"the hostages held during the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege. The Special Air Service was a unit of the British Army during the Second World War that was formed in July 1941 by David Stirling and originally called ""L"" Detachment, Special Air Service Brigadethe ""L"" designation and Air Service name being a tie-in to a British disinformation campaign, trying to deceive the Axis into thinking there was a paratrooper regiment with numerous units operating in the area (the real SAS would ""prove"" to the Axis that the fake one existed). It was conceived as a commando force to operate behind enemy"
"a unit of the British Army during the Second World War, formed in July 1941 by David Stirling and originally called ""L"" Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade""L"" being an attempt at deception implying the existence of numerous such units. It was conceived as a commando type force to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign In 1944 the Special Air Service Brigade was formed and consisted of the British 1st and 2nd Special Air Service, the French 3rd and 4th Special Air Service and the Belgian 5th Special Air Service. They were to undertake parachute operations behind the"
"the war. The brigade occasionally featured in Clarke's tactical deceptions; such as a March 1941 threat to Axis supply lines near Tripoli. In May 1941, David Stirling, an injured British forces Commando in the North Africa theatre, proposed the idea of small airborne special forces units to operate behind enemy lines. Whilst lobbying for support within Middle East Command it came to Clarke's attention, who offered his backing provided the force could also be used to help his own deception schemes. Stirling's plan received approval in the summer of 1941 and the unit was designated ""L"" Detachment, Special Air Service."
"of the Second World War's North African Campaign. Its original role was to penetrate enemy lines and strike at airfields and supply lines deep in enemy territory, first in North Africa and later around the Mediterranean and in occupied Europe. Stirling established the principle of using small teams—having realised that small, well-trained teams could sometimes prove much more effective than a unit of hundreds of soldiers. The SAS first entered the public eye after Operation Nimrod, the operation to end the Iranian Embassy siege in 1980. The 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment (1 PARA) is part of the British Army's infantry"
"including the Parachute Regiment, Special Air Service, and Special Boat Service. The Commandos were also widely imitated elsewhere: the French Naval commandos, Dutch Korps Commandotroepen, Belgian Paracommando Brigade, United States Army Rangers and United States Marine Raiders were all influenced to some degree by the British Commandos. The first modern special forces unit was the SAS, formed in July 1941 from an unorthodox idea and plan by Lieutenant David Stirling. In June 1940 he volunteered for the No. 8 (Guards) Commando (later named ""Layforce""). After Layforce was disbanded, Stirling remained convinced that due to the mechanised nature of war a"
"in the fight and taken to hospital, were executed by lethal injections while in their hospital beds. The men involved in Operation Bulbasket were part of the Special Air Service Brigade. It was a unit of the British Army, formed in July 1941 by David Stirling and originally called 'L' Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade; 'L' being an attempt at deception, implying the existence of numerous such units. It was conceived as a commando type force intending to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign. In 1944 the Special Air Service Brigade was formed and consisted of the"
"of supplying the ""Afrika Korps"" and Italian troops by air. The terrain in North Africa often made land transport impractical, forcing aircraft to fly between remote desert airstrips to deliver supplies, parts, troops and food. In July 1941, Major David Stirling formed the Special Air Service for bold operations behind Axis lines. Initially dubbed 'L' Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade, the unit consisted of men drawn from conventional British units and given ad hoc, parachute training. The unit was based in Jalo Oasis and gained a reputation for daring raids on German bases, infiltrating them and destroying parked aircraft with"
"was to train and rebuild the Sierra Leone Army. The STTT was initially formed from a detachment from 2nd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment, who were replaced in July 2000 by 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment (1 R IRISH). The Special Air Service (SAS) is a corps of the British Army and part of the United Kingdom's special forces. It consists of three regiments, of which two are drawn from the Territorial Army and one regular regiment—22 Regiment, which was involved in Operation Barras. The SAS was formed by Colonel David Stirling in Africa in 1941, at the height"
"1942, Allied forces were completing the task of planning Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd PIR scheduled to take the lead and make the first combat jump. Operation Torch was the first joint military action undertaken by the Allies in World War II. This was the springboard for the idea, formed by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, of attacking the ""soft underbelly of Europe"" before attempting a cross-channel attack from England onto mainland Europe. The main objective of Torch was to seize French Northwest Africa and, for political reasons, the Americans would lead operation."
