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05:10airfields and supply dumps
05:21attempts to disrupt them through commando raids from the sea had failed
05:25because axis forces were too alert
05:32also the Royal Navy's Mediterranean fleet could not spare the ships for
05:35major amphibious operations
05:42its priority was to keep the still powerful Italian fleet at bay
05:49the Navy was also struggling to keep Tobruk
05:52as well as the strategically important island of Malta supplied
05:55in the face of constant axis air attacks from both Italy and North Africa
06:07sterling concluded that a possible alternative was small groups of men which
06:12would be infiltrated through the axis lines not only would the enemy find it
06:16more difficult to detect them but they were capable of causing as much damage to
06:20supply dumps and airfields as larger bodies
06:33for his reading force to be effective sterling believe that it must be responsible for its own training
06:39and be directly answerable to the commander in chief Middle East
06:43he also proposed that his force should be sent in by parachute and operate in conjunction with any future
06:49British offensive
06:54once out of hospital sterling decided that if he submitted his proposal through normal channels
06:59it would merely get lost in the bureaucracy that was headquarters Middle East
07:05he decided that a direct approach to the very top was the only way to get his ideas considered
07:13sterling therefore went in person to general Neil Ritchie
07:16the deputy chief of staff of headquarters Middle East
07:19and handed him his pencil written memorandum
07:22which he was impressed he assured sterling that he would show it in person to the commander in chief
07:27general Sir Claude Orkinlec
07:30Orkinlec also liked sterling's ideas
07:32and authorised him to recruit a force of six officers and sixty soldiers from the commandos in the Middle East
07:38thus the SAS was born
07:46David sterling now had his commander in chief's approval for his special force
07:50next he needed a name for it and to choose his man
07:58the name was the idea of Brigadier Dudley Clark
08:01who was in charge of deception operations in the Middle East
08:04it arose out of a plan to convince the axis that the British had a large airborne force in the
08:09area
08:11sterling's sixty-six officers and men were rather grandly titled
08:14L Detachment Special Air Service Brigade
08:25Stirling's recruitment methods were informal
08:27he was looking for men who could cope with the sort of deep penetration warfare he had in mind
08:33among his first recruits was his fellow guardsmen Captain Jock Lewis
08:37a born organiser
08:45Lewis had already gained considerable experience of carrying out raiding operations from Tobruk
08:58another was the pre-war Irish rugby football international Blair Paddy Maine
09:03who was always thirsting for a fight
09:07Maine had operated with number 11 commando during the recent campaign against the Vichy French in Syria
09:20many of the other founder members of the S.A.S. were guardsmen who had been in Stirling's commando
09:30Stirling had not been given anywhere for his new force to base itself
09:33so the S.A.S.'s first task was to steal a camp from a New Zealand unit which was at
09:38the front
09:39after this act of piracy Stirling imposed strict Brigade of Guards discipline
09:47parachute training for all S.A.S. members was a priority
09:50but Stirling had to improvise his own training equipment
09:57he then had to persuade the RAF to lend him an elderly Bombay transport aircraft
10:01from which his recruits could complete their training
10:10aware that his men would be operating deep behind enemy lines
10:13Stirling insisted that they become experts on German and Italian weapons
10:23from the start the S.A.S. was obsessed with being the toughest of the tough
10:32and as David Stirling later explained
10:34its methods and organization were very different from more conventional army units
10:41the whole purpose of the S.A.S. was to be able to live for long periods behind the lines
10:47whereas the smallest unit in the commando was 12 men
10:55in the case of the S.A.S. each troop should be divided down to two subunits of four men
11:04and each should be capable of operating by itself
11:09we were a totally strategic type unit
11:11one man would know a particular amount of navigation
11:15another would be fully trained in medical side
11:19another would have his specialist learning in explosives
11:23and every form of sabotage and so on
11:27each of them were equally capable of doing any task
11:33the magic of having four men
11:37was that it wasn't commanded by any particular one of them
11:42the S.A.S.'s winged dagger cap badge was designed by Sergeant Bob Tate
11:46the motto, who dares wins, was Stirling's own invention
11:51and aptly summed up the aim of the new unit
11:56the S.A.S. soon had an opportunity to prove itself
11:58the British were preparing to go over to the offensive
12:05Orkinlec was planning a major assault, Operation Crusader, for November 1941
12:11which would relieve Tobruk and drive Rommel out of Saranaika
12:17the S.A.S. was to be dropped two nights before the attack
12:20and raid Axis airfields in the areas of Tumimi and Gazala
12:28they would then place demolition charges on as many aircraft as possible
12:38once they had carried out their attacks
12:39Stirling and his men needed to be extricated
