Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Caption says "British SAS back from a 3-month patrol of North Africa in 1943"
I don't see a radio. One would think that it would be important for reporting back intelligence (or calling for help).
Tough looking crew. Note all the Jerry cans (jeep got poor mileage) and the knife.
There are at least three photo's taken of this scene.. another is on the cover of "The SAS in WW ll" an illustrated history... on the right of this particular version of the scene is David Stirling who conceived and commanded the SAS and driving is "Mac" Edward Macdonald ("McDonald") ... Mac is wearing the F&S fighting knife ... I knew Mac as he was associated with my former unit for a number of years when he resided in Toronto. A very large (approx.) 10x10 ft enlargement of Ganderite's picture is in the Musée royal de l'Armée et d'Histoire Militaire in Brussels. And another (as Ganderite knows) is in the "Artists Rifles Clubhouse in Bisley England ... Artists Rifles are today the 21 SAS ... interesting story.
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The Vickers K does not seem to exist in the modern age apart from a few in museum collections. Vickers made a lot of various machine guns which were used in WWII and none of these seem to have survived into the modern age (apart from scattered museum pieces) either.
Thanks for the info on the pic AP, very interesting!
Thanks for the info on the pic AP, very interesting!
From what I recall of the exploits of the formative SAS in North Africa... Radioing back intelligence was somewhat secondary to their role. They were primarily raiders, and could be kept track of by the smoke coming from the burning aircraft they shot up when they found an impromptu German airfield.
Radio messages were fairly easily intercepted at this point in the technology game, so the SAS largely avoided them in favour of stealth. They would spend days or weeks on end going from cover to cover getting close to an airfield, and then race in when all the aircraft were on the ground and lay into them with the Vickers guns, as well as shooting up as much of the fuel supply as they could. They had a very high tracer ratio in those guns explicitly for lighting up fuel dumps.
It had both a strategic and moral effect. It truly exacerbated the German fuel supply and aircraft shortages. Kept a lot of aircraft on the ground instead of in the sky causing trouble. And German airmen came to truly fear the little Jeeps that always seemed to come in from the "wrong" direction in the middle of the night.
Possibly but not necessarily ... most/many of these guys answered Sterling's message to join his new unit and came from other outfits; Mac at least told me he was serving in the far east when he heard that Sterling was looking for people and arranged a transfer. I dont know but it is possible he earned jump wings while serving somewhere else prior to joining Sterling's group...
a man of your age and wisdom should know better, the SAS doesnt call for help, or aquire intelligence, they are sent somewhere and upon their return the enemy is no longer in the area they were sent. they are tough as nails afterall.
Half of them are probably filled with water, both to drink and to use in the radiator if needed.
One story that I have heard - which if true certainly indicates the size of their "balls" - on one long patrol they watched a German convoy at night (and under black-out conditions) proceeding down a road. They waited until there was a break in the convoy and shuffled their troop into the gap then carried on, in the dark, in convoy with the German vehicles. Apparently it was not uncommon for the Germans to use captured vehicles so .......this would be a great way to make some tracks in a hurry behind enemy "lines" without being challenged.
I guess dropping out of the convoy before they hit a more fortified position took the same kind of ingenuity and balls! Although I suppose if any German vehicles behind them followed after them .. they might be in for a rude surprise!
I guess dropping out of the convoy before they hit a more fortified position took the same kind of ingenuity and balls! Although I suppose if any German vehicles behind them followed after them .. they might be in for a rude surprise!
Your argument is fallacious. I have sympathy for the victims of war, regardless of which "side" they were on, as they were all victims. The important distinction is the word victim. Do I have sympathy for German soldiers? Not really. They were not victims, rather participants. I fail to see the difference between a Londoner killed by a German bomb and a Dresdener killed by an Allied bomb. Making a comparison to me and a "hug a thug Liberal" is just wrong, and, as mentioned, fallacious. I stand by my comment, your post was snide.
dgradinaru
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- British Columbia
German Soldier ( Summer of 1940)
Theres some great photo on this site I found, many I have not seen around as main stream photo's.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281686151668778152/
scroll down the page to find lots of interesting pictures.
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Actually they are experts in gathering intelligence. They could be carrying out an intelligence operation in Calgary right now and no one would know about it. I heard a story that during the Falklands war, SAS camped out on the Argentine mainland at the air force bases and sent messages when ever a strike plane took off. Apparently they got out through Chile!
After the Falklands War our pistol club had a briefing by a SAS soldier who had been there. This was the second time I had heard a presentation from someone who had been there.
The SAS presentation was very down to earth, and bloody. I recall him talking about them raiding an airfield.
He said he carried a M16 and he thought the Argies had the better rifle, the FN. Not so much the rifle, but the caliber. The terrain was very rocky and the 7.62 bullets kicked up a lot of rock chips that take a guy out of the fight.
well you 've apparently already figured it out! So much for their covert operations in Canada!!
Anyway the SAS are everywhere: if I had a nickel for every overweight chip eating Brit that confided in me that he was....(looking over his shoulder) "ex-SAS" ; I would be a very rich man. Just once I'd like to meet a Brit who claims to have served as box stock infanteer or wore a full beard because he was a former Pioneer and proud of it.
