0:00:12 > 0:00:16Close to midnight on July 26, 1942,
0:00:16 > 0:00:20a convoy of heavily armed jeeps rumbled across the pitch-black of
0:00:20 > 0:00:22the North African desert.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30'Their mission was to destroy one of the Nazis most highly prized airfields
0:00:30 > 0:00:31'on the Egyptian coast.'
0:00:35 > 0:00:38'The jeep force was massively outnumbered.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40'Their vehicles un-armoured.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42'Only surprise was on their side.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48'Success would make these men legends.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53'Failure would mean the death of their highly secret and radical new combat unit.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01'The convoy stormed onto the airfield.'
0:01:03 > 0:01:07This was the most daring mission yet for the men of the SAS.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09RAPID GUNFIRE
0:01:16 > 0:01:20By 1942, Hitler had dominated Europe,
0:01:20 > 0:01:22and was seeking to conquer North Africa.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29Armed with superior air power, his star general, Erwin Rommel,
0:01:29 > 0:01:30had launched a lightning strike,
0:01:31 > 0:01:36driving the British back to their last stronghold - Egypt...
0:01:36 > 0:01:38..and to the brink of disaster.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41Egypt had to be held at all costs.
0:01:42 > 0:01:48David Stirling had created the SAS to attack the enemy from deep behind their lines,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51but now his missions would have to grow ever more ambitious
0:01:51 > 0:01:52and dangerous.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58With unprecedented access to the secret SAS files,
0:01:58 > 0:02:00unseen archive footage...
0:02:01 > 0:02:05..and exclusive interviews with its founder members.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09This series tells the remarkable story behind the world's most
0:02:09 > 0:02:12extraordinary fighting force.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17They would have been Viking raiders, without a doubt, I think, most of them.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19He said, "I'm sorry.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22"You've had it, you're just numbers."
0:02:23 > 0:02:24My own assessment,
0:02:24 > 0:02:26I thought, this is the end of us.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56In early June, 1942,
0:02:56 > 0:03:01a nervous young army doctor reported for duty at a remote camp in the
0:03:01 > 0:03:02North African desert.
0:03:08 > 0:03:1327-year-old Malcolm Pleydell had been assigned to a highly secret unit
0:03:13 > 0:03:17and had absolutely no idea what he was letting himself in for.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24All he knew was that the force was hidden deep in the desert,
0:03:24 > 0:03:29far from British HQ, and commanded by a young daredevil officer.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33The newly promoted Major David Stirling.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39Stirling greeted him warmly, shook his hand,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42and then there was a series of deafening explosions.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Stirling was apologetic and remarkably polite.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53The men, he explained, would shortly be going out on a party.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57And all those horrible bangs were in preparation for a series of night
0:03:57 > 0:03:59attacks on enemy airfields.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02"And by the way," Stirling asked, "have you had lunch?"
0:04:04 > 0:04:08Pleydell had been expecting a man of blood and steel,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10a ruthless trained killer.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Instead, he had been made to feel as if he'd been invited to a
0:04:13 > 0:04:16particularly jolly beach party.
0:04:16 > 0:04:17With bombs.
0:04:24 > 0:04:30Malcolm Pleydell decided he was going to enjoy being part of L Detachment, SAS.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41The original men of the SAS have long since passed away.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46But in 1987 a handful of them told their story on film.
0:04:46 > 0:04:5157, take one.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54At the heart of this unique collection is an interview with their leader,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58David Stirling, on whose philosophy the unit was based.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03First was the exploitation of surprise
0:05:03 > 0:05:06to the greatest degree.
0:05:06 > 0:05:12A form of technique that would kick the Germans from behind.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Our proposition was the effect that
0:05:15 > 0:05:18we could knock out the entire
0:05:18 > 0:05:22German fighter force.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25Because they had control of the air at that time.
0:05:26 > 0:05:33The SAS was formed by David Stirling in 1941 as a crack commando force to
0:05:33 > 0:05:36attack aircraft deep behind enemy lines.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39The work was hard, dirty and dangerous.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43And Stirling came to realise that he needed a medical officer.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48By extreme good fortune, he was allocated Malcolm James Pleydell.
0:05:52 > 0:05:57Pleydell was a gentle soul, earnest, sensitive, and a little solemn.
0:05:59 > 0:06:00Like all the best doctors,
0:06:00 > 0:06:05Pleydell was a keen student of human nature and would emerge as the most
0:06:05 > 0:06:08astute observer and chronicler of the SAS.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Scribbled in pencil between missions,
0:06:12 > 0:06:16Pleydell's notes survive as a powerful eyewitness account of the desert war
0:06:16 > 0:06:19and the SAS men who fought in it.
0:06:27 > 0:06:33It did no take Pleydell long to realise he'd joined a most peculiar outfit.
0:06:33 > 0:06:37There was none of the spit and polish he'd encountered in the regular army.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43This, he wrote, was a ruffianly bearded, unkempt and ill-clothed mob.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48My father was a young man hungry for adventure.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53And I think he felt that every young man should do what they could
0:06:53 > 0:06:54for their country.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59And I think he was quite surprised when he found himself surrounded by
0:06:59 > 0:07:02a very motley crew, I think you could probably describe them.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08I think he found it quite difficult because he was way out of his environment.
0:07:08 > 0:07:14And there were a lot of very tough guys who'd been doing a lot of training.
0:07:14 > 0:07:1513, take one.
0:07:18 > 0:07:19In 1987,
0:07:19 > 0:07:24those surviving ruffians of the SAS also gave their unique testimony.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29They would have been Viking raiders, without a doubt, I think, most of them.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Drink and be merry boys, and so on,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36was very typical of the attitude on which the Vikings sailed across the
0:07:36 > 0:07:39North Sea to ravage the coasts of Britain and Europe.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47I hated the existence of too much polly on your boots...
0:07:48 > 0:07:51..and being turned out impeccable.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55I liked a bit of fun.