12:42and brought back to the British lives
12:48he decided that this was an ideal task for the long range desert group
12:53which had been formed in June 1940 as an intelligence gathering unit
13:02The LRDG used its skills at navigation and survival
13:06to take advantage of the open desert flank to the south of the desert battlefield
13:10to get behind the Axis lines
13:14they would use the same method to collect the S.A.S. after the raid
13:25on the evening of the 16th of November 1941 Stirling and his men were gathered at a forward airfield in
13:31Egypt
13:36the weather was not good with a sandstorm brewing
13:45but Stirling was determined to go ahead with the operation
13:50five Bombay aircraft each containing an S.A.S. group took off
13:58the first operation did not go well
14:00because of the sandstorm the drop was scattered and much equipment lost
14:05the airfield attacks had to be aborted and only three out of the five groups made it to the rendezvous
14:11the remaining thirty-four men were captured
14:15an LRDG patrol duly collected the survivors and took them to an oasis at Jalem
14:20behind Axis lines but deep in the desert to lick their wounds
14:25Stirling himself returned to Cairo fearing that he might be ordered to disband his unit
14:30but he found that the British headquarters was preoccupied with more pressing matters
14:35this gave the S.A.S. another chance to prove itself
14:42for on the morning of the 18th of November 1941
14:45while Stirling and his men were waiting to meet up with a long-range desert group
14:49the main British attack on Erwin Rommel and his Axis forces had opened
14:56it did not go quite as planned
15:05the British armour became involved in bitter tank battles with heavy casualties on both sides
15:17the British armour became involved in bitter tank battles with heavy casualties on both sides
15:23of supply dumps but running short of fuel he was forced to withdraw
15:27he was forced to withdraw
15:37Orkinlech seeing his opportunity to lift the siege of Tobruk ordered a fresh attack
15:46Brigadier Dennis Reid with a motorized column met up at Jalo with David Stirling and his S.A.S. men
15:56Reid received orders to move north and link up with the main attack near Benghazi
16:01he asked Stirling to attack the airfield at Agadabia
16:06an enthusiastic Stirling enlarged the plan to include attacks on airfields at El Aghela
16:12Serte and Tamet
16:14the LRDG would take the S.A.S. to their targets
16:24Paddy Main and his team were able to infiltrate Serte without being spotted
16:28and proceeded to destroy no less than 37 aircraft
16:36After running out of bombs he dealt with his last one by climbing into the cockpit
16:40and wrenching out the instrument panel
16:43The S.A.S. also had success at El Aghela
16:47destroying a number of aircraft
16:49but Stirling was foiled by mines at Tamet
16:51and Jacques Lewis found no planes at Agadabia
16:58The Allied assault relieved Tobruk
17:00and Rommel began to withdraw his forces from Sireniaco
17:07Encouraged by the success of his airfield raids in support of Dennis Reid's advance
17:11Stirling launched a further series of attacks over the Christmas period against Axis airfields
17:19but none of the S.A.S. teams was able to penetrate the German and Italian defences
17:24and the long-range Desert Group Patrol with whom Jacques Lewis was operating
17:28came under attack from Italian aircraft
17:36Tragically, Lewis, whom Stirling regarded as his right-hand man, was killed
17:42With Rommel driven back into Tripolitania
17:45Stirling returned to Cairo
17:47and obtained Auchinleck's backing to recruit further men
17:54Among them was a free French troop under Commandant Berger
18:01and a young officer from the Cameron Highlanders, Fitz Roy MacLeod
18:05who would later lead the British military mission to Tito in Yugoslavia
18:14on the 22nd of January 1942
18:16Rommel struck again, driving the British back to Gazala
18:21as the British retreated
18:22the S.A.S. carried out two attacks on the port of Benghazi and nearby airfields
18:28these had mixed success
18:30Benina had no aircraft
18:32Slaunter was too heavily defended
18:34and only one was destroyed at Barsi
18:37the main airstrip to Berger could not be found
18:39but Paddy Main was able to attack an adjoining strip
18:46Rommel attacked once more at the end of May
18:48driving the British back into Egypt after five weeks of fierce fighting
18:53this meant that Malta could again be attacked from Axis bases in North Africa
18:57as well as Italy and Greece
19:05the S.A.S. was instructed to raid these airfields
19:07together with one on the island of Crete
19:09which was assigned to the free French
19:13carried out in mid-June these attacks again met with varying success
19:17despite this the S.A.S. was now proving itself a valuable weapon in the desert war
19:22Axis troops were well aware of its existence
19:25and increasing numbers were being detached to step up airfield security and guard supply dumps
19:34By now the British 8th Army had fallen back to the El Alamein line
19:38this was the last defensible system before the Suez Canal
19:42since its southern flank was not open but rested on the Katara depression
19:46which lay below an escarpment and was virtually impassable to vehicles
19:52the British succeeded in preventing Rommel from breaking through
19:55but were unable to drive him back
19:59as the fighting continued Sterling was looking at ways of increasing the effectiveness of the S.A.S.
