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The Regiment

Page 60

by Michael Asher

1. Hamish Ross, Paddy Mayne: Lt. Col. Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne, 1 SAS Regiment, 2003, p. 87.

  2. Wilfred Thesiger, A Life of My Choice, London, 1987, p. 374.

  3. ibid., p. 377.

  4. ibid., p. 378.

  5. Carol Mather, When the Grass Stops Growing, London, 1997, p. 202.

  6. ibid., p. 202.

  7. ibid., p. 203.

  8. ibid., p. 204.

  42. They had become invisible

  1. Virginia Cowles, The Phantom Major, London, 1958, p. 276.

  2. Wilfred Thesiger, A Life of My Choice, London, 1987, p. 380.

  43. ‘Mistakenly overconfident about our security’

  1. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 173.

  2. ibid.

  3. Gordon Stevens, The Originals: The secret history of the birth of the SAS in their own words, London, 2005, p. 174.

  4. ibid., p. 84.

  5. Alan Hoe, David Stirling: The Authorized Biography of the Creator of the SAS, London, 1992, p. 223.

  6. B. H. Liddell-Hart (ed.), trans. Paul Findlay, The Rommel Papers, London, 1954, p. 393.

  44. ‘It’s a bad one this time’

  1. Gordon Stevens, The Originals: The secret history of the birth of the SAS in their own words, London, 2005, p. 211.

  2. ibid., p. 212.

  3. ibid., pp. 85, 213.

  4. ibid.

  45. ‘Will you shoot my brother?’

  1. Stewart McClean, SAS: The History of the Special Raiding Squadron, ‘Paddy’s men’, Stroud, 2006, p. 48.

  2. Martin Dillon and Roy Bradford, Rogue Warrior of the SAS: The Blair Mayne legend, London, 1987, p. 88.

  46. ‘Paddy Mayne was the man’

  1. Gordon Stevens, The Originals: The secret history of the birth of the SAS in their own words, London, 2005, p. 177.

  2. Alan Hoe, David Stirling: The Authorized Biography of the Creator of the SAS, London, 1992, p. 230.

  3. Stevens, The Originals, p. 188.

  47. Those bloody fools back at HQ will one day tell me who I’m talking to’

  1. Carol Mather, When the Grass Stops Growing, London, 1997, p. 71.

  2. Gordon Stevens, The Originals: The secret history of the birth of the SAS in their own words, London, 2005, p. 196.

  3. Derrick Harrison, These Men are Dangerous, London, 1957, p. 19.

  4. ibid.

  5. Hamish Ross, Paddy Mayne: Lt. Col. Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne, 1 SAS Regiment, London, 2003, p. 129.

  6. ibid.

  48. ‘The best crowd he had ever had under his command’

  1. Martin Dillon and Roy Bradford, Rogue Warrior of the SAS: The Blair Mayne legend, London, 1987, p. 88.

  2. Hamish Ross, Paddy Mayne: Lt. Col. Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne, 1 SAS Regiment, London, 2003, p. 105.

  3. Roy Farran, Winged Dagger, London, 1948, p. 203.

  4. Derrick Harrison, These Men are Dangerous, London, 1957, p. 199.

  5. Farran, Winged Dagger, p. 203.

  6. ibid.

  7. Malcolm James (Malcolm Pleydell), Born of the Desert, London, 1945, p. 319.

  8. Farran, Winged Dagger, p. 157.

  49. Never quite lived up to its promise

  1. Anthony Kemp, The SAS at War 1941–1945, London, 1991, p. 103.

  2. ibid., p. 111.

  3. ibid., p. 116.

  50. ‘We don’t think about you at all’

  1. John Strawson, A History of the SAS Regiment, London, 1985, pp. 121–2.

  2. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 83.

  3. Ken Connor, Ghost Force – the Secret History of the SAS, London, 1998, p. 286.

  4. Martin Dillon and Roy Bradford, Rogue Warrior of the SAS: The Blair Mayne legend, London, 1987, p. 93.

  5. Derrick Harrison, These Men are Dangerous, London, 1957, p. 199.

  6. Dillon and Bradford, Rogue Warrior, p. 126.

  7. Cooper, One of the Originals, p. 84.

  8. ibid.

