In 1944, the Western Allied invasion of Europe required more than the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy. To keep as many German troops away from the invasion zone, specially trained commandos were needed to cause maximum disruption behind enemy lines. Among these formidable soldiers were the men of Britain’s Special Air Service.
Between June and September 1944, the 1st SAS Regiment carried out guerrilla operations against German forces while working alongside French Resistance fighters. Under direct orders from Winston Churchill, 1st SAS ambushed enemy convoys and conducted various acts of sabotage. However, these operations came at a heavy price, with captured commandos receiving no quarter from the Nazis.
Fighting among the SAS was a young Londoner: Trooper Alec Borrie, who was barely out of his teens when he was deployed to France. Here Borrie, who sadly passed away in May 2023 aged 98, discussed how he survived ambushes, fought alongside the French Resistance and advanced through Western Europe into Germany.
Commando Order
The SAS’s purpose for the upcoming invasion of France was deadly serious. Tasked with performing guerrilla operations many miles behind enemy lines, the SAS’s aim was to disrupt and slow down the advance of German reinforcements towards Normandy. This would allow the Allied forces to consolidate their hard-won gains and bridgeheads in the region during the crucial days and weeks following 6 June 1944.
Denne historien er fra Issue 133-utgaven av History of War.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 133-utgaven av History of War.
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NAUMACHIA TRUTH BEHIND ROME'S GLADIATOR SEA BATTLES
In their quest for evermore novel and bloody entertainment, the Romans staged enormous naval fights on artificial lakes
OPERATION MANNA
In late April 1945, millions of Dutch civilians were starving as Nazi retribution for the failed Operation Market Garden cut off supplies. eet as In response, Allied bombers launched a risky mission to air-drop food
GASSING HITLER
Just a month before the end of WWI, the future Fuhrer was blinded by a British shell and invalided away from the frontline. Over a century later, has the artillery brigade that launched the fateful attack finally been identified?
SALAMANCA
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HUMBERT 'ROCKY'VERSACE
Early in the Vietnam War, a dedicated US Special Forces officer defied his merciless Viet Cong captors and inspired his fellow POWs to survive
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One of the more difficult island campaigns in WWII's Pacific Theatre saw a brutal months-long fight that exhausted Japan’s military strength
MAD DAWN
How technology transformed strategic thinking and military doctrine from the Cold War to the current day
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Humanity came close to self-annihilation with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Broken Arrows’ and other nuclear near misses
THE DEADLY RACE
How the road to peace led to an arms contest between the USA and USSR, with prototypes, proliferation and the world’s biggest bomb
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
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