Stirling's Men

Stirling's Men PDF Author: Gavin Mortimer
Publisher: Canelo
ISBN: 1835980600
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 545

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Book Description
The story of the greatest Special Forces unit the world has ever seen, told by the men who fought together. In 1941, maverick officer David Stirling – adventurer, gambler, rake – created the Special Air Service. The soldiers came from all walks of life: miners, desert explorers, Guardsmen, bored clerks in the pay corps. All felt frustrated by the conventional army and were determined to make their mark on the war. Together they created a tradition that would survive the capture of their leader, the death of so many of their comrades and even the disbanding of the SAS after the end of the war. With the co-operation of the regimental association, Gavin Mortimer interviewed nearly sixty veterans, including many of the desert ‘Originals’, many of whom had never before revealed their role. They spoke openly, with honesty and humour, about life in the SAS; the gruelling training that broke all but the toughest; the thrill of raiding desert airfields; the danger of parachuting into occupied France; and the fear of being caught by the Germans, knowing that Hitler had ordered the ‘liquidation’ of captured SAS soldiers. This is the SAS at war, in their own words.

Stirling's Men

Stirling's Men PDF Author: Gavin Mortimer
Publisher: Canelo
ISBN: 1835980600
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 545

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Book Description
The story of the greatest Special Forces unit the world has ever seen, told by the men who fought together. In 1941, maverick officer David Stirling – adventurer, gambler, rake – created the Special Air Service. The soldiers came from all walks of life: miners, desert explorers, Guardsmen, bored clerks in the pay corps. All felt frustrated by the conventional army and were determined to make their mark on the war. Together they created a tradition that would survive the capture of their leader, the death of so many of their comrades and even the disbanding of the SAS after the end of the war. With the co-operation of the regimental association, Gavin Mortimer interviewed nearly sixty veterans, including many of the desert ‘Originals’, many of whom had never before revealed their role. They spoke openly, with honesty and humour, about life in the SAS; the gruelling training that broke all but the toughest; the thrill of raiding desert airfields; the danger of parachuting into occupied France; and the fear of being caught by the Germans, knowing that Hitler had ordered the ‘liquidation’ of captured SAS soldiers. This is the SAS at war, in their own words.

The Stirling Antiquary

The Stirling Antiquary PDF Author: W. B. Cook
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Stirling (Scotland)
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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The Stirling Antiquary

The Stirling Antiquary PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Mar. 14, 1776-Dec. 31, 1781

Mar. 14, 1776-Dec. 31, 1781 PDF Author: Ezra Stiles
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 596

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The Phantom Major

The Phantom Major PDF Author: Virginia Cowles
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1848849648
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
An action-packed biography of “one of the legitimate storybook heroes of World War II” and the special forces regiment he founded (The New York Times). In the dark and uncertain days of 1941 and 1942, when Rommel’s Afrika Korps was sweeping toward Egypt and the Suez Canal, a small group of daring raiders made history for the Allies. They operated deep behind German lines, driving hundreds of miles through the deserts of North Africa. They hid by day and struck by night, destroying aircraft, blowing up ammunition dumps, derailing trains, and killing many times their own number. These men were the Special Air Service. The SAS was the brainchild of David Stirling, a deceptively mild-mannered man with a brilliant idea. Under his command, small teams of resourceful, highly trained men penetrated beyond the front lines of the opposing armies and wreaked havoc where the Germans least expected it. From Virginia Cowles, whose biographies have been praised as “splendidly readable” (Sunday Times) and “fascinating” (Kirkus Reviews), this is a classic account of these raids, an amazing tale of courage, impudence, and daring packed with action and high adventure. Her narrative, based on the eyewitness testimony of the men who took part, gives a compelling insight into the early years of the SAS.

David Stirling

David Stirling PDF Author: Gavin Mortimer
Publisher: Constable
ISBN: 1472134567
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 485

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Book Description
Aristocrat, gambler, innovator and special forces legend, the life of David Stirling should need no retelling. His formation of the Special Air Service in the summer of 1941 led to a new form of warfare and Stirling is remembered as the father of special forces soldiering. But was he really a military genius or in fact a shameless self-publicist who manipulated people, and the truth, for this own ends? In this gripping and controversial biography Gavin Mortimer analyses Stirling's complex character: the childhood speech impediment that shaped his formative years, the pressure from his overbearing mother, his fraught relationship with his brother, Bill, and the jealousy and inferiority he felt in the presence of his SAS second-in-command, the cold-blooded killer Paddy Mayne. Stirling lived until old age, receiving a knighthood and plaudits from military forces around the world before his death in 1990. Yet as Mortimer dazzlingly shows, while Stirling was instrumental in selling the SAS to Churchill and senior officers, it was Mayne who really carried the regiment in the early days. Stirling was at best an incompetent soldier and at worst a foolhardy one, who jeopardised his men's live with careless talk and hare-brained missions. Drawing on interviews with SAS veterans who fought with Stirling and men who worked with him on his post-war projects, and examining recently declassified governments files about Stirling's involvement in Aden, Libya and GB75, Mortimer's riveting biography is incisive, bold, honest and written with his customary narrative panache. Impeccably researched and with the courage to challenge the mythical SAS 'brand', Mortimer brings to bear his unparalleled expertise as WW2's premier special forces historian to dig beneath the legend and reveal the real David Stirling, a man who dared and deceived.

The Battle of Long Island

The Battle of Long Island PDF Author: Thomas Warren Field
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Long Island, Battle of, New York, N.Y., 1776
Languages : en
Pages : 600

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Stirling’s Desert Triumph

Stirling’s Desert Triumph PDF Author: Gavin Mortimer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472807642
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
Specially commissioned artwork, archive photographs and expert analysis combine to tell the absorbing story of the SAS's legendary raid on Sidi Haneish at the height of World War II. The night of July 26, 1942 saw one of the most audacious raids of World War II, just as the outcome of that conflict hung in the balance. In North Africa, a convoy of 18 Allied jeeps carrying Special Air Service personnel appeared out of the early-morning darkness and drove onto the Axis landing strip at Sidi Haneish in the Egyptian desert. Within the space of a few savage minutes 18 Axis aircraft were ablaze; a dozen more were damaged and scores of guards lay dead or wounded. The men responsible for the raid then vanished into the night as swiftly as they had arrived, prompting the Germans to dub the enemy leader, David Stirling, 'The Phantom Major'. Featuring full-colour artwork, gripping narrative and incisive analysis, this engaging study recounts the origins, planning, execution and aftermath of the daring raid that made the name of the SAS at the height of World War II.

The Bomber Command War Diaries

The Bomber Command War Diaries PDF Author: Martin Middlebrook
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473834880
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 941

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Book Description
The essential WWII historical reference detailing RAF Bomber Command’s extensive campaign of strategic bombings across occupied Europe. The Royal Air Force Bomber Command's strategic bombing campaign started on the first day of the Second World War and ended five and a half years later with the final victory in Europe. It was a campaign of such enormous scale that historians have only recently begun to piece together the finer details of the individual raids. Aviation historian Martin Middlebrook and his research colleague, Chris Everitt, were the first to compile a complete review of all the raids and their background stories. The Bomber Command War Diaries not only documents every Bomber Command operation but also details their effects on the ground, drawing on local archives from Germany, Italy, and the occupied countries. It is a groundbreaking work on historical research, bringing together the two sides of Bomber Command’s war. This edition includes retrospective observations and a new appendix.

The Honorable Peter Stirling and what People Thought of Him

The Honorable Peter Stirling and what People Thought of Him PDF Author: Paul Leicester Ford
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Statesmen
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description