  9. Harrison, These Men are Dangerous, p. 108.

  51. ‘We just picked up our rucksacks and left’

  1. Alan Hoe, David Stirling: The Authorized Biography of the Creator of the SAS, London, 1992, p. 260.

  2. Roy Farran, Winged Dagger, London, 1948, p. 222.

  3. ibid., p. 223.

  4. Gordon Stevens, The Originals: The secret history of the birth of the SAS in their own words, London, 2005, p. 238.

  5. Paul McCue, SAS Operation Bulbasket: Behind the lines in occupied France 1944, London, 1996, p. 117.

  54. ‘For the life of me I couldn’t think what all the noise was about’

  1. Gavin Mortimer, Stirling’s Men – the inside history of the SAS in World War II, London, 2004, p. 211.

  55. ‘A marvellous killing-ground’

  1. Fraser McLuskey, Parachute Padre, London, 1951, p. 151.

  2. ibid.

  3. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 91.

  4. ibid., p. 92.

  5. Ian Wellsted, SAS with the Maquis: In action with the French resistance June–September 1944, London, 1994, p. 66.

  6. Cooper, One of the Originals, p. 92.

  7. Wellsted, SAS with the Maquis, p. 67.

  8. Gavin Mortimer, Stirling’s Men – the inside history of the SAS in World War II, London, 2004, p. 207.

  9. Gordon Stevens, The Originals: The secret history of the birth of the SAS in their own words, London, 2005, p. 258.

  10. Wellsted, SAS with the Maquis, p. 86.

  56. ‘Thank you, Madame, but I intend to attack them’

  1. Roger Ford, Fire from the Forest: The SAS Brigade in France 1944, London, 2003, p. 115.

  57. ‘My wife will be furious if I get myself killed today’

  1. Derrick Harrison, These Men are Dangerous, London, 1957, p. 185.

  2. ibid.

  3. ibid.

  4. ibid.

  5. ibid., p. 188.

  6. Martin Dillon and Roy Bradford, Rogue Warrior of the SAS: The Blair Mayne legend, London, 1987, p. 129.

  58. ‘Why don’t we just fuck off quietly because we’re not going to do any good here’

  1. Roger Ford, Fire from the Forest: The SAS Brigade in France 1944, London, 2003.

  2. Gordon Stevens, The Originals: The secret history of the birth of the SAS in their own words, London, 2005, p. 240.

  3. Anthony Kemp, The SAS at War 1941–1945, London, 1991, p. 190.

  4. Hamish Ross, Paddy Mayne: Lt. Col. Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne, 1 SAS Regiment, London, 2003, p. 164.

  5. ibid., p. 168.

  6. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 104.

  7. Ian Wellsted, SAS with the Maquis: In action with the French resistance June–September 1944, London, 1994, p. 219.

  8. ibid., p. 120.

  59. ‘In the face of enemy machine-gun fire’

  1. Martin Dillon and Roy Bradford, Rogue Warrior of the SAS: The Blair Mayne legend, London, 1987, p. 172.

  2. ibid., p. 169.

  3. Derrick Harrison, These Men are Dangerous, London, 1957, p. 223.

  4. Dillon and Bradford, Rogue Warrior, p. 170.

  5. ibid.

  6. ibid., p. 176.

  7. ibid., p. 172.

  8. ibid., p. 174.

  9. ibid.

  60. He couldn’t believe that he’d actually survived

  1. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 110.

  2. ibid.

  3. ibid., p. 113.

  61. ‘In peacetime a man born to battle has to change his ways’

  1. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 116.

  2. Gordon Stevens, The Originals: The secret history of the birth of the SAS in their own words, London, 2005, p. 321.

  3. Martin Dillon and Roy Bradford,
Rogue Warrior of the SAS: The Blair Mayne legend, London, 1987, p. 147.

  4. Stevens, The Originals, p. 321.

  5. Tim Jones, SAS: The First Secret Wars: The unknown years of combat and counter insurgency, London, 2005, p. 24.

  6. Dillon and Bradford, Rogue Warrior p. xv.

  7. Michael Calvert, Fighting Mad: One man’s guerrilla war, London, 1964, p. 200.

  8. Dillon and Bradford, Rogue Warrior, p. 212.

  9. Cooper, One of the Originals, p. 118.

  10. Stevens, The Originals, p. 320.

  62. ‘The standard jungle-drills must have come out’

  1. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 127.