0:07:55 > 0:07:56I liked the booze.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00Don't forget, there's a war on,
0:08:00 > 0:08:02and that's what you went into the Army for.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Only one man gave Pleydell pause.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12The new second-in-command, Captain Paddy Mayne, a hulking, brooding figure,
0:08:12 > 0:08:16and a prodigious drinker, who always seem to want to pick a fight.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Mayne was the unit's best warrior,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25with the biggest tally of destroyed enemy aircraft to his name.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30But his methods were brutal, even by the standards of the SAS.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38Mayne's execution in cold blood of 30 of the enemy during a desert raid
0:08:38 > 0:08:41had established him as a man without mercy.
0:08:45 > 0:08:50In his diary, Pleydell wrote, fighting was in Mayne's blood.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52For him, there were no rules.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56Paddy Mayne, who my father always said rather affectionately was
0:08:56 > 0:08:57completely mad,
0:08:57 > 0:09:01was somebody who was just going to go out and fight the war,
0:09:01 > 0:09:04whatever it took and however you did it.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08I don't think nerves or self-preservation ever came into it.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Medically, he would have done what he was told,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15to a certain extent,
0:09:15 > 0:09:16if it suited him.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Pleydell quickly learned that this hand-picked band of unconventional
0:09:24 > 0:09:27fighters was a lethal force,
0:09:27 > 0:09:30with an ability to think and act independently.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34It perfectly suited their commander's vision for a new kind of war.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44The men held David Stirling in the highest regard.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47"There was about him a charm which it would be impossible to describe,"
0:09:47 > 0:09:51noted Pleydell, "and this made him very difficult to deny."
0:09:52 > 0:09:55One of the great things about David was he never sat still,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58he always had a project on some kind.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01He was always trying to make something happen or to further something,
0:10:01 > 0:10:03or to put his ideas into practice.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10David, being as he was, dyslexic, he looked at things differently.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14He had a vision of what he wanted to do.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Everything that happened was David's plan.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22He clearly believed in what he was trying to do, and, you know,
0:10:22 > 0:10:23that's very beguiling.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33Stirling had founded the SAS on the principles of independence.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38A fighting force free to attack whenever and wherever they wanted.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44But to get to the targets, Stirling still had to rely
0:10:44 > 0:10:48on the trucks of the Long Range Desert Group, or LRDG,
0:10:48 > 0:10:52an Army unit expert in navigation deep in the desert
0:10:52 > 0:10:55which had ferried his men to and from their missions.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01Stirling decided it was a very good idea to do our own transport.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03So he had heard...
0:11:04 > 0:11:06..that, erm...
0:11:06 > 0:11:09there was some Jeeps coming to the Middle East.
0:11:09 > 0:11:11And he...
0:11:11 > 0:11:14to use a word, "borrowed" some.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19Meet the Jeep. Smooth, easy riding on this kind of service is one thing.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22But this is quite a different story.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Britain's American allies were now supporting the war effort,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29including the supply of a brand-new utility vehicle,
0:11:29 > 0:11:30the rugged Willys Jeep.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33The Jeep might well be called a motorised terrier.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37As the first Jeeps arrived in North Africa,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Stirling persuaded high command to give him a few
0:11:41 > 0:11:43and began the transformation of his unit.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50SAS engineers installed water condensers to aid engine cooling,
0:11:50 > 0:11:54added extra fuel tanks to increase the range, and, crucially,
0:11:54 > 0:12:02armed the vehicles with machine guns capable of firing up to 1,200 rounds per minute.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06The firepower coming from that troop was terrific, absolutely terrific.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14Now Stirling's men could stay behind enemy lines for weeks, even months,
0:12:14 > 0:12:18driving themselves straight to the enemy airfields to strike harder and
0:12:18 > 0:12:19faster than ever before.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29The hugely valuable partnership with the LRDG was now nearing an end.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33With their own fleet of Jeeps, the SAS now needed their own navigators.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38One of their best navigators, Corporal Mike Sadler,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41had proved vital in guiding the SAS to their targets.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45Now aged 96,
0:12:45 > 0:12:49he is the last man alive to remember Stirling's missions in the desert.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52You had joined the LRDG,
0:12:52 > 0:12:54but then you transferred to the SAS.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56- Tell us how that happened. - That's right.
0:12:56 > 0:13:01David Stirling had had limited experience of me as a navigator,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05I suppose, so he got hold of me from the LRDG,
0:13:05 > 0:13:08and the machinery was put into motion
0:13:08 > 0:13:11for transferring me into the SAS.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Stirling appointed Sadler the unit's senior navigator.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20And, without any official authorisation, promoted him.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24"Mike, I want you to be an officer.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27"Go down to the bazaar and yourself some pips."
0:13:28 > 0:13:29Which I did.
0:13:31 > 0:13:36Sadler was, sartorially at least, transformed into a Lieutenant.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41I got back to Cairo some long time later,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45and I don't think the paperwork had been attended to,
0:13:45 > 0:13:50and the military secretary sent for me and said,
0:13:50 > 0:13:53"I hear you've been masquerading as an officer."
0:13:54 > 0:13:57But he... But somehow, they sorted it all out,
0:13:57 > 0:14:01and I was lucky enough to be promoted at that stage.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Armed with his new Jeep force and expert navigation,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14it was time for Stirling to go hunting.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25Rommel's advance into Egypt was supported by fighters and bombers
0:14:25 > 0:14:30operating from airfields along the Egyptian and Libyan coasts.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36Stirling's mission was to drive his entire force deep behind enemy lines
0:14:36 > 0:14:41and launch lightning raids on Rommel's airfields before disappearing
0:14:41 > 0:14:43to a secret camp deep in the desert.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49On July 4th, the convoy passed through the front line of the Eighth Army
0:14:49 > 0:14:53at El Alamein, and headed into the no-man's-land beyond,
0:14:53 > 0:14:57with no plans to come back for at least a month.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Pleydell sensed the importance of their mission.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02In his diary he wrote,
0:15:02 > 0:15:08"The line holding Rommel in check before the very gates of Alexandria looked so frail and thin."