20:05the general pattern was that its raids would be mounted during the moonless period of each month
20:10then the raiders would be brought back to base by the long-range desert group to prepare for the next
20:15one
20:16Sterling decided that this wasted time
20:18and that if his men could subsist on their own in the desert for weeks at a time
20:22they could mount many more raids
20:24but to do this the S.A.S. needed its own transport
20:33Sterling already had a stripped-down Ford shooting brake known as the Blitz Buggy
20:38which he took on raids painting it grey so that it could pass as a German staff car
20:46he now managed to acquire some Willys Jeeps
20:49which had just been sent to the Middle East by the Americans and had an excellent cross-country capability
20:58these were modified some with pairs of Vickers K .303 inch machine guns
21:09others were given an even heavier armament
21:11a .5 inch Browning machine gun together with a single Vickers K in the front
21:16and twin Vickers in the rear of the Jeep
21:26Stirling reckoned that with this armament he could attack Axis aircraft without having to dismount
21:32the chassis was also strengthened and extra fuel tanks installed
21:36a water condenser was also fitted on the front
21:46with the modifications completed the S.A.S. was ready for action once more
21:54it was ordered to strike forward Axis landing grounds in support of an attack that Orkinlek was mounting at El
22:00Alame
22:05Stirling and his men slipped around the desert flank
22:08negotiating their way along the escarpment of the Katara depression
22:16they then met up with an LRDG patrol which was to guide them to their targets
22:25one group led by Stirling and Main attacked the airfield at Bagus
22:38they simply drove down rows of parked aircraft blazing away with their Brownings and Vickers K machine guns
22:44which were loaded with a mixture incendiary explosive and tracer rounds
22:49such was the surprise they achieved that not a single shot was fired at them
22:59the other groups found their airfields more heavily guarded but also managed to destroy some aircraft
23:11at the end of July 1942 Stirling carried out a massed raid on Sidi Haneish airfield near Fuka airfield with
23:18his jeeps
23:2240 aircraft were destroyed the S.A.S.'s new tactics were clearly working
23:38following the success of its new tactics against Rommel's forces massed in front of El Alamein
23:43the S.A.S. was ordered back to its base at Kubrit in Egypt
23:51dramatic changes had just taken place in the command structure of the Middle East
23:55following a visit in early August by Prime Minister Winston Churchill
24:07he had decided that Aukinlech was exhausted and replaced him by General Sir Harold Alexander
24:12General Bernard Montgomery was given command of the eighth hour
24:16Stirling feared that as a result the S.A.S. might lose its independence
24:22but he was able to meet Churchill and convince him of his plans to expand the S.A.S. and
24:27launch more raids
24:28the units future was therefore secure
24:32Stirling was now ordered to raid the port of Benghazi once more
24:35to disrupt Rommel's supply line across the Mediterranean from Europe
24:42he set up a forward base at Khufra
24:44an oasis in southern Libya which had long been used by the LRDG
24:50from there his men set out on the 4th of September
24:53the attack was a disaster
24:55it was supposed to take place under cover of an RAF bombing raid on the port
24:59but the raiders were late and it was almost over when they reached the tower
25:12the garrison was on full alert and a fierce firefight developed in which at least one jeep was set on
25:18fire
25:28the S.A.S. were forced to withdraw and for the next two days the team was repeatedly attacked from
25:34the air
25:3825 vehicles were destroyed
25:44the remainder managed to reach Java where they found enough fuel to get them back to Khufra
25:57however the S.A.S. was not blamed for this failure
25:59and at the end of September 1942 L detachment was enlarged to become one S.A.S. regiment with four
26:07combat squadrons
26:08Stirling himself was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel
26:15Montgomery was now planning to take the offensive at El Alamein
26:19the S.A.S. role would be to attack Rommel's lines of communication
26:26throughout the subsequent battle at El Alamein and the pursuit of Rommel that followed
26:31the S.A.S. mounted a series of raids from its desert base at Khufra
26:35against the Axis lines of communication
26:56one striking incident involved private David Sillito
26:59during an attack on the railway near Sidi Barani Sillito's vehicle was shot up
27:04and he found himself alone with just a water bottle and compass