"was the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in the 1990 Gulf War. General Michael Rose became commander of the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia in 1994. In 1997 General Charles Guthrie became Chief of the Defence Staff the head of the British Armed Forces. Lieutenant-General Cedric Delves was the Commander of the Field Army and Deputy Commander in Chief NATO Regional Headquarters Allied Forces Northern Europe (RHQ AFNORTH) in 2002–2003. The Special Air Service began life in July 1941, during the Second World War, from an unorthodox idea and plan by Lieutenant David Stirling (of the Scots Guards) who"
"No. 51 Commando No. 51 Commando was a battalion-sized British Commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The commando was formed in 1940, from Jewish and Arab volunteers from Palestine. The Commando fought against the Italians in Abyssinia and Eritrea before it was absorbed into the Middle East Commando. The commandos were formed in 1940, by the order of Winston Churchill the British Prime Minister. He called for specially trained troops that would ""develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast"". At first they were a small force of volunteers who carried out small raids"
"No. 12 Commando No. 12 Commando was a battalion-sized commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in 1940 in Northern Ireland, they carried out a number of small-scale raids in Norway and France between 1941 and 1943 before being disbanded and its personnel dispersed to other commando units. The commandos were formed in 1940, by the order of Winston Churchill the British Prime Minister. He called for specially trained troops that would ""develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast"". At first they were a small force of volunteers who carried out small raids"
"the end of the war. The organisation was publicly revealed by Sir Ronald Wingate in 1969. Following the onset of the Second World War, the Allied nations began to recognise deception as a useful strategy. In early 1941 Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke's 'A' Force department, based in Cairo, undertook deception operations for the North African campaign. As their work came to the notice of high command Clarke was summoned to London, in late September 1941, to brief the army establishment. The Joint Planning Staff of the War Office were impressed with Clarke's presentation and recommended to the Chiefs of Staff Committee"
"before 11:30, and almost two hours after vacating the nearby flat in Lexham Gardens in South Kensington, the six men arrived outside the embassy. The Special Air Service (SAS) is a regiment of the British Army and part of the United Kingdom's special forces. The regiment was formed by Colonel David Stirling in Africa in 1941, at the height of the Second World War. Its original role was to penetrate enemy lines and strike at airfields and supply lines deep in enemy territory, first in North Africa and later around the Mediterranean and in occupied Europe. Stirling established the principle"
"British deception formations in World War II During World War II the British Army made extensive use of fictional army formations, as part of strategic or tactical military deceptions. Their use was pioneered by Dudley Clarke during the North African campaign. Clarke eventually formulated an elaborate order of battle deception (Operation Cascade) to mislead the Axis high command as to the strength of Allied forces in the region. Based on these successes the London Controlling Section made extensive use of notional formations during Operation Bodyguard - a deception operation ahead of the June 1944 Normandy Landings. As part of Fortitude"
"can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast."" By 1941, the Commandos were carrying out raids on the German occupied Norwegian coast in Operation Claymore and Operation Archery and in 1942, they formed the assault troops for the St Nazaire Raid. They eventually formed 30 battalion-sized commando units (including 8 Royal Marines units), some of which were organised within four brigades; 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Commando brigades. Impressed by the German Fallschirmjäger, Winston Churchill called for the formation of a similar elite corps of troops. The Parachute Regiment was created and by the end of the war"
"from Dunkirk in June 1940. Order of Battle at Dunkirk<br> GOC: Lieutenant-General Alan Brooke (until 30 May 1940)<br>Maj-General Bernard Montgomery (acting from 30 May 1940) After commanding forces in the United Kingdom, from Lower Hare Park near Newmarket within Eastern Command, II Corps was being disbanded in early 1944 when selected to be one of the two corps comprising the notional British Fourth Army, which under the deception plan Fortitude North was supposed to attack Norway. For this operation II Corps was supposedly headquartered at Stirling in Scotland, and notionally consisted of the genuine 3rd Infantry Division (shortly replaced by"
