0:00:09 > 0:00:13On the 10th of April 1945, in the heart of Nazi Germany,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16eight British soldiers were caught in a brutal ambush.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24They were pinned down by a hail of machinegun and sniper fire.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29As the enemy closed in, the end seemed inevitable.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38But then, out of nowhere, a Jeep stormed into view.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Two British soldiers were charging headlong into the bullets.
0:00:46 > 0:00:51At the wheel was Paddy Mayne - the most notorious leader of the SAS.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03The SAS was a radical new combat unit,
0:01:03 > 0:01:05forged in the heat of the North African desert.
0:01:07 > 0:01:09A hand-picked group of rogue warriors
0:01:09 > 0:01:12who attacked the enemy from behind their own lines.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20But in 1943, the SAS had left the desert
0:01:20 > 0:01:24to enter a darker and far more complex theatre of war.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29With unprecedented access to the SAS files,
0:01:29 > 0:01:34unseen archive footage and exclusive interviews
0:01:34 > 0:01:36with its original members,
0:01:36 > 0:01:40this is the remarkable story of the SAS's fight for Europe.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43A new phase of the war that hurled them
0:01:43 > 0:01:45into their bloodiest battles yet.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Well, I didn't hear it.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49The one that hits you, you never hear.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54They would face the terror of execution
0:01:54 > 0:01:58and the trauma of civilian casualties.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00We were there,
0:02:00 > 0:02:04quite literally, to liberate an enslaved people.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08And they would be the first Allied soldiers to witness the nightmare
0:02:08 > 0:02:10of Belsen concentration camp.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15There is no way of describing the horror of that camp.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35The SAS was a unit of battle-hardened desert commandos
0:02:35 > 0:02:37who fought in small groups behind enemy lines
0:02:37 > 0:02:39and wreaked untold damage.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46But the man who had created the SAS, David Archibald Stirling,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50was an aristocratic dreamer who had once held lofty ambitions to be
0:02:50 > 0:02:53an artist or perhaps a famous mountaineer.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01Many at British HQ did not like his unconventional tactics,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05or the rogues and reprobates he had hand-picked to fight with him.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08Every man knew the risks.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12Through a combination of intuition, imagination and self-confidence,
0:03:12 > 0:03:16he had made a success of this radical new method of warfare.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22But in 1943, Stirling was captured and thrown into
0:03:22 > 0:03:25the Nazis' most secure prison,
0:03:25 > 0:03:26Colditz.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Now the SAS was under a very different commander.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41The unpredictable and violent former Irish rugby international,
0:03:41 > 0:03:42Major Paddy Mayne.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Mayne had built his reputation on the battlefield
0:03:48 > 0:03:50as a warrior of the first rank.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56But unlike Stirling, he had no interest in charming high command,
0:03:56 > 0:04:00was often drunk and disorderly, and prone to acts of savagery.
0:04:12 > 0:04:17The original men of the SAS have long since passed away.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21But in 1987, a handful of them told their story on film.
0:04:21 > 0:04:2357, take one.
0:04:27 > 0:04:33They all remembered the unit's most notorious fighter, Paddy Mayne.
0:04:33 > 0:04:35He had a marvellous...
0:04:37 > 0:04:38..battle nostril.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43And what looked to be absolutely foolhardy was legitimate with Paddy
0:04:43 > 0:04:47because of his extraordinary skill.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Paddy, who was a man that, if you walked behind,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54you had no fear at all. If you were with Paddy Mayne...
0:04:55 > 0:04:56..there was no fear at all.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01But I think Paddy always needed an eye on him.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06We wondered whether Paddy had got the right connections,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09and he'd certainly ruffled a lot of feathers.
0:05:09 > 0:05:11We wondered whether he could weather the storm.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20For two years, Stirling had led his men across the desert.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24In July 1943, Paddy Mayne led them out of it.
0:05:25 > 0:05:30For the first time, the SAS would be taking the fight to mainland Europe.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33The liberation would begin with the invasion of Sicily.
0:05:38 > 0:05:45In July 1943, 160,000 soldiers on 3,000 ships prepared to set sail
0:05:45 > 0:05:47across the Mediterranean.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49The SAS would be leading them into battle.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Mayne was ordered to leave Stirling's original tactics
0:05:56 > 0:05:57in the desert.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59His men would not be fighting behind the lines,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01but at the spearhead of the invasion.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06The Desert War was over.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08Paddy Mayne was now leading his troops
0:06:08 > 0:06:10into a different sort of conflict.
0:06:28 > 0:06:33Their target was the coastal defence battery at Capo Murro di Porco -
0:06:33 > 0:06:37a veritable fortress defended by a range of heavy guns.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40If Mayne's men failed to knock out the battery,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43the invasion fleet could be blasted to shreds
0:06:43 > 0:06:44long before it reached the shore.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56As the unit approached the coast, conditions turned against them.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01And the weather got very, very rough.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03And it got rougher and rougher.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09And I remember Paddy saying to the captain,
0:07:09 > 0:07:11"You've got to land this, you know.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15"We must land it. Whatever you do, we've got to be landed".