27:08he set out on foot to rejoin his unit covering 200 miles in eight days before being picked up by
27:15another S.A.S. patrol
27:17such incidents were not publicized because of the S.A.S.'s obsession with secrecy
27:21but rumours of its work and the toughness of men like Sillito was spreading throughout the 8th Army
27:34as the pursuit of Rommel across Libya continued a new campaign opened at the other end of North Africa
27:48On the 8th of November 1942, Anglo-U.S. forces landed in French Northwest Africa
27:55they quickly subdued the Vichy French forces there bringing Morocco and Algeria into the Allied camp
28:04the Allies then advanced into Tunisia to engage the Axis troops which were being hastily deployed from Europe
28:22hopes that Tunisia might be quickly secured proved false
28:25and the Allies were faced with their winter campaign in the west of the country
28:29while Montgomery closed in from the east
28:42the S.A.S.A.S. now began to operate in Tunisia
28:46again concentrating on Rommel's supply lines as he withdrew from neighbouring Libya
28:55but disaster struck
29:02Sterling and his party were lying up in some scrub when they were surrounded by Germans
29:12after a fire fight some men were able to escape but David Sterling was captured
29:17the reputation of the Phantom Major as the Germans now called him
29:21had grown to such proportions that he was imprisoned in Colditz
29:24the supposedly escape proof castle where he spent the remainder of the war
29:32the loss of David Sterling the man who had founded and inspired the S.A.S.
29:36was a grievous blow
29:40but the successes of the unit he had founded and the effect that its raids were having on the Germans
29:45and Italians
29:46meant that there was no question that it would continue its operations
29:57in fact while the campaign in Tunisia continued into 1943
30:01and the Axis forces were being ground down
30:04Sterling's capture led to a reorganization of the S.A.S.
30:09it was divided into two
30:12one part became the Special Boat Squadron
30:14under the Earl Jellicoe
30:16son of the Admiral who had commanded the British fleet at the Battle of Jutland in 1916
30:21Paddy Main took command of the other
30:23which was renamed the Special Raiding Squadron
30:32among the new recruits for Jellicoe's S.B.S.
30:35was Lieutenant Anders Larsen
30:36a Danish merchant seaman who arrived in Britain at the end of 1940
30:42he had joined a secret commando unit
30:44the small scale raiding force
30:46and had distinguished himself in a number of cross-channel raids
30:49when this was disbanded he was posted to the S.B.S.
30:56the Allies now turned across the Mediterranean
30:59Sicily was invaded on the 10th of July
31:06Paddy Main's SRS was ordered to take an Italian coastal battery before the main assault
31:11they not only did this but also captured another battery
31:1748 hours later the SRS landed again and captured the town of Augusta
31:22holding it until relieved by the main force
31:25a new S.A.S. unit
31:27two S.A.S. regiment was also involved in the invasion of Sicily
31:31this had been formed in Northwest Africa by David Sterling's brother Bill
31:37one section of two S.A.S. was assigned to capture a prominent lighthouse on D-Day
31:42this proved easy as it turned out to be undefended
31:48another section of two S.A.S. was parachuted in small groups to disrupt axis communications
31:53the S.A.S.'s original role
31:56the drop however was scattered
31:57and many of those taking part had not been in combat before
32:01little was achieved
32:04in early September 1943
32:06the SRS supported Montgomery's landings in the tow of Italy
32:10by capturing the town of Banyara and holding it for three days until relief
32:17this was followed by a more elaborate operation
32:19Paddy Main's men landed with two commando units
32:23behind the German lines at Termoli on the Adriatic coast
32:27Simultaneously elements of two S.A.S. landed at Taranto
32:31led by Major Roy Farran
32:33a cavalryman who was a veteran of the tank battles in the desert
32:36and the fighting on Crete
32:46Farron then moved northwards with his jeeps
32:48and linked up with Paddy Main at Termoli
32:50the two groups and the commandos held the port until relieved
32:54these operations showed that the S.A.S. could operate closely with conventional forces
32:59as well as on its own
33:04while this was going on
33:06two other groups of two S.A.S. were dropped in northern Italy
33:09to cut railway lines in an operation code named Speedwell
33:21after blowing a number of bridges and viaducts the raiders made epic treks through the mountains of Italy
33:27to reach the allied lines further south
33:29S.A.S. operations continued in January 1944
33:39in support of an attempt to outflank the formidable German defences of the Gustaf Line
