History of the SAS
This is the extraordinary, secretive story of how the SAS evolved from an unconventional handful of soldiers, operating behind enemy lines in North Africa in 1941, into the world’s most disciplined and respected professionals, up to their daring and dangerous exploits in the Iranian Embassy siege and the Falkland Islands.
We see them during the latter years of the Second World War, in the numerous post-war security campaigns in the Middle and Far East, and in the difficult circumstances of urban terrorism. Above all, we see how the regiment’s founder David Stirling’s emphasis on The Man has not changed at all.
Here indeed are men who dare to excel - and in General Strawson they have a worthy chronicler of their remarkable activities both in wartime and in the “savage wars of peace”. In the first history of the SAS ever published, we see their unique courage on full display - a courage that changed the British Army, and the world.
Major-General John Strawson CBE was a British Army officer, best known for his service during the Second World War in the Middle East and Italy, and afterwards in Germany and Malayasia. In civilian life he became a prolific author, writing around a dozen books of military history and biography, including studies of the British Army.