anyone know how the SAS (Special Air Service) came about, who created it, and when?

The British SAS is one of the best counter insurgency forces in the world today, however until recently very little was known about the SAS, infact, very few people actually knew there was even such a team!. This is the History of the Special Air Service

The concept of the SAS was though of David Sterling, in WWII, 1941, while he was recovering from a parachute accident in hosptal. The idea was to creat a desert raiding force, that worked in teams of 4 or 5 highly trained and motivated soldiers.


Stirling received the permission that he required, and took 100 men, most already commondo's, and gave them hard training in endurance and weapons. The newly formed SAS's first mission was in November, 1941, where due to bad weather and other circumstances, only 22 out of 66 soldiers survived. Lessons were learned and adjustments were made to vehicle's and equipment.

The second raid took place in December, 1941, with 12 men. This time they were succesfull, and managed to destroy 24 planes, and a fuel depot...

Got that from here: http://britishsas.8m.com/

There you go,my man razor did the talk.

When Stirling created his group in 1941, it was called the Long Range Desert Group. It was immortalized on American TV as the Rat Patrol, although in the show, they were Americans rather than Brits, and they were able to blow up German tanks with one or two hits from a .50 calibre machine gun. (artistic license...) In reality, they used their version of the Land Rover, armed them to the teeth, and ranged through the German rear areas attacking targets of opportunity. To say that they were successful is an understatement, and in fact, the modern SAS used exactly the same tactics during the first Gulf war.
So the LRDG became the SAS, and slightly later the SBS was also formed.

Dean.

Originally Posted by Dean

When Stirling created his group in 1941, it was called the Long Range Desert Group. It was immortalized on American TV as the Rat Patrol, although in the show, they were Americans rather than Brits, and they were able to blow up German tanks with one or two hits from a .50 calibre machine gun. (artistic license...) In reality, they used their version of the Land Rover, armed them to the teeth, and ranged through the German rear areas attacking targets of opportunity. To say that they were successful is an understatement, and in fact, the modern SAS used exactly the same tactics during the first Gulf war.
So the LRDG became the SAS, and slightly later the SBS was also formed.

Dean.

I dont think it is entirely correct to say that the SAS grew out of the LRDG the SAS developed separately to the LRDG and then in 1941 joined forces with the LRDG providing transport for SAS missions.

The SAS origins:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...ir_service.htm

The LRDG origins:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk...sert_group.htm

World War II
The SAS was founded by then Lieutenant David Stirling during World War II. It was originally created to conduct raids and sabotage far behind enemy lines in the desert, and operated in conjunction with the existing Long Range Desert Group. Stirling (formerly of No.8 Commando) looked for recruits with rugged individualism and initiative and recruited specialists from Layforce and other units. The name "Special Air Service" was already in use as a deception.

Their first mission, parachuting behind enemy lines in support of General Sir Claude Auchinleck's attack in November 1941, was a disaster. Only 22 out of 62 troopers reached the rendezvous. Stirling still managed to organise another attack against the German airfields at Aqedabia, Site and Agheila, this time transported by the LRDG. They destroyed 61 enemy aircraft without a single casualty. 1st SAS earned regimental status and Stirling's brother Bill began to organise a second regiment, 2 SAS.

During the desert war the SAS performed many successful and daring long range insertion missions and destroyed aircraft and fuel depots. Their success contributed towards Hitler issuing his Kommandobefehl order to execute all captured Commandos. When the Germans stepped up security, the SAS switched to hit-and-run tactics. They used jeeps armed with Vickers K machine guns and used tracer ammunition to ignite fuel and aircraft. They took part in Operation Torch.

David Stirling was captured by the Italians in January 1943 and he spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in Colditz Castle. His brother Bill Stirling and 'Paddy' Blair Mayne took command of the SAS.

The SAS were used in the invasion of Italy. At the toe of Italy they took the first prisoners of the campaign before heading deeper into Italy. At one point four groups were active deep behind enemy lines laying waste to airfields, attacking convoys and derailing trains. Towards the end of the campaign Italian guerrillas and escaped Russian prisoners were enlisted into an "Allied SAS Battalion" which struck at Kesselring's main lines of communications. In 1945 Major Farran made one of the most effective raids of the war. His force raided the German Fifth Corps headquarters burning the buildings to the ground and killing the General and some of his staff.

Prior to the Normandy Invasion, SAS men were inserted into France as 4-man teams to help maquisards of the French Resistance. In a reversal of their by now customary tactics, they often travelled during the day, when Allied fighter bombers drove enemy traffic off the roads and then ambushed enemy troops moving in convoy under the cover of darkness. In Operation Houndsmith, 144 SAS men parachuted with jeeps and supplies into Dijon, France. During and after D-Day they continued their raids against fuel depots, communications centres and railways. They did suffer casualties—at one stage the Germans executed 24 SAS soldiers and a US Army Air Force pilot. At the end of the war, the SAS hunted down SS and Gestapo officers. By that time the SAS had been expanded to five regiments, including two French and one Belgian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special...e#World_War_II

There is an almost unlimited amount of literature on the origins of the SAS.

BTW, that Belgian regiment split off at the end of the 2nd world war and is what is now the Belgian Paracommandos. They still wear the same insignia as the SAS... well the winged dagger anyway.

The SAS was just one of the units that came into being for raiding behind enemy lines in North Africa. You had three well known groups out the at this time. There Popskis Private Army, witch was run by a Major Popski who used to an oil engineer out in north Africa before the war and new the desert and it's ways , the there was the Long Range Desert Group [LRDG] which mainly came about to give the Army more control on what was happening as Popski would do things his way. David Stirling came along and added the Parachute idea to get the raiders into the area. The first raid he tried was a disaster, so he stuck to the tried and tested ways of driving behind enemy lines and raiding German Airports and shooting them up. When they were in Europe after D Day they did much the same thing, but most SAS were shot by the Germans if captured.