The SAS got its name from a bluff about paratroopers who did not exist
When David Stirling founded his unit in July 1941, it was labelled L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade, as part of a deception meant to convince the Axis that a large British parachute force was operating in North Africa. The real raiders would make the imaginary brigade look convincing.
Stirling's detachment fought through the desert war until he was captured in Tunisia in January 1943, when Paddy Mayne took command. The 1st SAS was reorganised as the Special Raiding Squadron and fought in Sicily and Italy, while a 2nd SAS formed in North Africa. Later the brigade parachuted behind German lines in France, then operated in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Hitler's Commando Order of October 1942 meant captured men risked summary execution. The last original member, Mike Sadler, died on 4 January 2024 aged 103.
Once the war was over, London judged the unit surplus and wound it up on 8 October 1945. Within a year the army wanted a deep-penetration commando unit again, and on 1 January 1947 the Artists Rifles, a volunteer regiment raised in 1860, became the 21st SAS. John Woodhouse spent three years helping design the gruelling selection process that still shapes recruitment. A squadron raised for Korea in 1950 was diverted to the Malayan Emergency, where it joined Mike Calvert's Malayan Scouts, and in 1950 the SAS was re-established as a corps.
The regular 22 SAS Regiment went on to operate in Oman's Jebel Akhdar War, in Borneo during the confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia, and against the Dhofar Rebellion, including the Battle of Mirbat. Worldwide fame came in 1980, when it stormed the Iranian Embassy in London on live television and freed all but two of the hostages. The 1991 Gulf War brought its biggest mobilisation since 1945, along with the failed Bravo Two Zero patrol, and in Sierra Leone Operation Barras rescued soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment.
Today the corps comprises the regular 22 SAS and two reserve regiments, 21 and 23, under United Kingdom Special Forces, with the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service as its sister unit. Its roles include counter-terrorism, hostage rescue and covert reconnaissance, and the British government does not comment on it. Former members have reached the top of the armed forces: Charles Guthrie became Chief of the Defence Staff in 1997.
Source: Special Air Service
