David Stirling: Founder Of The Sas: The Authorised Biography of the Founder of the SAS

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Interestingly, Mortimer suggests Fraser was omitted because he was “gay and a constant reminder to Stirling of his own great secret”. Softly-spoken but fierce in action, Mayne inspired utter devotion among his men; but within David Stirling he aroused envy, bitterness and hatred.

Together the brothers drafted an idea for a parachute unit, which they presented to HQ and was accepted.His invention, the War Office Selection Board, has stood the test of time and is largely unchanged since its creation during the war. Small wonder that even his own brother Bill thought he would be better off in a prisoner-of-war camp. 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.

In North Africa, in the 15 months before Stirling's capture, the SAS had destroyed over 250 aircraft on the ground, dozens of supply dumps, wrecked railways and telecommunications, and had put hundreds of enemy vehicles out of action. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The first Jeep-borne airfield raid occurred soon after acquiring the first batch of Jeeps in June 1942, when Stirling's SAS group attacked the Italian-held Bagush airfield along with two other Axis airfields all in the same night.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. 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. Prior to Schurch’s court-martial for treachery in late 1945, Stirling denied he had revealed any sensitive information. Watchguard International Ltd was a private military company, registered in Jersey in 1965 by Stirling and John Woodhouse.

He got involved in various shady schemes in Africa and other places, often involving former, and sometimes serving, SAS operators, including one to depose the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. 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. Thread by thread, Mortimer unpicks the myth of Stirling’s life and war service that the subject and his fawning admirers had so carefully constructed, both during and after the war.

He also fabricated his back story, claiming he was training to be the first man to climb Mount Everest before the war dashed his dream.

Cautious when speaking to the Italians, he was “vain and voluble” in conversation with a fellow “captive”, Captain John Richards. As well as appearing on numerous TV and radio programmes, Gavin has acted as a consultant to a number of documentaries including the BBC three-part series about the wartime SAS. This is an important book that properly explains the early history of the SAS and David Stirling’s true role. He invented anecdotes to bolster his daredevil alter ego, such as breaking into Middle East HQ to thrust his plans for the SAS into the hands of a startled senior officer. The first operation of the new SAS was to steal from a nearby well-equipped New Zealand regiment various supplies including tents, bedding, tables, chairs and a piano.

David was poor with firearms, and his strange decision-making, leading to poor operational outcomes on pointless raids he insisted on carrying out, did not endear him to Mayne and other soldiers under his command. Virginia Cowles's The Phantom Major 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 fascinating insight into the early years of the SAS.