33:44the allies landed at Anzio to the southwest of the Italian capital
33:49and further groups of two S.A.S. were dropped behind the lines to attack German communications in the region
33:59In the event this counted for little
34:02as the allies failed to exploit their initial success by rapidly advancing inland
34:07and the Germans were able to contain the beachhead
34:26while the S.A.S. was operating in Italy
34:29Earl Jellicoe and the special boat squadron had been busy in the Aegean
34:33often using fishing boats as transport
34:37in one of the few S.A.S. operations that was actually filmed
34:41the S.A.S. took advantage of the Italian surrender in September 1943
34:45to make landings on islands in the Dodecanese
34:49bringing the Italian garrisons onto their side
35:05further reinforcements were sent
35:06further reinforcements were sent
35:07but the British lacked the resources to sustain the garrisons on the islands
35:11the Germans launched attacks on them
35:13and seized them back one by one during the first half of 1944
35:32the S.A.S. suffered a number of casualties during these attacks
35:36but continued its raiding operations in the Aegean
35:43in the spring of 1944 the S.A.S. was enlarged to brigade size
35:47and concentrated in Britain to prepare for the invasion of France
35:52the special raiding squadron became one S.A.S. regiment
35:55and two S.A.S. was brought back from Italy in March
35:59the original French troop was augmented by two parachute battalions
36:03and became three and four S.A.S. regiments
36:06with the addition of a Belgian parachute company as five S.A.S.
36:10the special air service was now some 2,500 men strong
36:17their task was to be dropped into central France
36:19and cooperate there with the French secret army
36:22the Maquis in attacks on German communications
36:29the first S.A.S. teams were deployed during the early hours of D-Day
36:38the woods and forests in the area proved excellent cover for the S.A.S. teams and their jeeps
36:48the first S.A.S. teams and the first S.A.S. teams and the first S.A.S. teams
36:49using intelligence gathered by the Maquis
36:50S.A.S. jeep patrols mounted numerous attacks on German bases
36:58a favorite tactic was to drive at speed through a German occupied village
37:02blasting away at houses being used at billets or storage
37:21these raids helped to tie down German troops who could have otherwise been sent to join the battle in Normandale
37:32one group was given the unusual job of assassinating Rommel at his HQ in northern France
37:37they dropped on the 25th of July
37:40not realizing that Rommel had been badly wounded in an air attack a week earlier and was back in Germany
37:54the Germans reacted to the S.A.S. attacks by mounting sweeps of the woods in which they were hiding
38:00sometimes the S.A.S. was caught by surprise and had to fight desperate rear-guard actions as they tried
38:05to extricate themselves
38:14one group of 35 S.A.S. men operating in the Poitiers region in early July 1944 were totally surrounded
38:25almost all those who survived the firefight that followed were captured
38:29one wounded S.A.S. man was beaten to death with rifle butts
38:33while 30 others together with an American airman were shot in cold blood
38:42in spite of disasters like this
38:44the S.A.S. operations in the French countryside played their part in disrupting the German rear areas
38:50and helping the Allied break out from Normandy and subsequent rapid advance across France
38:58but with the liberation of France
39:00the scope for independent operations deep in enemy territory declined dramatically
39:05especially once the Allied advance slowed because of over-stretched supply lines
39:10it seemed to some in the British High Command that the S.A.S. no longer had a relevant role
39:20Partly to deflect these
39:22and the S.A.S.S. squadron returned to Italy in the autumn of 1944
39:26there was more scope for the type of operation they excelled in
39:29and small parties were dropped in the north of the country to assist the Partisans
39:34the S.A.S. men hoped to carry out attacks on communications
39:37although German retaliation was often bitter
39:46The S.B.S. enjoyed a happier time towards the end of 1944
39:50when they took part in the liberation of the Greek mainland
40:05but despite these attempts to find useful employment for it
40:09by the beginning of 1945 the future of the S.A.S. was looking doubtful
40:13One squadron was selected for counter-intelligence duties in Germany
40:17especially hunting down war criminals
40:21One and two S.A.S. were earmarked for the liberation of Norway
40:25but the Allied strategy was to leave the large German garrison there
40:29until after Germany itself had been overrun