0:07:15 > 0:07:18At 1am, the men climbed down into their landing craft,
0:07:18 > 0:07:19bucking in a heavy sea.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23Many were sick into cardboard buckets,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27which immediately fell apart in their hands.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Through the gloom, as they approached the target,
0:07:29 > 0:07:32shapes bobbed on the surface of the sea.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Allied paratroopers, blown off course,
0:07:36 > 0:07:38were fighting for their lives in the water.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45Sergeant Pat Riley could hear the men drowning and screaming for help.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50When we come to do the landing on Murro di Porco,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52the Americans, I think it was,
0:07:52 > 0:07:55that flew the airborne in,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57but unfortunately they dropped them short
0:07:57 > 0:07:59and they fell in the sea.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02And as we went along, there was a lot of airborne boys in the water,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06which we picked up, but then it came to a thing where we couldn't,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10couldn't, it was jeopardising the operation, so we had to push on.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22- INTERVIEWER:- Why couldn't you stop for the guys in the water?
0:08:22 > 0:08:24Well, we'd got an operation.
0:08:25 > 0:08:26Please!
0:08:27 > 0:08:29Those people were the casualties.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33You can't.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35People might find it hard to understand these days,
0:08:35 > 0:08:37perhaps ordinary units understand,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40but my idea that my first objective is to get there,
0:08:40 > 0:08:43I've got gun batteries to destroy.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52The guns were positioned atop towering cliffs
0:08:52 > 0:08:54more than 100 feet high.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Mayne ordered his men to scale them and storm the gun batteries.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05But each one was protected by a ring of concrete pillboxes.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10SAS veteran Reg Seekings had worked out a plan of attack.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15What I'd done, onboard ship,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19I'd got designs and measurements of the different type pillboxes
0:09:19 > 0:09:22and I'd worked out angles of fire.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Got a certain distance where the fire crossed.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28You could get underneath there, in between the two guns,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31and all you had to do was stick a grenade through the slip.
0:09:36 > 0:09:37It was finished.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41And then run around, and any survivors, you finished off.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Mayne's men had put the guns out of action,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48allowing the invasion fleet a safe landing.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55But they were about to come up against something
0:09:55 > 0:09:58that they had never experienced in the desert.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11As they began clearing the bunkers,
0:10:11 > 0:10:16Reg Seekings found terrified civilians cowering in the darkness.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21I heard voices, I called them and they came out, came filing out,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24these civvies, they'd all taken cover when the thing started on
0:10:24 > 0:10:30this gun battery. And drawing up the rear was a young girl,
0:10:30 > 0:10:33the only difference between her and my sister, really, was she was dark,
0:10:33 > 0:10:35my sister was fair,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38and the young girl, about 14 or something like that,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40came out so proudly,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44and just as she got past me,
0:10:44 > 0:10:48a grenade went off nearby and that just broke her.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52She grabbed what obviously was her grandfather, I suppose,
0:10:52 > 0:10:53was sobbing her heart out.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57And this really cooled me down. I thought of my kid sister.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Now civilians were being dragged into the conflict.
0:11:12 > 0:11:16The clarity and gentlemanliness of the Desert War
0:11:16 > 0:11:18suddenly seemed very distant.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27GUNSHOTS
0:11:31 > 0:11:34As Mayne led his men up through Sicily,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37confidence in their new commander was growing.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43During the house-to-house combat, Mayne was a ferocious whirlwind.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48But during breaks in the fighting, he was a beacon of calm,
0:11:48 > 0:11:51nonchalantly strolling the streets, camera in hand.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05The port of Augusta was next to fall.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07This unique footage
0:12:07 > 0:12:10shows Mayne's men throwing a boisterous looting party...
0:12:13 > 0:12:15..instigated by their leader.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Paddy Mayne was seen pushing a baby's pram up the street,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24filled with bottles of booze.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30He then used a hand grenade to blow open a safe in the bank and was
0:12:30 > 0:12:34disappointed to find only a handful of silver spoons and an old brooch.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39They'd have been Viking raiders without a doubt,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41I think, most of them.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44If ever there was a raider, he was one, wasn't he?
0:12:44 > 0:12:48He was the leader of a raiding squadron, in fact.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51"Drink and be merry, boys," and so on,
0:12:51 > 0:12:55was very typical of the attitude in which the Vikings sailed
0:12:55 > 0:12:58across the North Sea to ravage the coasts of Britain and Europe.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09The Allies had liberated Sicily
0:13:09 > 0:13:11and on September 8th 1943,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14the Italian government surrendered.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18Now the battle for Italy would be fought against crack German troops
0:13:18 > 0:13:21who had no intention of giving up without a fight.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26So far, Mayne had fulfilled his orders to attack head on,
0:13:26 > 0:13:31and was succeeding, but Stirling's unique idea was being eroded.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33The unit was losing the advantage
0:13:33 > 0:13:37that came with fighting in small groups behind the lines.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42The full consequences of this would become horribly apparent
0:13:42 > 0:13:45when they were ordered to storm the fortified port of Termoli.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57Termoli was terrible, it was one of the worst
0:13:57 > 0:13:58times of the unit, actually.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07The port of Termoli, on the Adriatic coast of Italy,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10was the linchpin of the German line
0:14:10 > 0:14:12and the Allies were determined to break it.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17After a morning of fighting, the port was in Allied hands.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23It felt like a pushover but their confidence was misplaced.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26At dawn on October the 5th,
0:14:26 > 0:14:28the Germans launched a counterattack so fierce
0:14:28 > 0:14:32it looked like the town was about to be recaptured by the enemy.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34Most of the regular troops retreated,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37leaving Mayne's men and the commandos to hold their positions
0:14:37 > 0:14:40until the rest of the force could regroup.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44Mayne ordered Reg Seekings and his troop to move as quickly as possible
0:14:44 > 0:14:47to reinforce a point in the line
0:14:47 > 0:14:49where another counterattack was expected imminently.
