The Phantom Major: The Story of David Stirling and the SAS Regiment

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In 15 months Stirling's forces put hundreds of enemy vehicles out of action and destroyed more than 250 aircraft on the ground, plus dozens of supply dumps, railways and telecommunications networks. David Stirling, by contrast, was the “frontman”. He was “quite charismatic and quite forceful and a very good salesman”. In August 1974, before Stirling was ready to go public with GB75, the pacifist magazine Peace News obtained and published his plans. [25] His biographer Alan Hoe disputed the newspaper's disparaging portrayal of Stirling as a right-wing ' Colonel Blimp'. [26] Undermining trades unionism [ edit ] Early: November 1941 – May 1942andIndependent: June 1942 – April 1943theatre selectors in the Western Desertcampaign book. Cost

MORE : Connor Swindells describes ‘intense’ bootcamp in Moroccan desert in preparation for SAS: Rogue Heroes role The Stirlings were friends of the royal family. He was a very powerful figure and no one was wishing through his lifetime to challenge his version of events.” ‘Mystique’ of the SAS Q How do you feel about young people watching SAS Rogue Heroes and learning of the amazing things you did? The 6 feet 6 inches tall gambler, innovator and legend is remembered as the father of special forces soldiering. What Stirling excelled at was drinking and gambling. He spent much of his time in Cairo, whiling away the time in exclusive clubs and bars. He also had a rare talent for self-promotion, which led to his name becoming familiar to Winston Churchill, after Stirling recruited his son, Randolph, into the SAS. Recruiting from the old boy network brought Stirling men he was comfortable with. Mayne preferred to recruit men who were good fighters; it didn’t matter whether they were born well or dragged up from the gutter.We had a bit of a water ration, maybe two pints every day, and if you could last half the day without having any of it then it made life a little bit more hopeful. There was a lot of suffering for those who failed to reserve water for later in the day. If you drank it earlier, it made you much more thirsty. in 1984 the new base of the SAS was renamed Stirling Lines (from Bradbury Lines) in his honour. [30] Following its disastrous opening operation in North Africa in November 1941, it was Mayne who first brought badly needed success to the SAS.

Mike Sadler had been captured along with Stirling in 1943 while trying to cross the Tunisian desert to meet the British-American 1st Army. This article is an edited transcript of SAS: Rogue Heroes with Ben Macintyre on Dan Snow’s History Hit podcast. Lieutenant-Colonel David Stirling was “quite, quite mad”. At least, that was the assessment of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Indeed, while bored in Cairo during the Second World War, Stirling had jumped out of an aeroplane without proper training (or a helmet), tore his parachute on the tail, and hit the ground at such speed he was temporarily blinded and paralysed. Soon after, still on crutches, he sneaked into British Middle East HQ (“I had to use my crutches as a kind of ladder to get over the wire when the guards weren't looking,” Stirling recalled). This one-man mission was carried out for good reason: to evade not only the guards, but also the British army’s bloated administration, and put a proposal directly into the hands of the generals – the proposal that ultimately founded the SAS. Stirling was dubbed the "Phantom Major" by German Field Marshall Rommel, and Britain's commander Field Marshall Montgomery described him as "mad, quite mad". He was rumoured to have personally strangled 41 men.

Misspent youth

The 66 soldiers recruited to the SAS were all commandos, and many came from No 11 Scottish Commando, among them Robert Blair Mayne, from Newtownards. Mayne had played rugby for Ireland before the war, and he was also a champion heavyweight boxer and qualified solicitor. He and Bill hit it off, but David was intimidated and envious of the Irishman. Mostly we didn’t remember killing people because, in our case at any rate in the SAS, we were mostly shooting in the dark at things, or putting bombs on targets and hoping not to disturb the people who were going to be the recipients of them. There’s a mystique that has grown up around them,” he says, “and Stirling in the last decade of his life was able to jump on that bandwagon.”

Nicholson, Rebecca (30 October 2022). "SAS: Rogue Heroes review – is the follow up to Peaky Blinders fun? Does Arthur Shelby like a drink?". The Guardian . Retrieved 31 October 2022. Police probe after plaques stolen from SAS memorial". BBC News. 5 June 2014 . Retrieved 9 May 2018. In 15 months, the SAS put hundreds of enemy vehicles out of action and destroyed more than 250 aircraft. It’s a controversial question posed by best-selling writer, historian and TV consultant Gavin Mortimer in his new book ‘David Stirling The Phoney Major: The Life, Times and Truth about the Founder of the SAS’.Impressed by the success of German parachute units - particularly during the Battle of Crete in 1941 - Lewes endeavoured to set up his own small parachute raiding unit. Having obtained some equipment earmarked for India, he arranged with a few comrades, including Stirling, to make the first jump in the Middle East with little instruction or training. In the 10 years after the war, David had spent most of his time in Southern Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe),” says Gavin, “and he had nothing to do with the SAS. In the book that inspired the series, author Ben Macintyre described Stirling as “one of those people who thrive in war, having failed at peace”. From a clan of eccentric Scottish aristocrats, Stirling had tried his hand at various pursuits. He moved to Paris in an attempt to become an artist, then pledged to be the first man to climb to the top of Mount Everest – despite zero climbing know-how, or the number of actual climbers who had perished up there. Heading to America, he was working as a cowboy – a humble ranch hand – when war broke out.

Bill STIRLING penned a blistering letter to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), explaining exactly how stupid this idea was (among the traits shared by the StIRLING brothers was a talent for extreme epistolary rudeness). Refusing to retract his criticisms, he resigned, to be replaced as commander of 2SAS by his deputy Major Brian FRANKS. David STIRLING believed that his brother had saved the SAS : 'He lost his battle, but the regiment won theirs.' It had been a brave act, supported by many of the men, but it signalled the end of the STIRLING brothers' leadership of the SAS. There were numerous examples in the 1940s and the years immediately after when Bill and David were referred to as the co-founders of the SAS. Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery was quoted as saying: “The boy Stirling is quite mad, quite, quite mad. However, in a war there is often a place for mad people.” The high command approved of what he was doing – they formally approved the 1st SAS Regiment in September 1942 and Stirling was a promoted to Lt Colonel in charge.After the war, Stirling never achieved any real success, other than building his own myth once Mayne was safely out of the way. He got involved in various shady schemes in Africa and other places, often involving former, and sometimes serving, SAS operators, including one to depose the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Mortimer is scathing about how Stirling’s influence in these years ‘corrupted’ the SAS. It was Johnny who suggested he write a history of the wartime SAS from the perspective of the men rather than the officers. It’s a great story. It sets the template for the image of the SAS as skilled, self-sufficient, highly motivated soldiers who overcome all obstacles, beat all the odds, to achieve their goals. But it never happened.