David Stirling is the name synonymous with the wartime SAS, but the real brains behind the operation was, in fact, Bill Stirling, David’s eldest brother.
Having originally joined the SOE in March 1940, Bill Stirling sailed for Cairo in 1941 and there had the idea for a small special forces unit to be led by his mercurial brother. But despite some success, David allowed the legendary 1SAS to drift under his leadership. Following his capture, Bill re-directed 2SAS, under his personal command, to the strategy he had originally envisaged: parachuting behind enemy lines to gather intelligence.
Joining me is Gavin Mortimer.
Gavin is the author of several books focusing on the SAS, including a biography of David Sterling. His latest book is 2SAS: Bill Stirling and the forgotten special forces unit of World War II.
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67 - Luftwaffe Night Fighter ‘Ace’, Wolfgang Thimmig
66 - Northrop P-61 Black Widow
65 Lt Col William Edwin Dyess
64 - The Early Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign 1942
Strafbattalion: Hitler's Penal Battalions
Betrayed: The Buchenwald Airmen
61 - RAF Liberators Over Burma
60 Alarmstart: German Fighter Pilots in Europe
59 - Case Red: The Collapse of France
58 Lost Warriors: Seagrim and Pagani of Burma
57 - The 110th Holds In The Ardennes, 1944
56 - Haile Selassie’s Mongrel Foreign Legion.
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55 - The Flemish Waffen SS
54 - The Bataan Death March
53 - Her Finest Hour: Diana Rowden, SOE Agent
52 Shadow Over the Atlantic
51 The German Airborne Threat to Britain & the Psychological Impact
50 - Operation Tonga
49 - Castle of Eagles
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