Heroes Of The SAS: True Stories Of The British Army's Elite Special Forces Regiment

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Killing Rommel is a fictionalized story, based on real events of World War 2. Told in the style of a first person memoir, the story features a mission by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) to assassinate the German general before his Panzer divisions could sweep into the Middle East oil fields.

Mr. Macintyre has written a well-researched and engaging look at the British Special Air Service (SAS – the forerunner of modern Special Forces) in World War II. He follows them from their inception in the Egyptian Desert, the expansion into 2 regiments with different nationalities - although the author focuses on the British contingent, their work in the Italian campaign and finally their support of the D-Day landings and the final campaigns in Germany. Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount.The essence of an SAS soldier is the ability to stare death in the face and keep staring – for days and even months on end. Well, it’s typical SAS – let’s get down the pub and get pissed. Once you are on the booze you can tell us the story down there! So that is basically what happens. I enjoyed the story telling of these characters and what happened leading up to Desert Storm. This book is well written, well researched and uses fictitious names (obviously). I enjoyed the stories about Cambodia, Kuwait and even operations on the Australian mainland. NetGalley, Liz Pegler

Only 21 of 55 men return from the mission, having never fired a shot or caused any damage. Things go better later and the SAS grows into a formidable force, striking from the shadows and disappearing into the vast deserts. The men and the stories are epic, daring, crazy. Toward the end of the desert campaign, Stirling is captured by the Germans as he tries to link up with the US forces from Operation Torch. This had a major, negative impact on the SAS in the Italian campaign.

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In all this was a very good book with only a few slow spots. Having served in both heavy mechanized Army units and special operations units, I do not think that Ben MacIntyre puts the role of the SAS fully into context with regard to the wider war. There is no doubt that the SAS made a real contribution, especially in North Africa, but it was the many thousands of regular British, US, and French Army tank and artillery and infantry units that won the war. The SAS did make permanent the idea that "irregular" forces, deployed correctly, can carry out lightning strikes that disorient or demoralize the enemy, and in certain cases, they can carry out "surgical strikes" to capture or destroy an important target. Their legacy is the many special operations units which have been established in Canada, Australia, France, and in the US (Delta Force). Those kinds of units have a valid place in the inventory of great nation's military units, but they can't be expected to do everything, or to perform miracles, as Hollywood so likes to make it seem. To use a current example, the outcome of the war in Ukraine is being determined by artillery and tanks, not by special operators. He also notes that while the history of the SAS is a “rattling adventure story,” he sought to reveal the “psychology of secret, unconventional warfare,” and the “reactions of ordinary people in extraordinary wartime circumstances.” Above all, he notes, “This is a book about the meaning of courage.”

Overall, The SAS ‘Deniables’ offers a rare and fascinating glimpse into the covert world of intelligence and special operations, and is a must-read for anyone interested in military history or international relations. If you work with big data, then you probably work with a lot of text. The third book on our list is for anyone who handles unstructured data. This book focuses on practical solutions to real-life problems. You’ll learn how to collect, cleanse, organize, categorize, explore, analyze, and interpret your data. In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, came up with a plan that was radical and entirely against the rules: a small undercover unit that would inflict mayhem behind enemy lines. An honorable mention also goes to the SAS Certification Guides. They are a great way to study for the certification exams for the SAS Certified Specialist: Base Programming and SAS Certified Professional: Advanced Programming credentials. As the Desert War ends, Mr. Macintyre looks at how the SAS was used in Italy. He feels that they were misused, becoming a much more conventional assault force and taking very heavy casualties as a result.A current neighbour, Chris (another kid destined for Borstal), was rescued by an Army recruitment officer in south London.

My school friend's dad became a Sufi – an adherent of the mystical branch of Islam that Cat Stevens embraced. It was his way of reconciling the dual aspect of his character. He was, he discovered, both a warrior and a deeply spiritual person. I have heard of some ex-SAS men who have turned to drink or drugs (which is rare), but it's more common for them to seek isolation and a simple life deep in the Herefordshire countryside – or even to turn to religion. I know that many of you from the SAS say that it is really impossible for civilians to understand the type of situations you go through, but can you try and describe what it is like.But while attempting to be accepted as a don at Oxford's Worcester College, he finds fate has other plans for him.