0:14:51 > 0:14:54Seekings' 17 men boarded a truck,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57unaware that they were firmly in the Nazis' sights.
0:14:59 > 0:15:03Hiding at the top of the town clock tower was a German artillery spotter
0:15:03 > 0:15:05watching their every move.
0:15:06 > 0:15:07Unknown to the British,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11he was pinpointing targets for the German Panzer gunners in the hills.
0:15:13 > 0:15:15We loaded onto the trucks
0:15:15 > 0:15:18and, well, I didn't hear it.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20The one that hits you, you never hear.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Even Reg Seekings, known as the hardest man in the unit,
0:15:32 > 0:15:34was haunted by that attack.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38The memory would stay with him for the rest of his life.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40It landed right in the middle of us,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43just a foot or so behind me, actually.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45It was a shambles, terrible.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50There was Sergeant McNinch.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54He was actually sick but he'd volunteered to drive the truck.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58And he was sitting there. I said, "For Christ's sake, man, come on."
0:15:58 > 0:16:00And he was there, he had a big grin on his face,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03I said, "Don't sit there with a bloody grin on, you bloody idiot!
0:16:03 > 0:16:06"Come on, out!" And I grabbed him and fell forward,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09he was stone dead.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11A piece of shrapnel had gone right through him, killed him instantly,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14with a grin on his face.
0:16:14 > 0:16:19And another one, Henderson, Sergeant Henderson,
0:16:19 > 0:16:22he was hanging upside down on the truck
0:16:22 > 0:16:24and one arm had gone
0:16:24 > 0:16:27and you could see his heart, lungs all pumping away,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29and then he called to me
0:16:29 > 0:16:34and said, "Take this Tommy gun off my chest, it's hurt my chest."
0:16:35 > 0:16:39And so I took him, got him, lowered him down
0:16:39 > 0:16:45and Skinner, the one that got the grenade on his leg,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49he'd just returned from hospital to us, recovered from that,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51and he was on fire.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54I never realised body burnt so fast.
0:16:54 > 0:16:58And I don't know, it was just one of those things, all the other carnage
0:16:58 > 0:17:04around you, but the sight of one of your friends burning, and I thought,
0:17:04 > 0:17:07hell, the first thing that came to mind, "I've got to put it out."
0:17:07 > 0:17:10I went to look around and there was these,
0:17:10 > 0:17:15the woman who used to do our washing, her and her daughters,
0:17:15 > 0:17:17they were lying there blown open,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21all their stomach and whatnot blown up like a balloon.
0:17:21 > 0:17:27And alongside the heap was her eldest son.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30And as I stepped over the top of him to get some water
0:17:30 > 0:17:33out of this building, it'd blown the front of the building in,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37that he jumped up and ran around screaming with this
0:17:37 > 0:17:39huge balloon of gut.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42So I caught him and I shot him. It was the only thing I could do.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45Couldn't have him running around like that.
0:17:45 > 0:17:46You could do no good for him.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53Seekings turned back to try to find other survivors.
0:17:53 > 0:17:54In the town square,
0:17:54 > 0:17:57he was confronted by another harrowing scene.
0:17:59 > 0:18:03A few minutes later, Seekings caught sight of the boy's teenage sister.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05She was shellshocked but uninjured.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09He would never forget her expression of peculiar, dreadful calm.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18The destroyed truck was photographed shortly after.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21In the battle for Termoli,
0:18:21 > 0:18:26the unit had lost 21 men killed and 24 wounded.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30It's shattering
0:18:30 > 0:18:35because these were the first men I'd actually commanded.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Men which I'd trained, new men, and moulded them together.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44And they'd become more than just your men, they were your friends,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48your pals, you know? And they were good chaps, you know,
0:18:48 > 0:18:50nice chaps, apart from anything else.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05The fight for the town raged for another 12 hours
0:19:05 > 0:19:09but then suddenly the counterattack ceased and the Germans began to
0:19:09 > 0:19:14pull back. Against incredible odds, Mayne and his unit had held Termoli.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21The top brass at HQ were delighted with the victory.
0:19:21 > 0:19:25But Mayne was deeply affected by the loss of his men.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30He had accepted a change of tactics
0:19:30 > 0:19:34and now felt a personal responsibility for the outcome.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38When things got rough,
0:19:38 > 0:19:44Paddy got more and more determined and I think he became more clear-cut
0:19:44 > 0:19:47in what he wanted and what he was going to do.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50He didn't go ranting and raving mad.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53He just became colder and colder and colder.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Late one evening in October 1943,
0:20:17 > 0:20:22a young British prisoner of war sat down to a delicious meal
0:20:22 > 0:20:24with a Nazi general.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34Lieutenant John Tonkin, of the SAS,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36had been captured during the raid on Termoli
0:20:36 > 0:20:39and imprisoned in central Italy.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43After refusing to divulge anything under interrogation,
0:20:43 > 0:20:45he was surprised to be invited for dinner
0:20:45 > 0:20:48with a German divisional commander.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53At the end of an oddly pleasant evening,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57the enemy general shook his hand and wished him good luck.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00Tonkin would soon find out why.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10This is of interest to me.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13And it might be to future generations of our family.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21In 1987, John Tonkin recorded his own very personal war memoir.
0:21:21 > 0:21:27Our motto was "who dares wins", which we somewhat irreverently
0:21:27 > 0:21:30transferred into "who cares who wins"!
