Michael Alexander speaks to the author of a new book who thinks SAS founder Sir David Stirling should be regarded as a ‘phoney major’. 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? The Stirlings were friends of the royal family. He was a very powerful figure and no one was wishing through his lifetime to challenge his version of events.” ‘Mystique’ of the SAS It’s a controversial question posed by best-selling writer, historian and TV consultant Gavin Mortimer in his new book ‘David Stirling The Phoney Major: The Life, Times and Truth about the Founder of the SAS’. After the war, Stirling never achieved any real success, other than building his own myth once Mayne was safely out of the way. He got involved in various shady schemes in Africa and other places, often involving former, and sometimes serving, SAS operators, including one to depose the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Mortimer is scathing about how Stirling’s influence in these years ‘corrupted’ the SAS.

But Bill had a business career, was married with a young family: he was everything that David wasn’t. Discrete, modest, unassuming. Q Would you regard what you did as more dangerous than what other members of the military were doing? Virginia Cowles. The Phantom Major: The Story of David Stirling and the SAS Regiment (Collins, 1958) ISBN 1848843860 ISBN 978-1848843868

Who was SAS hero Paddy Mayne?

It was a ludicrous idea. Stirling simply strapped the parachute on, tied the ripcord to the leg of a chair in a completely inappropriate plane, then jumped out of the door. The parachute snagged on the plane’s tail fin and he plummeted to earth, very nearly killing himself. This is an important book that properly explains the early history of the SAS and David Stirling’s true role. It finally gives justified credit to Bill Stirling, Paddy Mayne, and others – not least the influence of the Long Range Desert Group, another one of the ‘private armies’ that sprung up in North Africa. It is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the SAS or the campaign in North Africa. David Stirling: the Phoney Major the life, times and truth about the founder of the SAS

I would say that I am rehabilitating Paddy Mayne who has really had his character assassinated in various books and TV programmes amid a nasty snide whispering campaign,” says Gavin in an interview with The Courier. After his capture, Stirling’s war was over, despite a number of abortive escape attempts, which eventually led him to Colditz. The SAS thrived under Mayne for the rest of the war. Following Mayne’s untimely death in a car crash in 1955, Stirling once again used his powers of self-promotion to create his own myth, appropriating many of Mayne’s qualities and successes along the way. David was brave, charismatic and imaginative, but all he did with varying degrees of success was to put into practice the innovative ideas of his big brother. “Bill Stirling was cleverer than David,” recalled Tony Greville-Bell, a former SAS officer who knew the pair. David Stirling, founder of the SAS on patrol during WWII - he was dubbed the “Phantom Major” by German Field Marshal Rommel, and was rumoured to have personally strangled 41 men 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]Having been dubbed ‘The Phantom Major’ by his German adversaries, they found great delight in capturing Stirling during a mission in Tunisia 1943. He escaped and was recaptured by the Italians.

A small group burst into the officers’ mess and gunned down the Germans and Italians inside, then destroyed 24 aircraft, fuel tanks, an ammunition dump and a line of telegraph poles. Early: November 1941 – May 1942andIndependent: June 1942 – April 1943theatre selectors in the Western Desertcampaign book. Cost Oh yes. They said what a good chap he was, and how sad. People on the whole didn’t think about being killed. We all thought someone else would be killed, but not us. I don’t know why it was. I suspect it was self-protection really. There were numerous examples in the 1940s and the years immediately after when Bill and David were referred to as the co-founders of the SAS.But in an era when pulling down statues is all the rage, is it time to erect a new one? Of Bill Stirling, the real hero of the SAS. 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.

Lieutenant-Colonel David Stirling was “quite, quite mad”. At least, that was the assessment of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. Indeed, while bored in Cairo during the Second World War, Stirling had jumped out of an aeroplane without proper training (or a helmet), tore his parachute on the tail, and hit the ground at such speed he was temporarily blinded and paralysed. Soon after, still on crutches, he sneaked into British Middle East HQ (“I had to use my crutches as a kind of ladder to get over the wire when the guards weren't looking,” Stirling recalled). This one-man mission was carried out for good reason: to evade not only the guards, but also the British army’s bloated administration, and put a proposal directly into the hands of the generals – the proposal that ultimately founded the SAS. Mortimer also reveals the critical influence that David Stirling’s older brother, Bill, had on the formation of the unit. An early recruit to SOE, it was Bill Stirling who first understood the importance of excellent fieldcraft and training for irregular forces. He set up a training school in Scotland where he taught fledgling Commandos – many of whom would go on to be members of the nascent SAS, including David Stirling and Mayne – how to survive and fight behind enemy lines. Contrary to David’s tall tale of breaking into GHQ, it was Bill who ensured the memo proposing the formation of the SAS, which he had composed with David, landed on the right desks. ‘A disruptive influence’ a b c d e f Macintyre, Ben (2016). Rogue Warriors. New York: Crown Publishing Group. pp.48–49, 143–146, 149–154. ISBN 978-1-101-90416-9. We had a bit of a water ration, maybe two pints every day, and if you could last half the day without having any of it then it made life a little bit more hopeful. There was a lot of suffering for those who failed to reserve water for later in the day. If you drank it earlier, it made you much more thirsty.In the 10 years after the war, David had spent most of his time in Southern Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe),” says Gavin, “and he had nothing to do with the SAS. Stirling received a knighthood and numerous military awards before his death on November 4, 1990, aged 74.