The Phantom Major: The Story of David Stirling and the SAS Regiment

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David Stirling was an embittered man when the war ended. For the next decade he had little to do with the SAS and relocated to southern Africa. Then in December 1955 Paddy Mayne was killed in a car crash. Stirling saw a chance to rewrite history. Mortimer, Gavin (16 December 2022). "Rogues Heroes: What Prince Harry has in common with the SAS's founder". The Spectator. The most important thing was having a doctor capable of doing their work in an emergency. We did have some good doctors who could perform an operation right there in the sand. Gavin Mortimer. Stirling's Men: The inside history of the SAS in World War Two (Cassell, 2004) ISBN 0304367060 ISBN 978-0304367061 It was Johnny who suggested he write a history of the wartime SAS from the perspective of the men rather than the officers.

One can feel a degree of sympathy for Stirling because he was an ideas man and he was someone who found himself in a situation ie commanding officer of the SAS, who clearly wasn’t cut out for this role. Another fabrication, he says, was the claim he spent a year and a half in Paris in the 1930s being taught by the famous French painter Andre Lhote.

Second World War

The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, direct action, and covert reconnaissance

With an interest in rugby, Gavin Mortimer first got interested in the wartime SAS more than 20 years ago through research he was doing into his hero Paddy Mayne. This article is an edited transcript of SAS: Rogue Heroes with Ben Macintyre on Dan Snow’s History Hit podcast.

David was also in Egypt in the summer of 1941. For the last year Bill had looked out for his wee brother. He had brought him to Lochailort to work as his assistant and then arranged for him to join a commando unit in November 1940. David had sailed to North Africa but by June 1941 he was bored and in search of adventure.

The 6 feet 6 inches tall gambler, innovator and legend is remembered as the father of special forces soldiering. Mortimer also reveals the critical influence that David Stirling’s older brother, Bill, had on the formation of the unit. An early recruit to SOE, it was Bill Stirling who first understood the importance of excellent fieldcraft and training for irregular forces. He set up a training school in Scotland where he taught fledgling Commandos – many of whom would go on to be members of the nascent SAS, including David Stirling and Mayne – how to survive and fight behind enemy lines. Contrary to David’s tall tale of breaking into GHQ, it was Bill who ensured the memo proposing the formation of the SAS, which he had composed with David, landed on the right desks. ‘A disruptive influence’ Stirling was depicted by Connor Swindells in the 2022 television historical drama SAS: Rogue Heroes. [33] Gavin Mortimer called the series SAS: Rogue Heroes "David Stirling’s version of how the SAS was born." [34] See also [ edit ] Everyone had to take chances which gave rise to considerable possibilities of risk and danger, but they were all part of the business really, you had to put up with it.Hattersley, Giles (4 March 2007). "Playboy trying to keep the kingdom united". The Times . Retrieved 1 February 2021. This is an important book that properly explains the early history of the SAS and David Stirling’s true role. It finally gives justified credit to Bill Stirling, Paddy Mayne, and others – not least the influence of the Long Range Desert Group, another one of the ‘private armies’ that sprung up in North Africa. It is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the SAS or the campaign in North Africa. David Stirling: the Phoney Major the life, times and truth about the founder of the SAS

The problems were knowing where you were, and knowing where you could find resources, such as the places where you could find water on a long journey in unknown territory over very bad conditions. In many ways, the formation of the SAS was an accident. It was the brainchild of one officer, a man called David Stirling, who was a commander in the Middle East in 1940. The parachute experiment Stirling was dubbed the "Phantom Major" by German Field Marshall Rommel, and Britain's commander Field Marshall Montgomery described him as "mad, quite mad". He was rumoured to have personally strangled 41 men.It was like being on the sea in a way. You could go in any direction. There was a great sort of freedom attached to being in the desert. There was so much variety – beautiful smooth surfaces, sand, and impassable great sand dunes hundreds of feet high –slowly moving across the desert with the prevailing wind, the sand dunes moving very, very slowly, perhaps a foot every year, but altering their arrangements quite considerably.