0:21:31 > 0:21:32For the first time,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36his family has given permission for this unique and poignant testament
0:21:36 > 0:21:37to be broadcast.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49As Tonkin was being driven back to his cell,
0:21:49 > 0:21:53the guard told him he was about to be handed over to the secret police.
0:21:53 > 0:21:59Almost his exact words, very precise words, were,
0:21:59 > 0:22:03"I want you to listen very carefully to what I have to say.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08"We now have orders, which we can't disobey,
0:22:08 > 0:22:14"that we must hand you over to the German special police.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17"And they are people that, I will tell you quite frankly,
0:22:17 > 0:22:19"we do not like.
0:22:19 > 0:22:26"And I must warn you that from now on, the German army, to its shame,
0:22:26 > 0:22:28"can no longer guarantee your life".
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Infuriated by the success of units like the SAS,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39Hitler had issued the infamous Commando Order.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42All enemy soldiers caught operating behind the lines
0:22:42 > 0:22:45were to be executed without trial.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49His officers knew that the order was inhumane and illegal.
0:22:49 > 0:22:53But as the Nazi zealots of the SS took control of the German army,
0:22:53 > 0:22:55the SAS could expect no mercy.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01Tonkin realised he faced a stark choice -
0:23:01 > 0:23:03escape or die.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10Every hour on that drive,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13the truck stopped and the Germans used to get out.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15And they'd all congregate out there
0:23:15 > 0:23:18and have a cigarette for a ten minute smoke-o.
0:23:18 > 0:23:19And I then got my idea
0:23:19 > 0:23:24and I started to work on the rope that held the canvas down.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29And slowly, bit by bit, I managed to get it off.
0:23:34 > 0:23:38Away down this very rough mountainside as hard as I could go
0:23:38 > 0:23:41and, in due course, the truck started up, without any hullabaloo,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44they hadn't missed me, and drove on its way.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50Tonkin trekked south for days until he stumbled into an Allied patrol
0:23:50 > 0:23:53and returned to safety.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58Tonkin had narrowly escaped becoming a victim of Hitler's Commando Order,
0:23:58 > 0:24:00but others were not so lucky.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04A week earlier, four captured SAS men were murdered in cold blood.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08The Fuhrer's revenge on the SAS had begun in earnest.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12When my father was captured,
0:24:12 > 0:24:15he was a big believer that most people were good,
0:24:15 > 0:24:17so he actually had
0:24:17 > 0:24:21a great deal of sympathy in a way for the normal German soldiers,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24but not for the others, he said, he can't,
0:24:24 > 0:24:29he couldn't understand how anybody could be so cruel and horrible.
0:24:31 > 0:24:33I think he felt very patriotic.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37He just wanted to do his bit for the country.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47In the spring of 1944,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50the SAS was stationed in Britain for the first time,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54preparing for the last great push of the war - D-Day.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00160,000 British,
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Canadian and American troops were preparing to invade Nazi-occupied
0:25:04 > 0:25:09France. But the SAS would not be joining the invasion force.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Instead, they would be going back behind the lines.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20This secret battle map reveals the plan to launch an unprecedented
0:25:20 > 0:25:2340 SAS operations all across occupied France...
0:25:25 > 0:25:27..each with a very British code name
0:25:27 > 0:25:30that gave no clue to their true intent.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36Their task was to blow up supply lines, blockade roads,
0:25:36 > 0:25:41arm the local resistance and stop the northward advance of the Panzers
0:25:41 > 0:25:42in any way they could.
0:25:43 > 0:25:49The SAS had grown into a mighty force of some 2,500 men.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56This rare footage shows Paddy Mayne parading his new troops on home soil
0:25:56 > 0:25:57for General Montgomery.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02Mayne was fiercely proud of the SAS
0:26:02 > 0:26:04and their reputation as hard-fighting
0:26:04 > 0:26:06rogues and reprobates,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09but he was about to enrol a man with a different kind of zeal.
0:26:13 > 0:26:14He would meet him at dawn,
0:26:14 > 0:26:20after an all-night drinking session with Desert original Johnny Cooper.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22By that stage, I was struggling to get the blackouts down,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24there was a bang at the front door.
0:26:26 > 0:26:28So he said, "Go on, Johnny, find out what it is."
0:26:28 > 0:26:30Because none of the mess staff were on duty, I mean,
0:26:30 > 0:26:31everybody was still in bed.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36I opened the door and there stood this padre.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38And he said, "Captain McLuskey reporting for duty."
0:26:41 > 0:26:46The Reverend James Fraser McLuskey was a gentle, devout man of God,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49who firmly believed his calling was to help the British war effort.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54He'd been training for months and had even learned to parachute,
0:26:54 > 0:26:58but so far his new commanding officer had been chiefly interested
0:26:58 > 0:27:00in spirits of the alcoholic kind.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04Film roll 30, 34, take one.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11The padre's memories of that first meeting were also recorded in 1987.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14What were your first impressions?
0:27:14 > 0:27:15Somewhat chaotic.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18The commanding officer
0:27:18 > 0:27:23and some of his best friends had been, er...
0:27:23 > 0:27:28celebrating the night before and indeed into the morning.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31So the appearance of the mess was
0:27:31 > 0:27:33pleasantly confused.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36So, there was a shout from inside from Paddy, "Who's that, John?"
0:27:36 > 0:27:38I said, "New padre, reporting for duty".
0:27:38 > 0:27:41"Bring him in. Pull him a pint of beer."
0:27:41 > 0:27:43So I went across and I pulled him a pint of beer, said, "Right,
0:27:43 > 0:27:45"we're going for breakfast."
