July
1943's Operation CHESTNUT, small parties parachuted into Northern
Sicily to disrupt enemy communications. Disorganisation and poor communications
hampered the mission. September 1943 saw 2 SAS land at Taranto and
carry out reconnaissance and offensive patrolling in front of the
advancing Allied forces - this involved ambushing convoys and blowing
up railway lines. In Operation SPEEDWELL, small teams of 2 SAS troops
parachuted behind enemy lines in northern Italy to cut railway lines
preventing German reinforcements and supplies from reaching the front.
Operation JONQUIL mounted in October 1943 was designed to extract
prisoners-of-war of which there were large numbers wandering the Italian
countryside following the Italian surrender. Not many prisoners were
extracted but the parties operated behind enemy lines for two months.
Three more missions were mounted November-December 1943 to cut railway
lines. Operation MAPLE took place on 7 January 1944, and attacked
railway lines radiating from Terni and Orvieto. Most of the targets
were destroyed but all the parties were captured exfiltrating. Railway
bridges between Pesaro and Fano were attacked in Operation BAOBAB,
which took place 30 January 1944. All the men returned safely. Operation
POMEGRANATE was 2 SAS's final mission in Italy. Six men were dropped
by Dakota to raid San Egidio airfield to aid the Anzio landings. The
party split when it was challenged by a German sentry, leaving two
officers to raid the airfield. Only seven aircraft were destroyed,
but the surviving officer, Lieutenant Hughes, was captured. Hughes
was treated for his injuries in a German military hospital. Befriended
by two German officers Hughes managed to have his status changed from
political prisoner to prisoner-of-war, and advised to escape rather
than be shot as a saboteur. Hughes escape confirmed rumours that the
Germans were executing captured Allied parachutists and raiding parties
under Hitler's 'Commando Order'. Rommell hadn't enforced the order
in North Africa, but German forces in Europe were following orders.
2 S.A.S returned to Britain in March 1944 in preparation of the invasion
of France. In January 1944 the S.R.S reverted back to 1 S.A.S.
In March 1944 the S.A.S Brigade was formed. The Brigade came under
the command of I Airborne Corps. The S.A.S's sand-coloured berets
were replaced with airborne maroon and French keeps the black beret,
though some veterans still wore them. Bill Stirling disagreed with
the roles being planned by SHAEF for the S.A.S in the forthcoming
French campaign, and was forced to resign as Colonel of 2 S.A.S. Lieutenant-Colonel
Brian Franks replaced him. The Brigade was a 2,500 men strong unit,
of which 2,000 were operational, consisted of 1 & 2 S.A.S, two French
Battalions 4th ( 1st B.I.A renamed 4th) and the 3rd (recruited from
Algeria) - later 2nd and 3rd Regiments
de Chasseurs Parachutistes. The Belgian
Independent Para-Commando Company formed 5 S.A.S. F Squadron, G.H.Q
Liaison Regiment codenamed 'Phantom' completed the brigade. Phantom
was a top-secret unit that was formed in 1940. It deployed to the
most forward positions of the battlefront and eavesdropped on enemy
tactical communications, and then transmitted what it heard back to
the highest H.Q in theatre for immediate intelligence, saving time
by bypassing all intermediate H.Qs in the chain of command. Each Phantom
squadron was divided into patrols commanded by a captain with a corporal
and four soldiers. All Phantom members were trained as signallers,
and supposedly trained to S.A.S standards. The officers were mostly
from cavalry or infantry regiments. Patrols were attached to 1 & 2
S.A.S providing the radio communications back to the brigade HQ in
the UK. 1 & 2 S.A.S relied on these patrols for supplies, explosives,
weapons and ammunition resupply. Operations in France consisted of
two types: the first were small-scale tactical missions carried out
for the 21st Army Group to cut enemy communications in rear areas
or to provide intelligence. The second type were long-term missions
where fighting patrols would raid from an established base behind
enemy lines. These missions could also link up with and organise the
Maquis (the French Resistance), and sometimes Jedburgh teams. When
jumping, the S.A.S parties would jump to a reception party organised
by SFHQ (SOE) or blind. Specially modified S.A.S jeeps were used in
operations. These would be parachuted or landed by glider. Extra petrol
tanks gave a range of 650 miles. Some jeeps had armour plating. The
jeeps were armed with two to five Vickers K guns, or a Bren, bazooka
and a 3" mortar. 1st S.A.S an 4th S.A.S were
the first to see action Operations SAMWEST,DINGSON,GROG and LOST in
Britanny from 5 june to 4 august 1944 against more than 150.000 ennemies.