0:15:22 > 0:15:23Night after night,
0:15:23 > 0:15:27Stirling's men attacked completely unsuspecting enemy airfields
0:15:27 > 0:15:29all along the coast.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33They planted time bombs on every plane they could find.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38Then ran for the darkness of the desert.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45Knowing that, at first light, the enemy would give chase.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Getting out, you had to clear the fighters zone.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59Put your foot down and make sure you got out of fighter range, at least.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08As dawn broke, the sky filled with squadrons of aircraft
0:16:08 > 0:16:09hunting the desert.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15Any Jeep caught out in the open faced a battle to survive.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23Fighters could only make about one pass at you and they'd got to return to base to refuel.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25If you saw a little bit more of one wing than the other,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28you knew he was going right or he was going left,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31and you knew exactly where the fire was going.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35If you saw a full width of wing,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38equal width of wing each side of the fuselage,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40you knew that you'd had your chips.
0:16:56 > 0:17:02'The records of those first Jeep missions are contained in the secret War diary,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05'a unique collection of combat reports,
0:17:05 > 0:17:06'compiled by the men themselves.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14'The diary lists the extraordinary destruction Stirling's Raiders caused.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19'In one week alone, they destroyed over 100 enemy aircraft.
0:17:21 > 0:17:23'But while the tally mounted,
0:17:23 > 0:17:26'so did the toll of SAS men killed by enemy fire.'
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Pleydell tended to the wounded at the desert hideout,
0:17:39 > 0:17:43quietly noting the names of those who hadn't returned.
0:17:43 > 0:17:48"How strange the desert war seemed," wrote Pleydell.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53"The way we travelled over vast tracts of wilderness in order to search out
0:17:53 > 0:17:54"and kill one another."
0:18:05 > 0:18:09'The men almost never talked about the dead comrades.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14'He noted, "To suggest a person was worried in the slightest degree was
0:18:14 > 0:18:16"equivalent to the vilest form of abuse."
0:18:18 > 0:18:20To turn around and say, "I'm going to get the chop."
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Sure as hell, you'll get the chop.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25You're wishing it upon yourself.
0:18:25 > 0:18:26You forget that side.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31That's a risk that you accept as a soldier, that's what it should be.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33I mean, we joined to fight a war.
0:18:33 > 0:18:34We knew what it was about.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40If your name's on the bullet, you'll get it.
0:18:40 > 0:18:41That's all rubbish, that is.
0:18:43 > 0:18:44We'd been given a job to do.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47And we simply did it.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Between missions, the men would spend their nights by the campfire
0:19:02 > 0:19:04in their remote desert hideout.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09In his diary, Pleydell noted, "As it grew darker, the men began to sing.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14"At first, slightly shy and self-conscious but growing in confidence as the songs spread."
0:19:14 > 0:19:15SINGING IN BACKGROUND
0:19:15 > 0:19:17# Darling I remember
0:19:17 > 0:19:19# The way you used to wait
0:19:19 > 0:19:23# 'Twas there that you whispered tenderly
0:19:23 > 0:19:25# That you loved me
0:19:25 > 0:19:27# You'd always be
0:19:27 > 0:19:28# My Lili of... #
0:19:28 > 0:19:31"The bigger and burlier the singer," he noted,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34"the more passionate and heartfelt the singing."
0:19:41 > 0:19:44"There was something special about that night," Pleydell wrote.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48"An expression of feeling that defied the vastness of the desert."
0:19:49 > 0:19:54I always remember him saying that when the boys had been out on operation,
0:19:54 > 0:19:59it was always a huge relief when everybody got back safely.
0:19:59 > 0:20:04They cared a lot for each other, and I think they all became,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06naturally, quite close.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08THEY SING
0:20:20 > 0:20:24GERMAN ANNOUNCER ON RADIO
0:20:24 > 0:20:28Tales of the SAS had begun to spread on both sides of the front line.
0:20:30 > 0:20:35It was said that German radio had even bestowed a nickname on their shadowy commander.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37"The Phantom Major."
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Rommel had been bitten hard.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44"These commandos have caused considerable havoc," he wrote.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47But notoriety came at a price.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51The Germans had to increase their security.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Well, to begin with, they started putting one man on every plane
0:20:56 > 0:20:58or three men on every plane.
0:20:58 > 0:20:59And then, of course, they started
0:20:59 > 0:21:01putting certain wire barriers
0:21:01 > 0:21:04around the outside and putting defences.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06So we had to change our tactics.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Otherwise we would have taken a lot of casualties.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16In the summer of 1942,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20military intelligence alerted Stirling to a major new target.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26Rommel's front lines were being supplied by transport planes
0:21:26 > 0:21:29from Sidi Haneish airbase.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33Consequently, it was one of the most heavily guarded airfields of the Nazi war effort.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39Sneaking up to the airfields and bombing the planes on foot was no longer an option.
0:21:39 > 0:21:43This time, Stirling proposed to go in with all guns blazing.
0:21:45 > 0:21:5118 Jeeps in two columns would storm the airfield and shoot up the aircraft.
0:21:52 > 0:21:57Stirling was confident that the wall of fire from his 68 guns
0:21:57 > 0:22:01would destroy everything before the enemy had time to react.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05This would be a high speed, hit-and-run attack.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25On the night of July 26, 1942,
0:22:25 > 0:22:29Stirling and his mass Jeep force set out on their mission.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35They would need to approach Sidi Haneish as stealthily as possible and, so,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39rode across the desert by the light of the moon, guided by the stars.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44Crossing a vast desert in the middle of the night with no headlights and
0:22:44 > 0:22:49no reliable map was the sort of task that only a navigator who was either
0:22:49 > 0:22:52brilliant or mad would have undertaken.
0:22:54 > 0:22:59Navigator Mike Sadler was tasked with getting them to the target on time
0:22:59 > 0:23:02but Stirling was becoming impatient.
0:23:02 > 0:23:03He thought that we should be there.
0:23:03 > 0:23:06I think he basically felt we should have arrived.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11So, on the last occasion, he came to ask me where it was.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14I said, "I think it should be about a mile ahead."