0:27:45 > 0:27:48I went in for breakfast with the padre with a pint of beer,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Paddy and myself with a pint of beer.
0:27:50 > 0:27:56And that was his initiation into 1 SAS regiment.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01McLuskey, dubbed the Parachute Padre,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04would join the men on their missions behind the lines
0:28:04 > 0:28:09and bring a spiritual element to this most ungodly bunch of warriors.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14While the padre would be going into action, Paddy Mayne,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16to his frustration, would not.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel but the order was clear -
0:28:20 > 0:28:23stay in Britain and coordinate operations.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28Instead, the missions would be led by his most trusted men.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31One of the first would be the former Nazi prisoner,
0:28:31 > 0:28:34newly promoted Captain John Tonkin.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38He was to lead Operation Bulbasket
0:28:38 > 0:28:43and parachute into the forest near Poitiers in west-central France.
0:28:43 > 0:28:47We got a sudden flap and a sudden warning
0:28:47 > 0:28:48came into the camp
0:28:48 > 0:28:51and Paddy called me over and he said, "Well,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54"you are due to leave tomorrow morning
0:28:54 > 0:28:56"and you'd better get on with things."
0:29:00 > 0:29:05Just after midnight on June 6th, a few hours before the D-Day invasion,
0:29:05 > 0:29:08Tonkin set out in secret for France.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16The pilot was running straight in, very, very beautifully indeed.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20And then the green light came on, so I just pushed off.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22And it was absolutely beautiful.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28Dangling in the air, drifting gently down, bright moonlight,
0:29:28 > 0:29:29no problems at all.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35Soon after dawn,
0:29:35 > 0:29:39a young French secret agent greeted Tonkin at the drop zone.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42A stilted exchange of passwords took place.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45"Is there a house in the woods?"
0:29:46 > 0:29:50"Yes, but it's not very good," said Agent Samuel,
0:29:50 > 0:29:53whose fantastical real name was
0:29:53 > 0:29:57Major Rene Amedee Louis Pierre Maingard de la Ville-es-Offrans.
0:30:01 > 0:30:06Major Maingard was Tonkin's link to the local French resistance.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11The region contained more than 7,000 Maquis,
0:30:11 > 0:30:15the name given to the complex constellation of local guerrilla
0:30:15 > 0:30:18fighters who were sworn to defeat the Nazi invaders
0:30:18 > 0:30:21and who would be vital to Tonkin's sabotage mission.
0:30:23 > 0:30:29The Maquis were certainly brave but they were woefully underequipped,
0:30:29 > 0:30:34largely untrained and prone to violent infighting.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38And worst of all, they had been infiltrated by Nazi informers.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43John Tonkin decided to put his trust in the Maquis.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46It was a risky strategy but it was the only one available.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55Tonkin's 40 men were parachuted in
0:30:55 > 0:30:58along with an air drop of supplies...
0:30:59 > 0:31:00..including Jeeps.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05And suddenly the sky was absolutely full of Jeeps
0:31:05 > 0:31:08and men and containers.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10They all came roaring in together.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15One Jeep, I remember, one of its 90-foot parachutes tore
0:31:15 > 0:31:18and collapsed and that Jeep came down like a tonne of bricks
0:31:18 > 0:31:21and the Jeep fairly thumped into the ground
0:31:21 > 0:31:23and dug itself a hole.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30Tonkin was now ready to set up camp in the woods and begin his mission.
0:31:37 > 0:31:41Our initial tasks were to blow up and encourage the resistance
0:31:41 > 0:31:43to blow up four main railway lines.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48We started up the Jeeps, put the guns on them,
0:31:48 > 0:31:51put the fuel in them and headed out.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00Across France, SAS units were parachuting in
0:32:00 > 0:32:02to conduct their sabotage missions.
0:32:04 > 0:32:05Just as in the Desert War,
0:32:05 > 0:32:09they would use Jeeps to attack targets of opportunity
0:32:09 > 0:32:11and they now had a new weapon...
0:32:13 > 0:32:14..air strikes.
0:32:15 > 0:32:17By spying on German movements,
0:32:17 > 0:32:22they could call in a deadly barrage of fire from above.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25If we could tell
0:32:25 > 0:32:30the higher commands whether the German army or their air force was
0:32:30 > 0:32:35being reinforced, withdrawn or just maintained in any one area,
0:32:35 > 0:32:37the aircraft would pick them up.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50The results of their missions in France are recorded
0:32:50 > 0:32:52in a unique artefact,
0:32:52 > 0:32:57the War Diary, held in secrecy by the SAS for 70 years.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01This extraordinary scrapbook of combat reports
0:33:01 > 0:33:05and original photographs was put together by the men themselves
0:33:05 > 0:33:09and kept in a leather binder liberated from Nazi Germany.
0:33:10 > 0:33:15It lists the impressive tally of munitions, communications
0:33:15 > 0:33:17and rail links that the SAS destroyed.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24But there is another terrible list that makes for chilling reading.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27For every SAS success,
0:33:27 > 0:33:32the Nazis exacted bloody reprisals against innocent civilians.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36On the 27th of June, the diary records,
0:33:36 > 0:33:40the village of Vermot was burned to the ground.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43On the same day, the village of Dun-les-Places
0:33:43 > 0:33:45was given over to rape and murder.
0:33:46 > 0:33:5021 civilians were shot by firing squad.