"joined the Special Air Service, which was expanded by Stirling with Churchill's approval. Laycock was promoted to brigadier and put in charge of the Special Service Brigade, Middle East Command, replacing Brigadier Charles Haydon. Layforce Layforce was an ad hoc military formation of the British Army consisting of a number of commando units during the Second World War. Formed in February 1941 under the command of Colonel Robert Laycock, after whom the force was named, it consisted of approximately 2,000 men and served in the Middle Eastern theatre of operations. Initially tasked with conducting raiding operations to disrupt Axis lines"
"threat. Therefore, as early as 1935, Nigerian efforts on the home front were concentrated on raising funds to support the war effort in Ethiopia. After the success of the Allied campaigns in Africa, and with increasing need for soldiers to be deployed elsewhere, British command decided to form two divisions to fight in southeast Asia. The 81st Division was formed from West African brigades, then deployed in 1943. In 1944, the 82nd (West Africa) Division was formed, then sailed to British Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka) from the east coast of Africa. They then moved to Burma and took part"
"volunteers who carried out small raids against enemy-occupied territory, but by 1943 their role had changed into lightly equipped assault infantry specialised in spearheading amphibious landings. The man selected as the overall commander of the force was Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, himself a veteran of the landings at Galipoli and the Zeebrugge raid of the First World War. By March 1941 there were 11 battalion-sized units now called commandos. Each commando would consist of around 390 men in a small headquarters and six ""troops"" of three officers and 62 men each. The idea for a foreign commando unit came from"
"Commandos (United Kingdom) The Commandos also known as British Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, for a force that could carry out raids against German-occupied Europe. Initially drawn from within the British Army from soldiers who volunteered for the Special Service Brigade, the Commandos' ranks would eventually be filled by members of all branches of the British Armed Forces and a number of foreign volunteers from German-occupied countries. By the end of the war 25,000 men had passed through the Commando course"
"volunteers from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Yugoslavia, organised into independent sub-units known as ""troops"". Units from No. 10 (Inter-Allied) Commando served in North-West Europe, the Mediterranean, Scandinavia and Burma, mostly in small numbers attached to other military formations. By the end of the war, No. 10 Commando had become the largest commando formation in the British Army. ""Commando"" units were first created in 1940, by order of the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, as small highly-trained units which would ""develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast"". At first they were a small force of"
"44 RM Commando, No. 42 RM Commando, and No.1 Army Commando, took part in the coastal landings during the Allied Southern Front offensive of 1944/1945. The campaign culminated in the battle of Hill 170 at Kangaw. For his actions there, Lieutenant George Knowland of 4 Troop No 1 Army Commando was awarded the Victoria Cross. British Commando operations during the Second World War The Commandos formed during the Second World War, following an order from the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in June 1940 for a force that could carry out raids against German occupied Europe. Churchill stated in a"
"Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Dill, aware of Churchill's intentions, approved Clarke's proposal. The Commandos came under the operational control of the Combined Operations Headquarters. The man initially selected as the commander was Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, a veteran of the Gallipoli Campaign and the Zeebrugge Raid in the First World War. In 1940, the call went out for volunteers from among the serving Army soldiers within certain formations still in Britain, and men of the disbanding divisional Independent Companies originally raised from Territorial"
"formed into brigades of assault infantry to spearhead future Allied landing operations. Three units were left un-brigaded to carry out smaller-scale raids. In December 1940 a Middle East Commando depot was formed with the responsibility of training and supplying reinforcements for the commando units in the Middle East. No. 51 Commando was raised in October 1940, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Henry J. Cator, M.C. from 300 Palestinian volunteers from No. 1 Company, Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps. The Commando fought against the Italians in the East African Campaign in Abyssinia and Eritrea. In 1941, Winston Churchill ordered the formation"