0:23:14 > 0:23:15Just at that moment,
0:23:15 > 0:23:18they switched on the landing lights and they stretched right across the
0:23:18 > 0:23:20front of us, just about a mile ahead.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30That was a very exciting moment.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33It really gave one quite a boost.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41The convoys smashed through the perimeter,
0:23:41 > 0:23:43sending the defenders scrambling.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48The first plane exploded with such ferocious heat,
0:23:48 > 0:23:52the men felt their eyelashes and beards singe.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55RAPID GUNFIRE
0:24:11 > 0:24:16The defenders had been taken by surprise but soon they were fighting back.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22Johnny Cooper was in the lead Jeep with David Stirling.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Suddenly, there was a hell of an explosion and we stopped.
0:24:29 > 0:24:31Stirling said, "Why won't it go? Why won't it go?"
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Ridge said, "Well, don't get out and look but we haven't got an engine."
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Of six on either side, we were in the centre,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42we were the only ones to be hit but, fortunately, we weren't hit.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46But it was an act of God perhaps that we were missed.
0:24:49 > 0:24:50Picked up by another Jeep,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54Stirling and his men hurtled for a gap in the barbed wire,
0:24:54 > 0:25:00leaving behind 18 enemy aircraft destroyed and many more severely damaged.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08At a time when Rommel threatened to dominate the battlefield,
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Stirling's raiders added a dash of exotic adventure.
0:25:15 > 0:25:16Like Lawrence of Arabia,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20they were playing the part of swashbuckling desert fighters.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28Stirling returned to Cairo the master of hit-and-run.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36Pleydell reflected that he'd never been so content.
0:25:36 > 0:25:37"I fell asleep," he wrote,
0:25:37 > 0:25:41"wondering if I should ever be able to grow a decent beard...
0:25:42 > 0:25:43"..like some of the other chaps."
0:26:00 > 0:26:07News of Stirling's triumph was not greeted warmly by everybody at HQ.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11There were many who saw the SAS as little more than a thuggish private army.
0:26:14 > 0:26:20There was a core of mediocrity which wanted to defend itself
0:26:20 > 0:26:24against having to make things more difficult.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28And anything as unconventional as L Detachment,
0:26:28 > 0:26:31which came out of no textbook,
0:26:31 > 0:26:35they really got together in disliking.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38They wanted to disband us or they wanted to take...
0:26:38 > 0:26:41not part of our glory, but they wanted to get rid of this small band
0:26:41 > 0:26:44of people which are doing so much damage to their pride because they
0:26:44 > 0:26:46hadn't been able to do it themselves.
0:26:50 > 0:26:53On August 8th, David Stirling shaved, bathed,
0:26:53 > 0:26:55climbed into a borrowed dinner jacket
0:26:55 > 0:26:59and prepared to mount an operation of a different sort.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01A charm offensive against Winston Churchill.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07News of Stirling's exploits had reached the Prime Minister
0:27:07 > 0:27:11and he was keen to learn more about the famed desert warrior.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14In the space of a few days,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18David Stirling had gone from blowing up planes in the desert
0:27:18 > 0:27:19with machine guns
0:27:19 > 0:27:22to dining with prime ministers and generals in evening dress.
0:27:24 > 0:27:25It was a strange war.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38At a table set with silver and laden with the best food,
0:27:38 > 0:27:42David Stirling dazzled the Prime Minister with his tales of
0:27:42 > 0:27:45near-death escapes, fast cars, and derring-do.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51Churchill, dressed in his evening boiler suit,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53pink faced and ruddy and holding forth,
0:27:55 > 0:27:56and he described David when he went.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01He said, "The mildest mannered man who ever scuttled a ship or cut a throat."
0:28:01 > 0:28:04That, in fact, was from Lord Byron's Don Juan.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11Before leaving, Stirling asked Churchill and the generals to sign a
0:28:11 > 0:28:13piece of paper as a souvenir of the evening.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25For Stirling, the dinner party had been a complete success.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30And he'd obtained a blank sheet of paper with the autographs of three
0:28:30 > 0:28:31of the most powerful people in the war.
0:28:36 > 0:28:41On it he would type, "Please give the bearer every possible assistance."
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Stirling had no qualms whatever about this blatant forgery.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53"Churchill had become a staunch supporter of the unit," he explained,
0:28:53 > 0:28:56"and, so, in a sense, it was authentic."
0:29:01 > 0:29:06The SAS had pioneered a new sort of war based on stealth and economy.
0:29:06 > 0:29:11Small groups of men achieving disproportionate results.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14But the next mission would force Stirling to compromise the founding
0:29:14 > 0:29:19ideals of the SAS and place the very future of the unit in jeopardy.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26On August 13th, Churchill appointed General Bernard Montgomery
0:29:26 > 0:29:28to plan an attack of such scale
0:29:28 > 0:29:31that it could turn the tide of the desert war.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35To punch Rommel where it would hurt most,
0:29:35 > 0:29:39Stirling was ordered to capture his biggest port of supply -
0:29:39 > 0:29:41Benghazi in Libya.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44This time, instead of a stealthy night attack,
0:29:44 > 0:29:47he would be leading an army of more than 200 men
0:29:47 > 0:29:50in a convoy of 80 vehicles,
0:29:50 > 0:29:52including two tanks.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58Stirling claimed to have had deep misgivings about the operation from
0:29:58 > 0:30:02the start but he made no official objection.
0:30:02 > 0:30:04An added incentive may have been the suggestion
0:30:04 > 0:30:08that the unit would be expanded if the raid proved a success.
0:30:09 > 0:30:12There was a lot of controversy about this
0:30:12 > 0:30:16because it was an operation on such a large scale
0:30:16 > 0:30:18for the main party, going into Benghazi.
0:30:18 > 0:30:21It was more like a... You know, a...
0:30:21 > 0:30:24regimental or brigade attack sort of thing,
0:30:24 > 0:30:26and a lot of people disagreed with it.
0:30:26 > 0:30:28But the thing was, we had a job to do.