  2. ibid., p. 129.

  64. A force that would ‘live, move, and have its being in the jungle’

  1. Michael Calvert, Fighting Mad: One man’s guerrilla war, London, 1964, p. 204.

  2. Frederick Spencer Chapman, The Jungle is Neutral, London, 1951, p. 115.

  3. Calvert, Fighting Mad, p. 205.

  65. ‘The Special Air Service, at last, was back in the regular army’

  1. Alan Hoe and Eric Morris, Re-enter the SAS: The Special Air Service and the Malayan Emergency, London, 1994, pp.64–5.

  2. ibid., p. 60.

  3. ibid., p. 59.

  4. Michael Calvert, Fighting Mad: One man’s guerrilla war, London, 1964, pp. 207–8.

  5. Hoe and Morris, Re-enter the SAS, p. 67.

  6. Hoe and Morris, Re-enter the SAS, p. 66.

  7. David Rooney, Mad Mike: A life of Michael Calvert, London, 1997, p. 149.

  8. SAS: The Real Story, Channel 4 TV, 2003.

  9. Hoe and Morris, Re-enter the SAS, p. 73.

  10. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 112.

  11. Rooney, Mad Mike, pp. 102–3.

  12. ibid., p. 151.

  13. Mike Sinclair-Hill, SAS: The Real Story, Channel 4, TV 2003.

  14. Rooney, Mad Mike, p. 152.

  15. Calvert, Fighting Mad, p. 208.

  66. ‘Like a bunch of grapes hanging out of his slacks’

  1. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 121.

  2. ibid., p. 124.

  3. Lofty Large, Soldier Against the Odds: From Korean war to SAS, Edinburgh, 1999, p. 138.

  4. ibid., p. 136.

  5. ibid., p. 139.

  6. Cooper, One of the Originals, p. 124.

  68. ‘The Regiment had got something. You could sense it from the moment you arrived’

  1. Barbara Cole, The Elite: The story of the Rhodesian Special Air Service, Durban, 1985, p. 431.

  2. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 137.

  3. John Strawson, A History of the SAS Regiment, London, 1985, p. 284.

  4. ibid.

  69. ‘He was a coward and had surrendered to save his skin’

  1. A. J. Deane-Drummond, Arrows of Fortune, London, 1992, p. 150.

  2. ibid., p.154.

  3. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 124.

  4. ibid., p. 114.

  5. ibid., p. 81.

  6. Deane-Drummond, Arrows of Fortune, p. 160.

  7. ibid.

  8. De la Billière, Looking for Trouble, p. 126.

  70. ‘There will be nothing left for my squadron at this rate’

  1. Johnny Cooper, One of the Originals: The Story of a Founder Member of the SAS, London, 1991, p. 145.

  2. ibid.

  71. ‘Condition their frame of mind to the extent where negotiations will be successful’

  1. A. J. Deane-Drummond, Arrows of Fortune, London, 1992, appendix.

  2. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 142.

  3. ibid., p. 139.

  4. Deane-Drummond, Arrows of Fortune, p. 202.

  72. ‘We had done it in the nick of time’

  1. Tony Jeapes, interview with the author, November 2006.

  2. A. J. Deane-Drummond, Arrows of Fortune, London, 1992, p. 205.

  3. Lofty Large, SAS: The Real Story, Channel Four TV, 2003.

  4. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 147.

  5. Lofty Large, Soldier Against the Odds: From Korean war to SAS, Edinburgh, 1999, p. 178.

  6. ibid., p. 177.

  7. De la Billière, Looking for Trouble, p. 147.

  8. ibid., p. 148.

  9. ibid., p. 149.

  10. Deane-Drummond, Arrows of Fortune, p. 210.

  73. ‘A great success as a bloody idiot’

  1. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 160.

  2. ibid., p. 161.

  3. Lofty Large, Soldier Against the Odds: From Korean war to SAS, Edinburgh, 1999, p. 217.

  4. De la Billière, Looking for Trouble, p. 235.

  5. Large, Soldier Against the Odds, p. 219.

  6. ibid.