0:33:55 > 0:33:57- Feuer! - GUNSHOTS
0:33:59 > 0:34:01In the face of such atrocities,
0:34:01 > 0:34:05the SAS needed someone to keep up their spirits.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09To supply this, one man took a leap of faith.
0:34:09 > 0:34:10On June the 22nd,
0:34:10 > 0:34:14the Parachute Padre crashed to earth through a tree
0:34:14 > 0:34:17and was found lying unconscious.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24Next thing I knew, the padre had landed with us,
0:34:24 > 0:34:25and I thought, "Oh, good God!"
0:34:27 > 0:34:31Fraser McLuskey had parachuted in near Dijon to minister to
0:34:31 > 0:34:36the men of Operation Houndsworth, another of the sabotage missions.
0:34:36 > 0:34:38With him he carried everything required,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41should the need arise, for an impromptu service.
0:34:48 > 0:34:55Padres, by the Geneva Convention, are unarmed and I never carried arms
0:34:55 > 0:34:59and I think the men were glad to see the padre
0:34:59 > 0:35:05as a kind of symbol of the will of God for peace for all men.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10In the type of work they were doing,
0:35:10 > 0:35:13it was possible for a padre to be there without being
0:35:13 > 0:35:15a nuisance to them. That is to say,
0:35:15 > 0:35:18there were jobs to be done and when we had drops from the air
0:35:18 > 0:35:21another pair of hands were useful.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23I could help the doctor sometimes, you know.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27He even came out and he was my driver on one or two things.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Only thing he didn't realise -
0:35:29 > 0:35:32that guns made such a big noise as they did.
0:35:32 > 0:35:38I had no doubt that the carriage of arms was necessary and I suppose you
0:35:38 > 0:35:41might have said I wasn't altogether unprotected because I had a large
0:35:41 > 0:35:46and burly batman who came with me in the Jeep or car or whatever I had
0:35:46 > 0:35:49and who was possibly armed to excess.
0:35:54 > 0:35:59McLuskey provided something the SAS had never had before -
0:35:59 > 0:36:02someone who was prepared, without sentimentality,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04to tend to their spirits.
0:36:04 > 0:36:05Even their hearts.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12I had no doubt that the war was
0:36:12 > 0:36:18necessary. I was quite sure that we were there
0:36:18 > 0:36:22quite literally to liberate an enslaved people
0:36:22 > 0:36:27and to keep the torch of freedom burning throughout the world,
0:36:27 > 0:36:28as far as we could.
0:36:30 > 0:36:32Everybody liked him.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34A lot of them loved him.
0:36:35 > 0:36:39Everywhere he went, he smoothed the feathers of fear.
0:36:40 > 0:36:43He did a terrific amount of good in just his presence.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54While the padre was calming nerves in Operation Houndsworth,
0:36:54 > 0:36:56200 miles away, near Poitiers,
0:36:56 > 0:37:00Tonkin feared the net was closing around Operation Bulbasket.
0:37:02 > 0:37:04Local intelligence indicated that
0:37:04 > 0:37:07a full-scale hunt for the British saboteurs was underway.
0:37:08 > 0:37:14Tonkin's wireless messages to HQ reflected his mounting fears.
0:37:14 > 0:37:17"Troop movements in the area day and night.
0:37:17 > 0:37:18"Situation serious.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21"400 Germans are looking for us.
0:37:21 > 0:37:23"Area unhealthy."
0:37:23 > 0:37:26Running low on supplies and keen for adventure,
0:37:26 > 0:37:29some of Tonkin's men were becoming bored and careless.
0:37:30 > 0:37:33Two of my SAS troopers,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36rather...EXTREMELY stupidly,
0:37:36 > 0:37:39had gone into the village of Verrieres, from the camp,
0:37:39 > 0:37:41to chat up the girls and to have some wine
0:37:41 > 0:37:44and then they'd strolled back again.
0:37:47 > 0:37:48Well, that was crazy.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57At first light,
0:37:57 > 0:37:59we were woken up extremely rudely.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08Panic is an incredibly infectious thing.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11"The Germans are coming, the Germans are coming, run, run, run!"
0:38:13 > 0:38:16I was almost certain that they were trying to drive us into a trap.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22Tonkin and a handful of men ran deep into the woods and escaped.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26But most of the Bulbasket troop fled in the opposite direction,
0:38:26 > 0:38:28down the slope and into the valley
0:38:28 > 0:38:30and straight into the hands of the enemy.
0:38:33 > 0:38:34GUNSHOT
0:38:35 > 0:38:4031 captured SAS men were now at the mercy of the Commando Order.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49On the morning of July the 7th,
0:38:49 > 0:38:53the prisoners were taken deep into the forest of St Sauvant.
0:38:57 > 0:39:00Burial pits had already been dug.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05The prisoners' hands were tied.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Each man was escorted by two German soldiers.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12There was no possibility of escape.
0:39:15 > 0:39:19Lieutenant Richard Crisp, the only officer who could speak German,
0:39:19 > 0:39:22was read the execution order and relayed it to the men.
0:39:28 > 0:39:31This picture was taken shortly before the ambush.
0:39:32 > 0:39:35Only four of these men escaped with Tonkin.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37The rest were executed,
0:39:37 > 0:39:41their bodies dragged into the forest and buried in the pits.
0:39:49 > 0:39:54Today, a memorial marks the burial site of the murdered SAS...
0:39:56 > 0:39:59..the victims of the single greatest atrocity carried out
0:39:59 > 0:40:01under Hitler's Commando Order.