0:30:40 > 0:30:42In early September, 1942,
0:30:42 > 0:30:46Stirling's force of 200 men, trucks,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48tanks and 40 Jeeps set out.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53The group was in good spirits.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55Pleydell was told that, within a week,
0:30:55 > 0:30:57he'd be running the hospital in Benghazi.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03But in almost no time, the tanks were stuck in the sand.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09The convoy hit mines hidden in the desert tracks,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12and reports were coming in from spies in Benghazi
0:31:12 > 0:31:15warning that the date of the attack was being freely mentioned.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20Stirling sent a wireless message to headquarters
0:31:20 > 0:31:22warning that the mission might have been compromised.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25He was ordered to ignore such gossip.
0:31:25 > 0:31:27The operation would go ahead.
0:31:27 > 0:31:31They even felt that they'd been deliberately leaked,
0:31:31 > 0:31:33which I don't think for one minute it had,
0:31:33 > 0:31:38but it certainly appeared to the ordinary soldier that something had.
0:31:40 > 0:31:43The main raiding party descended the escarpment
0:31:43 > 0:31:45and trundled along the road into Benghazi.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51At the head of the convoy was the SAS sergeant Jim Almonds,
0:31:51 > 0:31:54affectionately known as Gentleman Jim.
0:31:54 > 0:31:56When we finally arrived at Benghazi,
0:31:56 > 0:32:00it was getting dangerously close to dawn.
0:32:00 > 0:32:02And we arrived at this...
0:32:03 > 0:32:07..laneway leading up from the desert into the town,
0:32:07 > 0:32:10and then it became barbed wired either side,
0:32:10 > 0:32:12so you couldn't turn off the lane.
0:32:12 > 0:32:15And eventually we came up to
0:32:15 > 0:32:16a road barrier.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23I suppose I got to within about 40-50 paces of this...
0:32:24 > 0:32:26..when the firing started.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32They had driven straight into an ambush.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36Almonds and his gunner were stranded when their vehicle was hit.
0:32:40 > 0:32:43They could hear the enemy troops approaching.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45Within moments, they would be surrounded.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49I said to Fletcher, "Well, if they catch us like this,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52"we're going to be shot", and I said
0:32:52 > 0:32:54"The only chance is for me to stand up,
0:32:54 > 0:32:58"if you're agreeable, and say, 'Right, we're here.'
0:32:58 > 0:33:00"And we'll see what happens."
0:33:00 > 0:33:03And I stood up and they closed in.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07We were in the bag.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13For the rest of the men, the ordeal had just begun.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26For the next two days, the force was mercilessly attacked from the air.
0:33:28 > 0:33:31Between attacks, Pleydell desperately tried
0:33:31 > 0:33:33to save the wounded.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38He later noted that "Many were far beyond any crude help I could give."
0:33:39 > 0:33:42I remember him saying that it was really...
0:33:43 > 0:33:47..horrible having to do
0:33:47 > 0:33:51a major operation in those conditions -
0:33:51 > 0:33:56ie, I'm talking about amputating half a leg or something like that -
0:33:56 > 0:33:58when everything was very primitive.
0:34:04 > 0:34:07With most of the vehicles destroyed by the enemy,
0:34:07 > 0:34:10only a few of the wounded could be transported home.
0:34:11 > 0:34:16Reg Seekings, a former boxer and one of the toughest men in the unit,
0:34:16 > 0:34:18took a typically brutal line.
0:34:18 > 0:34:22I had to turn round and make the hardest little speech
0:34:22 > 0:34:23I'd ever made in my life.
0:34:23 > 0:34:28I said, "I'm sorry, you've had it, you're just numbers."
0:34:28 > 0:34:32I said, "I've got 12, 14 men there.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34"They're fit and they're ready to fight another day.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36"If I can get them clear, they can carry on fighting.
0:34:36 > 0:34:37"You can't." I said, "I'm sorry."
0:34:39 > 0:34:41I hated doing it.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43Absolutely hated it. But it was my job.
0:34:45 > 0:34:46It's got to be. You've got to.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48If you're doing a hard job and a tough job,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51you've got to be hard and tough yourself.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53You've got to make yourself callous,
0:34:53 > 0:34:55otherwise you're not going to survive.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58You can't survive. You'd go round the bend.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02After all, what's it all about? Winning a war, isn't it?
0:35:02 > 0:35:04So, you've got to do these sorts of things.
0:35:12 > 0:35:14Against his better judgment,
0:35:14 > 0:35:19Stirling had led a massed raiding force head on into Benghazi.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22He returned having lost more than a quarter of his men.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25None of the wounded left behind survived.
0:35:40 > 0:35:46A few months earlier, such a failure might have spelt doom for the SAS,
0:35:46 > 0:35:49but there was little appetite to give Stirling the blame.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51He now had friends in very high places.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01These are Stirling's top-secret messages to Winston Churchill,
0:36:01 > 0:36:06outlining the thoughts he had shared with the Prime Minister over dinner.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09"I venture to submit the following proposals.
0:36:10 > 0:36:13"The scope of the SAS should be extended
0:36:13 > 0:36:16"to cover all functions of special services
0:36:16 > 0:36:17"in the Middle East.
0:36:17 > 0:36:21"Control to rest with the officer commanding L Detachment,
0:36:21 > 0:36:23"and not with any other outside body."
0:36:25 > 0:36:30Stirling's proposal amounted to nothing less than a power grab.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33And Churchill was happy to oblige.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37On his return to Cairo, Stirling was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40and told that the unit was being granted
0:36:40 > 0:36:41exactly what he had always dreamt for it.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45Proudly displayed in the war diary
0:36:45 > 0:36:48is order number 14521,
0:36:48 > 0:36:53granting L Detachment full regimental status.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55"The unit has had conspicuous success,"
0:36:55 > 0:36:57it says, "and morale is high."
0:37:01 > 0:37:03At the age of 26,
0:37:03 > 0:37:07Stirling had become the first man to create his own new regiment
0:37:07 > 0:37:08since the Boer War.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14With over 600 men now under his command,
0:37:14 > 0:37:17he could launch more of his lightning raids than ever before.
0:37:19 > 0:37:20But, as Stirling celebrated,
0:37:20 > 0:37:25Rommel was getting ever closer to identifying the Phantom Major.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33After being captured in Benghazi,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37Gentleman Jim Almonds had been dragged through the streets,
0:37:37 > 0:37:39spat at and abused.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46Now in a military jail,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50Almonds was being pumped for information by the enemy.
