The Birth of the SAS: Butcher-and-Bolt in a Sea of Sand

Today, the SAS (‘’Special Air Service’’) are as revered as they are feared, with their practices, aims, and methods shrouded in mystery.  Most cannot join, and those who do enter the SAS come predominantly from the British Army’s Parachute Regiment or the Royal Marines. The ordeals all SAS-hopefuls have to undergo are so extreme, that some have even died in their attempts to become members of this elite service unit. One might ask, then, how did the SAS become this revered and feared, even mysterious, fighting force of the British state?

Damien Lewis, in his latest book dedicated to the SAS, SAS Brothers in Arms, shows that the organization’s origins were murky and somewhat ad hoc and that their practices were even more extreme in their early formation during the dark days World War II. Significantly, we learn the SAS appeared at a time of great peril and hopelessness, when Britain, having suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of Nazi Germany, now stood alone in the struggle against fascism when Germany and its allies (namely, Italy) were not yet at war with the Soviet Union and the United States of America.

Desperate times certainly call for desperate measures, and the SAS appeared as such a measure and quickly became a symbol of daring and defiance in a dark and desperate world.  This was not only against the overwhelming power of the Nazis, but also the sclerotic, inflexible British military establishment which refused to adapt and learn from its defeats and mistakes, still aiming to do everything by the (old) book while their opponents had adapted to new forms of combat which allowed for tremendous success even when outnumbered and fighting with inferior equipment. The SAS was an innovative response to the needs of a new global war.

It is not surprising that the idea of an organization such as the SAS was conceived by Winston Churchill, ever the romantic adventurer of daring and innovation. From the start, the SAS were treated by the top brass as a “private army with distinctly piratical intentions…cut-throats and raiders of the thug variety.’’ After Britain’s crushing defeat in France, for which Churchill blamed the Allies’ defensive strategy, he was of the view a more offensive approach was the answer to Britain’s wartime ills. Inspired by the Boer guerillas he himself had faced in his youth, Churchill’s vision was of “units capable of striking deep into enemy territory, leaving a trail of German corpses behind.’’ They were to be formations of “specially trained troops of the hunter class…to strike wherever the enemy was vulnerable, delivering ‘a reign of terror of a butcher and bolt kind.’”

In this context, it was only natural that one of the first officers of the SAS, whose exploits would ensure his legendary status, would be the solicitor Paddy Mayne, described by his superior officers who trained him as “unpromising material for a combat regiment, undisciplined, unruly and generally unreliable.” The volunteers, both with officers’ commissions and those in the ranks, would have also fit this description perfectly. This new regiment and way of doing things transcended class, ethnicity (most of the SAS were Scottish or Irish rather than English, though there was a whole French regiment and even anti-Nazi Germans in the ranks), and status; all that mattered was ability, initiative, flexibility of mind and, above all, an affinity towards waging “ungentlemanly warfare.” Anyone could join if they passed the extreme tests to become members.

The SAS, upon their formation, first started their exploits in North Africa. Initially, this was against the Vichy French and the Italians, though later they would face Rommel’s formidable Afrika Korps where they would win renown for their actions. They engaged in sabotage deep behind enemy lines, destroying airplanes and military materiel, as well as dispatching any enemy soldier unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They would then escape almost unnoticed, sometimes having taken prisoners with them too! As Lewis explains, “in all they did, they would be challenged to think the unthinkable and to do the unexpected.”

The SAS’ strategy was one of concealment and patient waiting, followed by bouts of “instant aggression and force.” Despite the legendary memory of the SAS, the SAS’ first operations were often tragic failures. Their initial campaigns in North Africa were plagued by misfortune, and they lost, very early on, one of their most prominent founding officers: Eoin McGonigal. McGonigal’s disappearance would haunt Paddy Mayne for the rest of the war and Mayne found it difficult to write to his friend’s parents about his fate. As Lewis implies, it is not the case that Mayne was a rough and tough bruiser concealing a gentle soul, but rather his struggles were a testament to the unique form of camaraderie and loyalty these men shared.

The SAS’ early failures and losses, however, did not lead to a loss of heart. On the contrary, their raids became evermore daring and violent which established their legacy for posterity once they became triumphant. For example, David Stirling, another legendary founding officer of the SAS and the best-connected and most blue-blooded of them all, came across a German guard hut during one of his raids of German and Italian airfields. There were around 30 guards sleeping in the hut, and, upon realizing this, Stirling threw a grenade right in the middle of them. By his own account, he had “wiped out the guard.” These methods were as novel as they were brutal and were later criticized as being “over-callous execution in cold blood of the enemy’’ and amounting to “ruthlessness to the point of callousness.” Mayne himself had killed several German pilots in cold blood, silently with a knife, before planting bombs on their planes.

Lewis describes how the SAS became more and more effective as the war progressed. To give a sense of the damage the SAS visited upon the Axis forces in North Africa, a team of 5 men (4 of whom were Free French members of the SAS) had managed to damage and destroy as many as 70 planes in their raid on Heraklion airbase. So effective and efficient had they become, and the damage they caused so great, that Rommel felt compelled to divert men and resources specifically to counteract the SAS.

Despite their growing successes, they were still viewed with suspicion and even derision by regular army officers, including figures such as Field Marshal Montgomery, who tended to over-emphasize their failures and unconventional methods rather than praise their exceptional success and brave conduct which aided his army significantly. There were quite a few occasions where Mayne and Stirling had to fight for the SAS’ very survival, though not against the Germans but their own superiors and the broader army’s bureaucratic machine. Had they not had Churchill’s personal backing, they would have likely been disbanded much to the detriment of the Allied war effort. Thankfully, Churchill’s good sense prevailed.

Lewis’ book reads more like an adventure novel than a work of popular military history which makes it exceptionally worthwhile to the lay reader. Above all, this is story of defiance, loyalty, and extreme violence at a time of great peril.  There is to be a sequel of this book, planned for this autumn, detailing the SAS’s first daring missions in Axis-occupied Western Europe and, judging by the quality of the contents and the style of the latest instalment of the SAS saga, it too will likely be one to look forward to with great anticipation. Anyone with a love for World War II, the SAS, and military history will find an enjoyable read in SAS Brothers in Arms.

SAS Brothers in Arms: Churchill’s Desperadoes: Blood-and-Guts Defiance at Britain’s Darkest Hour
By Damien Lewis
London: Quercus, 2022; 386 pp.

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