By Ben Macintyre
August 29, 2023
In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, came up with a plan that was radical and entirely against the rules: a small undercover unit that would inflict mayhem behind enemy lines.
Despite intense opposition, Winson Churchill personally gave Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he could find. So began the most celebrated and mysterious military organization in the world: the SAS.
It was 75 years later that the SAS finally decided to tell its astonishing story. It opened its secret archives for the first time, granting the acclaimed historian Ben Macintrye full access to a treasure trove of unseen reports, memos, diaries, letters, maps and photographs, as well as free rein to interview surviving Originals and those who knew them.