0:37:50 > 0:37:54We were chained up. Two hands chained down to one foot,
0:37:54 > 0:37:56which is an awkward position,
0:37:56 > 0:37:59either sitting or anything else,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02and there we were interrogated.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Their method of interrogation, it varied enormously.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09Sometimes you were browbeaten and bullied and threatened, and so on.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12And another time they laid on a bath
0:38:12 > 0:38:14and gave me a fine meal and everything.
0:38:14 > 0:38:16A packet of cigarettes,
0:38:16 > 0:38:18and all sorts of luxuries of that sort.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21And, eh...
0:38:21 > 0:38:23Although they didn't get what they want,
0:38:23 > 0:38:26I got a jolly good meal out of it.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29And later on we were taken down and put in the prison camp.
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Almonds discovered he was sharing a cell with another British prisoner
0:38:33 > 0:38:38who identified himself as Captain John Richards.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42Richards claimed he'd been captured while escaping across the desert.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45But Almonds observed that he didn't seem tired,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50and he was wearing a brand-new pair of Italian boots.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55Captain Richards was not the British officer he appeared to be.
0:38:55 > 0:38:57He was a stool pigeon.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00One of the oldest and nastiest species of spy.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09His real name was Theodore John William Schurch,
0:39:09 > 0:39:13a defector from the British Army and a committed fascist.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19His job was to prowl the prisoner of war camps
0:39:19 > 0:39:21impersonating a friendly officer
0:39:21 > 0:39:25and gaining vital information about the SAS.
0:39:25 > 0:39:29Almonds gave nothing away, but other prisoners were less cautious.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35Slowly, German intelligence was putting together an accurate picture
0:39:35 > 0:39:39of the strength, organisation, and leadership of the SAS.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44Rommel sent out specialised troops to hunt them down.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53The greatest threat to Stirling's units now came from a spy
0:39:53 > 0:39:55who looked and sounded like a British officer.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Fire!
0:40:06 > 0:40:08On October the 23rd,
0:40:08 > 0:40:12Montgomery launched his great counterattack at El Alamein,
0:40:12 > 0:40:16hurling nearly 200,000 men and 1,000 tanks
0:40:16 > 0:40:18at Rommel's Panzer Army.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22As the British pursued Rommel from the east,
0:40:22 > 0:40:25a new battlefront was opened up in the west.
0:40:26 > 0:40:30On the 8th of November, Anglo-US forces landed
0:40:30 > 0:40:33in North West Africa, driving the Nazis into Tunisia.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38Rommel was trapped in a vice that would soon close
0:40:38 > 0:40:39with crushing force.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44The final chapter of the desert war was about to open,
0:40:44 > 0:40:47and Stirling was determined to write himself into it.
0:40:51 > 0:40:56Stirling proposed to use the SAS to harry the retreating Germans,
0:40:56 > 0:40:59but for himself he had a more dramatic role in mind.
0:40:59 > 0:41:02He planned to drive through the German lines
0:41:02 > 0:41:06and become the first desert rat to greet the advancing Americans.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12But in between the two allied armies
0:41:12 > 0:41:15lay largely uncharted desert,
0:41:15 > 0:41:17a huge force of axis troops,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20and an enormous, impassable salt marsh.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26Success might yield further expansion of the regiment,
0:41:26 > 0:41:28perhaps to brigade status.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31In Stirling's imagination, the SAS might even swell
0:41:31 > 0:41:33to three separate regiments,
0:41:33 > 0:41:35operating in the Eastern Mediterranean,
0:41:35 > 0:41:38Italy, and into Northern Europe.
0:41:38 > 0:41:41But the SAS doctor, Malcolm Pleydell,
0:41:41 > 0:41:45was deeply concerned about Stirling leading the mission.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49To his trained eye, Stirling looked far from strong.
0:41:49 > 0:41:53He had migraines. He had this blacking out.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56And at one stage, he was covered in desert sores.
0:41:56 > 0:41:57And he should never have gone out.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00He'd just had sulphur tablets, and this...
0:42:00 > 0:42:01No proper medication.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04He wouldn't see doctors, he wouldn't go to hospital,
0:42:04 > 0:42:06and then he'd go out again.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08Pleydell was in no doubt.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11Stirling was no longer fighting fit
0:42:11 > 0:42:13and his plan was nothing short of madness.
0:42:18 > 0:42:23This unique footage shows the men of the SAS preparing for action.
0:42:27 > 0:42:31Ahead of them lay 300 miles of largely uncharted territory,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34a distance that far exceeded the range of the Jeeps.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39Stirling turned to his senior navigator, Mike Sadler,
0:42:39 > 0:42:41for a solution.
0:42:41 > 0:42:46We couldn't cover the journey except by
0:42:46 > 0:42:48sacrificing a certain number of vehicles.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51This was loading a certain number of Jeeps up...
0:42:52 > 0:42:54..completely with petrol,
0:42:54 > 0:42:58with a view to dumping them once their petrol could be transferred
0:42:58 > 0:43:01onto other ones. And just leaving them in the desert.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09On January the 16th, 1943,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13Stirling's column of five Jeeps split away from the main force
0:43:13 > 0:43:15and set off into the unknown.
0:43:23 > 0:43:28To get into Tunisia, we had to go through the Gabes Gap.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30We didn't have much information about that gap.
0:43:37 > 0:43:42Sharing navigational duties was SAS original Johnny Cooper.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46You've got the salt marsh almost up to the main road,
0:43:46 > 0:43:50and from the main road to the sea, you've only got another 500 yards.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52So, it's a very narrow gap.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54Going through there, we found ourselves
0:43:54 > 0:43:58driving across an airfield, which we didn't know existed.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01And, at dawn, we motored down the main road, the metal road,
0:44:01 > 0:44:05through the German armed division all getting out of bed.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07And David said, "Well, we've got to get off the road."
0:44:07 > 0:44:12And we went off to the left, into these very deep ravines.
