The SAS Pocket Manual

An incredible insight into the origins, training and earliest operations of the special service volunteer soldiers who formed the original units of the world's most famous military force. The Special Air Service was the brainchild of Scots Guards' officer Lieutenant David Stirling, serving with No 8 Commando. He advocated a specially organised, specially equipped and specially trained unit dedicated to the 'unrelenting pursuit of excellence' that could act covertly and operate behind enemy lines to gain intelligence, destroy enemy aircraft and attack their supply and reinforcement routes. The 1st SAS Regiment was officially designated after successful raids against enemy airfields in the Middle East in 1941-1942. In May 1943 a 2nd SAS Regiment was raised in Algeria and would also serve in Sicily and Italy. SAS troopers were at the forefront of the action on D-Day, serving behind the enemy lines, assisting the French Resistance in diversionary attacks and in support of Allied armies. The SAS served with great distinction through 42 significant actions in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany until the end of the war in Europe. This new addition to this bestselling pocket-book series is compiled from wartime and post-war memorandums, manuals and documents. They include unit after-action reports and lecture notes from the centres used to train special services soldiers, gathered from the Liddell Hart Military Archive, National Archives, wartime periodicals and post-war memoirs. The book covers: - training methods - weapons handling - fieldcraft - sabotage training - operations in North Africa and the Middle East (1941-1942), Sicily and Italy (1943) and France (1944-1945)

Chris Westhorp is an experienced freelance editor, writer and researcher. Formerly of Arms and Armour Press and Duncan Baird Publishing, he is a specialist interest in military history and aviation. Chris is the author of The Commando Pocket Manual 1950-1945(Conway, 2012) amongst numerous other titles.

Introduction 1 The Art of Guerilla Warfare: General Principles By C.M. Gubbins, 1939 2 "Offensive Demolitions", Lochailort Fieldcraft Course, 1940-1941 3 Memorandum by Col. David Stirling, DSO, OBE, on "The Origins of the Special Air Service", 1948 4 Secret and Personal Letter to the Prime Minister from Major Randolph S. Churchill, June 1942 5 The American Magazine, July 1942 6 Memorandum by Capt. George Jellicoe, Special Air Service, January 1943 7 War Department Technical Manual TM 9-803, February 1944: --ton 4x4 Truck (Willys-Overland Model MB and Ford Model GPW) 8 The Bren Light Machine Gun: Description Use and Mechanism Manual 9 Looking Back to the French S.A.S. in Brittany, 1944 10 Operations of the 4th French Parabattalion 11 Summary of Casualties Infl icted on the Enemy by S.A.S. Troops During Operations in 1944 12 Notes on the Organisation, History and Employment of Special Air Service Troops, May 1945 Further Reading Source notes Index Acknowledgements and Permissions