0:40:03 > 0:40:05Even long after the conflict,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08the battle-hardened SAS officer in Tonkin
0:40:08 > 0:40:11could not allow any display of emotion.
0:40:12 > 0:40:1731 SAS were caught and that was the sad and horrible story
0:40:17 > 0:40:20about that particular episode.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26I think one of the hardest things for Dad must have been...
0:40:26 > 0:40:29a farmer had been out looking for truffles, I believe, with his dogs
0:40:29 > 0:40:31and they found the graves,
0:40:31 > 0:40:35the shallow graves of the men that had been murdered there
0:40:35 > 0:40:40in the forest. So he had to go back and identify them.
0:40:42 > 0:40:48There's supposed to be a certain amount of decency in war
0:40:48 > 0:40:49and that just disappeared.
0:40:52 > 0:40:53Having escaped,
0:40:53 > 0:40:57the irrepressible Tonkin fought on with just eight men.
0:40:59 > 0:41:05We, from then on, started to get fairly rough with them, the Germans.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07Wherever we could find them and locate them,
0:41:07 > 0:41:09we'd get the RAF to bomb them.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11On July the 14th,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14he called in an air strike on the SS who had attacked his camp.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19150 were reported killed.
0:41:22 > 0:41:26In the operating period of 43 days,
0:41:26 > 0:41:31we attempted 32 attacks
0:41:31 > 0:41:33and only two of them were unsuccessful.
0:41:37 > 0:41:42Over a three-month period, Bulbasket and the other SAS operations
0:41:42 > 0:41:46had provided vital support in the successful invasion of France.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50They had destroyed 60 railway targets,
0:41:50 > 0:41:56killed or wounded 760 of the enemy and taken 3,000 prisoners -
0:41:56 > 0:41:57including a general.
0:42:00 > 0:42:02In a theatre of war much darker
0:42:02 > 0:42:05and more brutal than the desert conflict,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08the SAS had proved their behind-the-lines tactics
0:42:08 > 0:42:10were as vital as ever.
0:42:14 > 0:42:17CHEERING
0:42:19 > 0:42:23On August 25th 1944, Paris was liberated.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29Amid the throng of celebrations drove an SAS Jeep.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35In the passenger seat was the hulking figure of Paddy Mayne,
0:42:35 > 0:42:38who had finally been allowed to join his men in France.
0:42:38 > 0:42:43Three weeks earlier, Paddy Mayne had been parachuted in behind the lines
0:42:43 > 0:42:47with orders not to lead attacks but to coordinate action.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50He therefore drove around from one operation to another,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53treating the whole thing as if it was an enjoyable,
0:42:53 > 0:42:55if extremely dangerous, holiday.
0:43:01 > 0:43:06Driving Mayne on this vacation was SAS navigator Mike Sadler,
0:43:06 > 0:43:10who had come to understand his commander's complex personality.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13He was physically terribly tough
0:43:13 > 0:43:17and a very nice and kind fellow most of the time.
0:43:17 > 0:43:22Once he had gone beyond a certain point drinking,
0:43:22 > 0:43:24he became somebody quite different.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30After a splendid lunch that we had in a black market restaurant,
0:43:30 > 0:43:33we were all sitting round drinking our coffee and so on and he suddenly
0:43:33 > 0:43:36produced a hand grenade and pulled the pin out and stood it
0:43:36 > 0:43:38in the middle of the table.
0:43:52 > 0:43:54We didn't quite know what to do.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57We all sat wondering whether to dive under the table.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59Some people did. Others thought, "Well,
0:43:59 > 0:44:03"he can't be intending to blow himself to pieces and us,"
0:44:03 > 0:44:04so we just sat there.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13And, of course, he'd cut the detonator off, so it was all right,
0:44:13 > 0:44:18but he was the sort of... You know, he liked to give somebody a fright.
0:44:18 > 0:44:21It was a typically macho Mayne performance
0:44:21 > 0:44:25but it was also symbolic of the kind of war the SAS was now fighting,
0:44:25 > 0:44:30filled with daring bravado but with cruelty just beneath the surface.
0:44:41 > 0:44:46For four years, the SAS had fought its unconventional war across baking
0:44:46 > 0:44:49deserts and through deep forests,
0:44:49 > 0:44:53battling against invaders who wished to conquer and enslave the world.
0:44:56 > 0:45:01But as the war entered its final bloody chapter, the SAS found itself
0:45:01 > 0:45:04fighting against people defending their own land.
0:45:06 > 0:45:11In March 1945, the SAS crossed the Rhine and entered Nazi Germany.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17As the Allies chased the Nazis back into Germany,
0:45:17 > 0:45:23the SAS were in the vanguard, acting as a forward reconnaissance force,
0:45:23 > 0:45:29weeding out pockets of resistance and battling the fanatical SS.
0:45:29 > 0:45:34The end of the war was in sight and Paddy Mayne plunged into his final
0:45:34 > 0:45:40conflict with a fervour that was either supremely brave or suicidal -
0:45:40 > 0:45:41and possibly both.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52With orders only to coordinate the action,
0:45:52 > 0:45:57Mayne hadn't tasted battle since the massacre of his men at Termoli.
0:45:57 > 0:45:58He was itching for a fight.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02And he brought along his own musical accompaniment.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06He parachuted in with a gramophone strapped to his leg.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Paddy Mayne would invade Germany to the strains of his favourite Irish
0:46:11 > 0:46:14music - the ballads of Percy French.