0:44:12 > 0:44:14And we split up, and we put one Jeep down this wadi,
0:44:14 > 0:44:16one Jeep down that wadi.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19After we'd done all the camouflage and the rest of it,
0:44:19 > 0:44:23we mistakenly thought we were well concealed.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Exhausted after 36 hours driving,
0:44:28 > 0:44:30the men settled down to sleep.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Before turning in, Sadler and Cooper were sent to scout the area.
0:44:36 > 0:44:41We looked down, and there were lots of troops getting out of vehicles,
0:44:41 > 0:44:43and we thought they were all getting out just to have a pee
0:44:43 > 0:44:47and they would get back in again. And we stayed there for some time.
0:44:47 > 0:44:52And we were so damn tired that we didn't think.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55Cooper and Sadler reported back that there was nothing to fear.
0:44:55 > 0:44:58They had no idea that Rommel's units were out hunting them.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09The next thing that I knew, I was in my sleeping bag,
0:45:09 > 0:45:12and heard some footsteps.
0:45:12 > 0:45:16Looked up, and there were two German parachutists.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22There was nothing much one could do because our guns
0:45:22 > 0:45:26were all camouflaged underneath the netting
0:45:26 > 0:45:28and the tarpaulins, and so on.
0:45:28 > 0:45:31And so we were really stuck.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34The Germans made a gesture to us to
0:45:34 > 0:45:36keep on lying there
0:45:36 > 0:45:38and moved on down the wadi.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41David said, "Now, every man for himself."
0:45:44 > 0:45:47Mike and I ran up the wadi.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49David went the other way.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52Stirling and most of the men had made the wrong choice.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56They ran headlong into more than 500 enemy troops.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01Sadler, Cooper, and an SAS sergeant were the only ones not caught
0:46:01 > 0:46:02in the Nazis snare.
0:46:03 > 0:46:06I've never run so hard or so long,
0:46:06 > 0:46:09until I just couldn't go any further.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11And we then got down into a little wadi.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15The sound of gunfire echoed up the valley.
0:46:15 > 0:46:19Cooper and Sadler believed their comrades had already been shot.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21They were certain they would be next.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24I said, "What's the word for surrender?"
0:46:24 > 0:46:27And we were saying it's "Kamerad", or whatever it was. And, um...
0:46:27 > 0:46:31A flock of goats came round our little hole.
0:46:34 > 0:46:37GOATS BLEAT
0:46:39 > 0:46:42Whether an Arab was grazing his sheep up there,
0:46:42 > 0:46:44and whether it was intentional, or whether it was
0:46:44 > 0:46:47the sheep's inclination to stand around us, I don't know,
0:46:47 > 0:46:50but they gave us a degree of protection.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58We heard a lot of shooting, we heard all of vehicles started up,
0:46:58 > 0:46:59we heard the evacuation,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02the German paratroopers came right through the area.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04And we waited until night.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12At dawn, alone in the vast desert,
0:47:12 > 0:47:16the remaining SAS men would have to use all their training to survive.
0:47:17 > 0:47:21We decided that the only thing to do was to set out
0:47:21 > 0:47:25for where we hoped...
0:47:25 > 0:47:28we might find the Americans, which was in Tozeur,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32about 100 miles to the west of where we were,
0:47:32 > 0:47:34along the edge of the great salt lakes.
0:47:42 > 0:47:45We had a one-in-a-million map, and a compass.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47No water, no food, no arms.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02From dusk to daybreak,
0:48:02 > 0:48:06they trudged across mile upon mile of featureless desert.
0:48:07 > 0:48:10They were brutally attacked by tribesmen,
0:48:10 > 0:48:12their clothing torn to rags.
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Salt water, drunk from a marsh, threatened delirium.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26By the fourth day, they were nearing collapse.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47In the sleepy outpost of Gafsa,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49the forward point of the American advance,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53a journalist gazed out over the desert, hoping for a scoop.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57AJ Liebling, the celebrated war correspondent for
0:48:57 > 0:48:59The New Yorker magazine,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02thought this was the most likely place for the two Allied armies
0:49:02 > 0:49:06to connect, a moment he wanted to witness.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10The story did not arrive in the form he'd expected.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13The great event occurred when an officer of the French Foreign Legion
0:49:13 > 0:49:16arrived, followed by a trio of tramps.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24"Their shoes were wrapped in rags," wrote Liebling.
0:49:24 > 0:49:26"Their feet must be a mass of blisters.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29"All three were wearing khaki battle dress
0:49:29 > 0:49:32"from which great swatches of material were missing,
0:49:32 > 0:49:35"evidently to make bandages.
0:49:35 > 0:49:37"And their eyes seemed preternaturally large.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40"And, in one case, really protuberant."
0:49:40 > 0:49:42Liebling was incredulous.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44So were the American generals.
0:49:44 > 0:49:46"Are you REALLY from the Eighth Army?"
0:49:47 > 0:49:50He didn't like the look of us cos we'd been walking, then,
0:49:50 > 0:49:52for three days and nights,
0:49:52 > 0:49:55and crawling over the salt lake and avoiding Arabs and so on,
0:49:55 > 0:49:58and we were in a very poor way.
0:49:58 > 0:49:59But he thought we looked suspicious.
0:49:59 > 0:50:02I don't think they really understood what we were doing,
0:50:02 > 0:50:03or how we went about it.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07They were mesmerised, and they just didn't believe us for a long,
0:50:07 > 0:50:09long time until the signal came from Cairo saying,
0:50:09 > 0:50:11"Yes. Yes, they're all right."
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Linking up with the Americans after such a heroic feat of endurance,
0:50:18 > 0:50:20and then being celebrated in The New Yorker,
0:50:20 > 0:50:24would have delighted David Stirling, if he'd been around to see it.
0:50:24 > 0:50:29As Liebling's interview drew to a close, Cooper's face suddenly fell.
0:50:29 > 0:50:31"Big Dave must have been killed."
0:50:40 > 0:50:44Stirling had not been killed, although he'd come very close.
0:50:46 > 0:50:48Left with no option but to surrender,
0:50:48 > 0:50:52he was bound and taken under heavy guard to the Italian headquarters.