  7. Ken Connor, Ghost Force – the Secret History of the SAS, London, 1998, p. 110.

  8. Large, Soldier Against the Odds, p. 111.

  9. Charlie A. Beckwith, Delta Force – the Army’s Elite Counter-Terrorist Unit, San Diego, 1983, p. 39.

  74. ‘A battle for a man’s mind and a test of his will to win’

  1. Charlie A. Beckwith, Delta Force – the Army’s Elite Counter-Terrorist Unit, San Diego, 1983, p. 17.

  2. Peter Ratcliffe, with Noel Botham and Brian Hitchen, Eye of the Storm: Twenty-five Years in Action with the SAS, London, 2000, p. 41.

  3. John Woodhouse, SAS: The Real Story, Channel 4 TV, 2003.

  4. Nick Downie, SAS: The Real Story, Channel 4 TV, 2003.

  5. Mac, SAS: The Real Story, Channel 4 TV, 2003.

  6. Jimmy Ladner, SAS: The Real Story, Channel 4 TV, 2003.

  7. Lofty Large, Soldier Against the Odds: From Korean war to SAS, Edinburgh, 1999, p. 216.

  8. ibid., p. 213.

  9. Ratcliffe, Eye of the Storm.

  10. Ken Connor, Ghost Force – the Secret History of the SAS, London, 1998, p. 13.

  11. Large, Soldier Against the Odds, p. 126.

  12. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 99.

  13. ibid., pp. 99–100.

  14. Ken Connor, Ghosts: An illustrated story of the SAS, London, 2000, p. 14.

  15. Robin Horsfall, Fighting Scared, London, 2002, p. 104.

  16. ibid., p. 117.

  17. Tony Geraghty, Who Dares Wins: The story of the SAS 1950–1992, London, 1993, p. 502.

  18. De la Billière, Looking for Trouble, p. 235.

  19. Geraghty, Who Dares Wins, p. 502.

  20. Ratcliffe, Eye of the Storm, p. 51.

  75. ‘When fighting for your life, you’ve got to enjoy it’

  1. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 217.

  2. Ken Connor, Ghost Force – the Secret History of the SAS, London, 1998, p. 179.

  3. De la Billière, Looking for Trouble, p. 215.

  4. ibid., p. 217.

  76. ‘I think we should expect to fight to the death for this’

  1. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 230.

  2. ibid., p. 231.

  3. Peter Dickens, SAS: The Jungle Frontier: 22 Special Air Service Regiment: in the Borneo campaign 1963–1966, London, 1983, p. 179.

  4. De la Billière, Looking for Trouble, p. 234.

  5. Dickens, SAS: The Jungle Frontier, p. 181.

  77. ‘One of the most efficient uses of military force in the history of the world’

  1. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 240.

  2. ibid., p. 234.

  3. ibid., p. 245.

  4. ibid., p. 248.

  5. ibid., p. 248.

&
nbsp; 78. ‘The covert and clandestine actions for which it is world famous’

  1. Ken Connor, Ghost Force – the Secret History of the SAS, London, 1998, p. 211.

  2. Ken Connor, Ghosts: An illustrated story of the SAS, London, 2000, p. 143.

  3. Connor, Ghost Force, p. 102.

  80. ‘Purely for training purposes’

  1. Tony Jeapes, SAS Secret: War Operation Storm in the Middle East, London, 1996, p. 51.

  2. ibid., p. 63.

  3. Tony Geraghty, Who Dares Wins: The story of the SAS 1950–1992, London, 1993, p. 186.

  4. Brummie Stokes, Soldiers and Sherpas: A taste for adventure, London, 1988, p. 103.

  5. Peter Ratcliffe, with Noel Botham and Brian Hitchen, Eye of the Storm: Twenty-five Years in Action with the SAS, London, 2000, p. 98.

  6. Jeapes, SAS Secret War, p. 97.

  82. ‘Close with the terrorists and kill them’

  1. Peter de la Billière, Looking for Trouble: SAS to Gulf Command, London, 1995, p. 282.

  2. Ken Connor, Ghosts: An illustrated story of the SAS, London, 2000, p. 143.

  3. De la Billière, Looking for Trouble, p. 143.

  4. Barry Davies, SAS: Shadow Warriors of the 21st Century: The SAS Anti-Terrorist Team, Staplehurst, 2002, p. 34.

  83. ‘Not a very pretty sight!’

  1. Peter Ratcliffe, with Noel Botham and Brian Hitchen, Eye of the Storm: Twenty-five Years in Action with the SAS, London, 2000, p. 3.

 

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