"to themselves by their old designations. The following Battle honours were awarded to the British Commandos during the Second World War. Notes Bibliography No. 51 Commando No. 51 Commando was a battalion-sized British Commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The commando was formed in 1940, from Jewish and Arab volunteers from Palestine. The Commando fought against the Italians in Abyssinia and Eritrea before it was absorbed into the Middle East Commando. The commandos were formed in 1940, by the order of Winston Churchill the British Prime Minister. He called for specially trained troops that would"
"British Commando operations during the Second World War The Commandos formed during the Second World War, following an order from the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in June 1940 for a force that could carry out raids against German occupied Europe. Churchill stated in a minute to General Ismay on 6 June 1940: ""Enterprises must be prepared, with specially-trained troops of the hunter class, who can develop a reign of terror down these coasts, first of all on the ""butcher and bolt"" policy..."" Commandos were all volunteers for special service and originally came from the British Army but volunteers would"
"can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast."" One staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS). Dill, aware of Churchill's intentions, approved Clarke's proposal and on 23 June 1940, the first commando raid took place. The request for volunteers for special service was initially restricted to serving Army soldiers within certain formations still in Britain, and from men of the disbanding divisional Independent Companies originally raised from Territorial Army (TA) divisions who had served in the Norwegian Campaign. By November"
"unit's personnel were transferred to other commando units, namely Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 6 Commandos. The following Battle honours were awarded to the British Commandos during the Second World War. Notes Bibliography No. 12 Commando No. 12 Commando was a battalion-sized commando unit of the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in 1940 in Northern Ireland, they carried out a number of small-scale raids in Norway and France between 1941 and 1943 before being disbanded and its personnel dispersed to other commando units. The commandos were formed in 1940, by the order of Winston Churchill the British"
"units trained to a much higher level than that of average troops and tasked to carry out daring attacks and bold raids against enemy defenses. Unlike Stormtroopers, Arditi were not units within infantry divisions, but were considered a separate combat arm. Modern special forces emerged during the Second World War. In 1940, the British Commandos were formed following Winston Churchill's call for ""specially trained troops of the hunter class, who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast."" A staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke, had already submitted such a proposal to General Sir John Dill, the Chief"
"1941, the division remained based in Britain undergoing training and being moved to various parts of the country. Its varied duties included an anti-invasion role in East Anglia, training in Scotland, redeployment to the North West, and aiding in the unloading of merchant ships during the Liverpool Blitz. Towards the end of 1941, the British Government sought to reinforce the British Army's presence in North Africa to show the Dominions that the United Kingdom was doing its fair share of the fighting in the Middle East, and to reinforce the planned upcoming offensive code-named Operation Crusader. The division left Britain"
"soldiers. The East Africa Command was created in September 1941 to support the overstretched Middle East Command. The Southern Command was the domain of South Africa. The Royal Navy set up the South Atlantic Command based in Sierra Leone, that became one of the main convoy assembly points. The RAF Coastal Command had major submarine-hunting operations based in West Africa, while a smaller RAF command Dealt with submarines in the Indian Ocean. Ferrying aircraft from North America and Britain was the major mission of the Western Desert Air Force. In addition smaller more localized commands were set up throughout the"
"the British Expeditionary Force. Attached to 8th Battalion, the Durham Light Infantry in North Africa in May 1942, in June a patrol containing Lewis encountered a line of enemy positions. A small reconnaissance force was repelled, but the patrol leader, Captain Ian English, managed to contact his superior, Major Clarke, and inform him of the situation. Clarke decided to send in a force of armoured cars filled with soldiers from the Durham Light Infantry (commanded by Peter Lewis) at 9:15am, with machine gun, mortar and artillery units to support the attack (from 2nd Battalion Cheshire Regiment and 74 Field Regiment"