0:50:55 > 0:50:56There he was interrogated
0:50:56 > 0:50:59by an Italian military intelligence officer,
0:50:59 > 0:51:02but refused to give anything away.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05A few hours later, David Stirling was marched onto an aircraft
0:51:05 > 0:51:10and flown to Sicily. At last, Rommel had caught the Phantom Major.
0:51:14 > 0:51:19He wanted to be swapped into Italy, or wherever he was,
0:51:19 > 0:51:20and given a free rein,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23whether it took us weeks or months, to get him out.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27So, he fought and fought for this.
0:51:27 > 0:51:29But somewhere along the line,
0:51:29 > 0:51:33most probably some people wanted to see Colonel David where he was,
0:51:33 > 0:51:35most probably. I don't know.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40There was the whole symbol...
0:51:40 > 0:51:41had gone.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45And, of course, it had left everybody worried -
0:51:45 > 0:51:46"What is going to happen?"
0:51:50 > 0:51:56My own assessment, David's loss, I thought, "This is the end of us."
0:52:03 > 0:52:06After so many months of frenetic activity,
0:52:06 > 0:52:11Stirling found the inertia of prison life indescribably boring.
0:52:11 > 0:52:15But, among his fellow prisoners, he discovered a kindred spirit.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21The man in the next cell introduced himself
0:52:21 > 0:52:23as Captain John Richards.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Teddy Schurch had been flown to Rome with orders
0:52:32 > 0:52:34to obtain all the information he could get
0:52:34 > 0:52:36from this most important prisoner.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42Stirling later claimed that he'd known all along
0:52:42 > 0:52:44that Captain Richards was a fraud.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48But Schurch remembered their conversation rather differently.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52"I was told to obtain the name of Stirling's successor.
0:52:52 > 0:52:56"This I found to be Captain Paddy Mayne."
0:52:58 > 0:53:00With Stirling a prisoner of the Nazis,
0:53:00 > 0:53:04leadership of the SAS was handed to his second-in-command,
0:53:04 > 0:53:08the fiery, inspiring and occasionally violent
0:53:08 > 0:53:10Northern Irishman, Captain Paddy Mayne.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16He was beloved and respected for his fearless command in combat
0:53:16 > 0:53:19but bravery is only one aspect of leadership.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25Baffled and bored by paperwork and prone to drunken rages,
0:53:25 > 0:53:29Mayne lacked Stirling's willingness to charm the top brass,
0:53:29 > 0:53:32many of whom believed the SAS had outlived its usefulness.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37Paddy was a brilliant officer.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41But I think Paddy always needed an eye on him
0:53:41 > 0:53:44and Colonel Dave was a man
0:53:44 > 0:53:47that kept an eye on him and kept him...
0:53:47 > 0:53:49you know...
0:53:49 > 0:53:51on the ball.
0:53:51 > 0:53:53He was physically terribly tough,
0:53:53 > 0:53:57and a very nice and kind fellow, most of the time.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02Once he'd gone beyond a certain point...
0:54:02 > 0:54:06drinking, he became somebody quite different.
0:54:09 > 0:54:13We wondered whether Paddy had got the right connections.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16I mean, he'd certainly ruffled a lot of feathers.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19We wondered whether he could weather the storm.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33The SAS had been forged in the heat of the desert
0:54:33 > 0:54:35by a maverick young soldier who had challenged
0:54:35 > 0:54:39conventional military thinking and proven it wrong.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50In a little over a year,
0:54:50 > 0:54:55David Stirling and the SAS had destroyed 324 axis aircraft,
0:54:55 > 0:54:59terrorised the enemy and helped the Allies to defeat Rommel.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06But as the SAS prepared to fight Hitler in Europe,
0:55:06 > 0:55:09they would be without the leadership of the man who had created them.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17Stirling would spend the rest of the war as a prisoner of the Nazis,
0:55:17 > 0:55:21powerless to stop those in British high command who wanted to see
0:55:21 > 0:55:23his renegade unit disbanded.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27They...
0:55:29 > 0:55:32..regarded it as an opportunity, I think, of...
0:55:32 > 0:55:35reeling the troublesome SAS in...
0:55:37 > 0:55:38..and regularising it.
0:55:40 > 0:55:42But...
0:55:43 > 0:55:47And for a time, they apparently succeeded but they didn't...
0:55:48 > 0:55:51..appreciate the heavy metal
0:55:51 > 0:55:54that Paddy and his boys represented.
0:55:54 > 0:55:56There was no way they were going to win.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07With the future of the SAS uncertain,
0:56:07 > 0:56:11Malcolm Pleydell took a new posting at the General Hospital in Cairo.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18"Without Stirling", Pleydell lamented, "this ship has no rudder."
0:56:20 > 0:56:24The day that he had to leave the SAS was one of regret
0:56:24 > 0:56:26because I think they'd all become quite close.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29And I think to leave...
0:56:29 > 0:56:33people that you'd spent 24 hours a day with
0:56:33 > 0:56:35must be very difficult.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48Pleydell had fallen in love with a regiment that broke all the rules.
0:56:49 > 0:56:52He left them with a hymn of love to the desert.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57"Here in these little cliffs and caves
0:56:57 > 0:56:58"that had been our hiding places,
0:56:58 > 0:57:01"we had left our mark.
0:57:01 > 0:57:03"We had matured, we had discovered our fears
0:57:03 > 0:57:05"and our reactions to danger,
0:57:05 > 0:57:08"and had tried to overcome them.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10"This was the bequest of the desert.
0:57:10 > 0:57:12"Our time had not been wasted."
0:57:17 > 0:57:20He was very proud to have been in that unit.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24He thought that those people were
0:57:24 > 0:57:27something else.
0:57:29 > 0:57:32They were a really special,
0:57:32 > 0:57:34special group of men.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41They was no way any ordinary
0:57:41 > 0:57:43individual in the army...
0:57:43 > 0:57:47Any ordinary, well-qualified commanding officer
0:57:47 > 0:57:50could command those blokes. I mean, it was impossible.
0:57:52 > 0:57:56Because they were past responding to the...
0:57:56 > 0:57:59the old type of regulations.