In August 1974, before Stirling was ready to go public with GB75, the pacifist magazine Peace News obtained and published his plans. [25] His biographer Alan Hoe disputed the newspaper's disparaging portrayal of Stirling as a right-wing ' Colonel Blimp'. [26] Undermining trades unionism [ edit ] He was sent to America by his mother and Bill who were at their wits end because he was so aimless. He was actually ranching. They had a family friend in El Paso. 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.

Stirling was dubbed the “Phantom Major” by German Field Marshal Rommel, and was rumoured to have personally strangled 41 men. The SAS was founded in the midst of the Second World War in a bid to undertake small-scale raids behind enemy lines and the elite raiding force has been running ever since. Who was David Stirling? 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.

Who was David Stirling and how did the idea for the SAS come about?

Business was chiefly with the Gulf States. He was linked, along with Denys Rowley, to a failed attempt to overthrow the Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 1970 or 1971. Stirling was the founder of “ private military company” KAS International, also known as KAS Enterprises. [23]

But was the Perthshire-born officer really a military genius, or was he in fact a shameless self-publicist who manipulated people, and the truth, for his own ends? Analysis of character Stirling was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and the SAS was expanded into a regiment. According to Gavin Mortimer, it was a move by top brass to keep better control of Stirling and his operations. “He might have been the Phantom Major to the British tabloids but to his soldiers, Stirling was a liability who had repeatedly gambled with their lives in his pursuit of glory,” wrote Mortimer. There are parts of his closely guarded personal life that Mortimer briefly touches on towards the end of the book that help explain Stirling’s unease with himself and why he was such an awkward youth and unfulfilled adult. You can sympathise with why David Stirling so assiduously took most of the credit for the creation of the SAS for himself. The Special Air Service (SAS) is famous around the world. Its highly trained men are renowned for their skills in covert surveillance, close-combat fighting, and hostage rescue.Bill’s expertise was soon in demand elsewhere. He was sent to Egypt in January 1941 on a top-secret mission but once in the Egyptian capital he came to the attention of the high command. Lt-General Arthur Smith, the chief of the general staff, hired Bill as his personal assistant. Smith’s boss was General Archibald Wavell, the commander in chief of British forces in North Africa.