Some missions were successful, some failures. In Operations TITANIC
I and IV small parties dropped inland of Normandy on the night of
5 June 1944 to simulate a full-scale airborne landing. Its effectiveness
was lost in the widespread confusion of Allied landings. Operation
HOUNDSWORTH operated in the Morvan hills, west of Dijon for three
months from 5 June 1944. Houndsworth's patrols covered 6,000 square
miles, cut 22 railways, killed or wounded 200 Germans, and reported
30 targets for Allied bombers. Operation BULBASKET operated in the
Vienne area south of Poitiers from 6 June 1944. Patrols carried out
ambushes and cut railway lines with Maquis assistance, but after betrayal
and a German dawn raid in which many troopers were killed or captured
the operation was fatally compromised. Operation GAIN started in mid-June
1944 and ran until early August. It was centred on the Forêt d'Orléans.
Betrayals to the Germans and ambushes beset the operation. Operation
HAGGARD centred on Villequis but found few worthwhile targets. Operation
KIPLING was 1 S.A.S's last mission in France. The patrols dropped
into the Forêt de Merrivaux, east of Operation GAIN and northeast
of Operation HAGGARD. The patrols linked up with the Maquis and started
offensive patrolling but the German retreat meant there were few targets.
The significant confrontation was in the village of Les Ormes and
the subsequent raid that saved 18 hostages the S.S were going to execute
in retaliation for the first raid. Due to it's late arrival back in
Britain 2 S.A.S didn't enter the French campaign until July 1944.
Operations SWAN and DEFOE were intelligence gathering operations in
Normandy, but both were quickly overrun by the Allies. Operation GAFF
was planned to kill or capture Field Marshall Rommel at his HQ at
La Roche Guyon at the end of July 1944. The patrol derailed trains
and set-up road ambushes, eventually attacking a German HQ in Mantes.
Operation WALLACE started at the end of July. 20 jeeps and 60 men
drove across France from Rennes to the Vosges Mountains, involving
themselves in hit and run attacks. In the Vosges the patrols were
hunted by the retreating Germans and finally overrun by the American
sin September 1994. The operation accounted for 500 Germans killed
or wounded, 59 vehicles, one train and100,000 gallons of enemy petrol
destroyed in return for seven S.A.S men killed, seven wounded, two
captured, and 16 jeeps lost. Operations DUNHILL and TRUEFORM in August
1944 were again quickly overrun by the Allies. Operation LOYTON was
2 S.A.S's largest French operation. Advance parties dropped on 12
August. The operation's area was Raon l'Etape, west of Strasbourg.
The area was already occupied by retreating Germans, who had brought
their special anti-partisan units to hunt Maquis and S.A.S. The operation
linked up with unreliable Maquis and the operation suffered men captured
in German attacks. Jeeps were air dropped but the terrain limited
their use. LOYTON is significant for the fact that the Germans sent
210 male hostages from the Moussey area to concentration camps for
harbouring the S.A.S. Operation PISTOL was 2 S.A.S's last mission
in France, and its aim was to disrupt rail communications from Metz
and Nancy to the Rhine plain. The mission operated without Maquis
assistance and only managed to cut one railway line and derail four
trains. Large numbers of S.A.S troops were captured but only two were
executed.
In june 1944, 18 sticks of 4th S.A.S were dropped in all part of Britanny
at D+2 Operation COONEY to destroy communication lines and disrupt
the ennemy organization. 2nd Squad/3rd S.A.S
which operated also in Brittany, driving 75 km south cutting railway
lines, forcing the German 3 Parachute Division to move by road which
used scare petrol rather than risking rail travel.