40:32In the meantime there seemed to be little for the S.A.S. to do
40:39In March 1945 Brigadier Mike Calvert took command of the S.A.S. Brigade
40:45As a veteran of the Chindit operations in Burma
40:48he was an expert in deep penetration raiding
40:50and a forceful advocate for his new troops
40:54After much debate he obtained agreement that they should spearhead the advance of 21st Army Group
40:59east of the Rhine
41:06Five squadrons took part in the final advance
41:09acting as screening forces for the 1st Canadian and 2nd British Armours
41:29But the lightly armoured S.A.S. jeeps were very vulnerable to ambushes
41:33and suffered a number of casualties
41:39It was in one of these ambushes that the redoubtable Paddy Main had his last fight of the war
41:44He came to the rescue of one of his patrols which was in trouble
41:47and forced the Germans to withdraw through the ferocity of his fire
41:52This earned Main his 4th Distinguished Service Order
41:58The S.A.S. jeep patrols finally reached the German naval base at Kiel
42:06As the men gazed in amazement at the destruction caused by Allied bombing to the port
42:11and the naval vessels based there
42:13other S.A.S. patrols were sweeping east and north as the war came to an end
42:35The Special Boat Squadron was also involved in the final Allied offensive in Italy in April 1945
42:46One of its members, Anders Larsen, now a Major, carried out raiding operations on Lake Komaki
42:55During these he won the S.A.S.'s only Victoria Cross
42:59for covering the withdrawal of his men under heavy fire until he was killed
43:07Larsen had already won three military crosses and he was deeply mourned by all who had known this outstanding officer
43:21As the war ended, one and two S.A.S. together with the brigade headquarters and paratroopers
43:27were sent as anticipated to Norway to oversee the disarming of the German forces there
43:38Despite its professionalism and skills, the authorities did not envisage a role for the S.A.S. in the post
43:44-war British Army
43:45and by the end of 1945 it had been completely disbanded
43:55But this was not the end of the story, for the S.A.S. was reborn during the twelve-year
44:00campaign against communist terrorists in Malaysia
44:03The regiment reassumed its role of long-range penetration, developing techniques for parachuting into the jungle
44:14Subsequent campaigns took the S.A.S. to the barren wastes of South Arabia
44:18where it gave active support to the Sultan of Oman and his fight against Marxist insurgents who threatened to overcome
44:24the country
44:27The S.A.S. trained the local tribesmen and led them in battle against the rebels
44:34During the 1982 Falklands campaign, the S.A.S. carried out an operation only too familiar to those who had
44:40served with it in North Africa forty years before
44:44This was the highly successful raid on the Argentine airstrip on Pebble Island
44:48Before the British landings on East Falkland
44:57The S.A.S. men gained total surprise and succeeded in destroying six Pucara and four Turbo Mentor ground attack
45:04aircraft and a Skyvan transport plane
45:10The raid left the Argentines without any aircraft on the islands to attack the landings when they took place four
45:16days later
45:27A decade later, the S.A.S. was back in the desert and again operating deep behind enemy lines
45:34This time in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War
45:38In an extraordinary replay of the battles fifty years earlier, in which it had won its spurs
45:43The S.A.S. used Land Rovers as well as helicopters to disrupt Iraqi communications
45:51A more modern task was hunting down the Scud rocket launchers with which Saddam Hussein was threatening his neighbours
46:03In the years since 1945, the S.A.S. has taken on a variety of new roles
46:08Especially in the field of counter-terrorism in Northern Ireland
46:12When it carried out numerous covert surveillance operations as well as ambushes
46:17The regiment has remained true to the principles developed by David Stirling and the other founder members in the deserts
46:24of Egypt and Libya
46:28Its men continue to wear its famous beige beret and winged dagger cap badge with pride
46:34And competition to get into the regiment is fierce, with only a small number of applicants being accepted
46:44Its actions have almost always been carried out in complete secrecy
46:48The taking of the Iranian embassy being the only time that its troops have ever been seen in action
46:57Above all, the S.A.S. maintains the spirit encapsulated in its motto, coined by David Stirling in the desert
47:04in 1941
47:05Who dares wins
47:35The S.A.S. prophetic
47:36The S.A.S.希он
47:39The S.A.S.
47:54The S.A.S.
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