4th (French)S.A.S took part in Operation DINGSON and SAMWEST
, which landed -the firts of all Allied Forces -near Vannes and St
Brieuc on the night of 5/6 June 1944. Within one week of landing they
had attracted more than 2,000 Maquis. The Germans attacked SAMWEST
in first and later DINGSON, but Bretons sheltered the troops. It is
estimated that between 30-80,000 Bretons were trained and engaged
the Germans on rail and road, giving the Americans a trouble-free
advance to Brest in August. The french S.A.S
have operated also in Centre France and East-France and at Christmas
in the Bulges with Belgian S.A.S. The French S.A.S worked with Field
Security in Holland, raiding ahead of the advancing Allied forces,
seizing important Nazis and documents that might vanish in the German
retreat. Operation AMHERST was the 3rd and 4th
S.A.S's last and most important airborne operation of the war.
50 parties,all French were parachuted into northeast Holland ahead
of the 1st Canadian Army. The parties prevented the German demolition
of the Steenwijk airfield and captured 18 bridges in the Canadians'
vanguard. The SAS crossed into Germany in April 1945, and undertook
a number of recce operations. 1 & 2 S.A.S recced the east of Wesel
in Operation ARCHWAY. 5 SAS gathered intelligence for the Canadian
4th Armoured Division as it moved though northwest Germany. 1 & 5
Belgian S.A.S took part in the Canadian assault on Wilhelmshaven -
a series of hit and run actions inflicted casualties on the lightly
armoured SAS jeeps. Strategic operations in the closing months of
the war would have been a waste of resources and a diversion of the
main effort of the war. However the inclusion of S.A.S forces did
give an 'edge' to formation commanders' forces. The SAS were the first
British unit to reach Belsen concentration camp. The S.A.S had advanced
deep into Germany in support of the 8th Parachute Battalion when it
came across the massacre of concentration camp inmates at Celle. They
were then sent to Belsen to investigate before the Germans abandoned
the camp and before the main British forces captured it. In Mission
DOOMSDAY, 1 & 2 SAS were airlifted to Norway in May 1945 to supervise
the surrender of 300,000 German troops. The units spent a peaceful
four months disarming the former occupying forces. Operations in France
had left 53 SAS troopers missing, believed dead. They had been fact
executed on the orders of Hitler, the infamous 'Commando Order' created
in 1942 following Commando excesses. In May 1945 the S.A.S War Crimes
Investigation Team was created and left for Europe secretly to find
out what happened to them. Led by Major Barkworth, the team confirmed
the capture, murder and burial of many of the missing SAS men. It
then located graves, gathered evidence and tracked down the torturers
and murderers responsible across the British, American and French
zones of occupation in Germany and scoured prisoner-of-war camps and
other sources. Several of those captured were hung or sentenced to
lengthy prison sentences in the Nuremberg war crimes trials. There
is also evidence that at the same time the S.A.S War Crimes Investigation
Team was raised, a number S.A.S Hunter teams were also created to
locate and execute German war criminals guilty of killing S.A.S and
S.O.E personnel, but who weren't prominent enough to be prosecuted
at the Nuremberg trials. The existence of the Hunter teams has never
been admitted. At the end of the war in Europe, Stirling was released
from Colditz Castle and returned to the regiment with ideas of redeploying
it to the Far East. Stirling planned to raid the Manchurian railway
in China, and hit Japanese supply routes in Malaya. However the dropping
of the atomic bombs in August 1945 ended the war before the S.A.S
could be deployed. The S.A.S Brigade was disbanded on 8 October 1945
after four years of exemplary service: 5 S.A.S transferring to the
Belgian Army in September, and 3rd and 4th S.A.S
transferring to the French Army at the beginning of October 1945 to
create a new 2nd R.C.P. The S.A.S War Crimes Investigation Team continued
operations until 1949.