0:46:17 > 0:46:21MUSIC: Come Back Paddy Reilly by Brendan O'Dowda
0:46:32 > 0:46:34As they advanced through northern Germany,
0:46:34 > 0:46:38the forward column of Mayne's jeeps came under intense fire.
0:46:40 > 0:46:43The action was mapped in the War Diary.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45A group of SAS men were pinned down
0:46:45 > 0:46:49by the roadside and cut off from any support.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53Paddy Mayne realised that the only way to save them
0:46:53 > 0:46:55was with a full-blooded charge.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58"Who wants to have a go?" he asked.
0:47:00 > 0:47:04# For the grass, it is green around Ballyjamesduff... #
0:47:04 > 0:47:06GUNSHOTS
0:47:06 > 0:47:08With a volunteer gunner at his side,
0:47:08 > 0:47:11Mayne hurtled into a storm of bullets,
0:47:11 > 0:47:13laying down his own barrage.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20When he reached the end of the road, Mayne calmly executed a U-turn
0:47:20 > 0:47:23and, under heavy fire, ran the gauntlet again.
0:47:23 > 0:47:27# Come back, Paddy Reilly, to Ballyjamesduff
0:47:27 > 0:47:30# Come home, Paddy Reilly... #
0:47:30 > 0:47:34Mayne saved all of his men, picked up the wounded and dead
0:47:34 > 0:47:37and, by some miracle, emerged without a scratch.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42He said, "People think I'm a big, mad Irishman but I'm not.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44"I calculate the risks and have a go."
0:47:47 > 0:47:49This, his final battle of the war,
0:47:49 > 0:47:52was fought in much the same way as the first -
0:47:52 > 0:47:57saving his men with a complete disregard for his own safety
0:47:57 > 0:47:59and killing in prodigious numbers.
0:48:01 > 0:48:07# Come home, Paddy Reilly
0:48:07 > 0:48:13# To me. #
0:48:15 > 0:48:19Paddy Mayne was recommended for the Victoria Cross,
0:48:19 > 0:48:21the highest British award for valour.
0:48:22 > 0:48:26The War Diary contains the many citations he received.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29"By a single act of supreme bravery,
0:48:29 > 0:48:32"he drove the enemy from their stronghold."
0:48:32 > 0:48:35"Not only did he save the lives of the wounded,
0:48:35 > 0:48:38"but also completely defeated and destroyed the enemy."
0:48:39 > 0:48:42"This officer is worthy of the highest award
0:48:42 > 0:48:43"for gallantry and leadership."
0:48:45 > 0:48:48And yet Mayne was not awarded the Victoria Cross.
0:48:49 > 0:48:53Here on his commendation, the word VC is crossed out.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Quite why Mayne was denied the Victoria Cross
0:48:58 > 0:49:01was and remains a source of deep controversy.
0:49:05 > 0:49:10Perhaps some at HQ didn't want the SAS to be given the distinction.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14Perhaps Mayne's drinking and brawling had counted against him.
0:49:16 > 0:49:19But the real explanation may be simpler.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21To merit the Victoria Cross,
0:49:21 > 0:49:26heroic actions need to be verified by independent witnesses.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31In SAS operations - covert, fast-moving, self-regulating -
0:49:31 > 0:49:34such criteria are often impossible to meet.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Paddy Mayne may have been denied this ancient honour because he was
0:49:39 > 0:49:41fighting a new sort of war.
0:49:43 > 0:49:48For many in the SAS, the failure to award Paddy Mayne the VC was proof
0:49:48 > 0:49:51that the regiment had never been fully accepted
0:49:51 > 0:49:53by the military establishment.
0:49:58 > 0:50:03Mayne had led the SAS on their last charge against the Nazi diehards.
0:50:06 > 0:50:08But as they advanced into the heart of Germany,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11it was John Tonkin who uncovered the full horror
0:50:11 > 0:50:14of what Hitler's SS could do to ordinary civilians.
0:50:16 > 0:50:21The SAS were heading for Berlin when John Tonkin in the lead Jeep caught
0:50:21 > 0:50:26the first whiff, a cloying stench of fleshly rot and excrement that
0:50:26 > 0:50:30seemed to hang in the air like a plague miasma,
0:50:30 > 0:50:31the reek of pure evil.
0:50:31 > 0:50:35The appalling smell grew steadily stronger as they advanced.
0:50:40 > 0:50:46That is the main entrance gate to the administration block
0:50:46 > 0:50:50of the totally infamous and unbelievable
0:50:50 > 0:50:51Belsen concentration camp.
0:51:04 > 0:51:09There is no way of describing the horror of that camp.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15You can only describe it as meeting
0:51:15 > 0:51:18some 30,000 walking skeletons.
0:51:24 > 0:51:30When a prisoner got to the stage where they couldn't walk any longer,
0:51:30 > 0:51:33they just dragged them out and threw them into the pit
0:51:33 > 0:51:37and there were living skeletons still in those pits.
0:51:38 > 0:51:40A very, very grim story altogether.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45While we were there,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48they were just for fun taking pot-shots at the prisoners
0:51:48 > 0:51:50and nobody was paying any attention.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53And I have
0:51:53 > 0:51:55never been so angry in my life.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05So I went round and I got hold of all their officers.
0:52:06 > 0:52:11I took my men with me and we lined them up
0:52:11 > 0:52:16and I said, "Unless that shooting stops immediately,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19"you are all going to die very horribly."
0:52:20 > 0:52:24And I said, "Now, get out and stop it," and they went out immediately
0:52:24 > 0:52:26and the shooting stopped.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34Tonkin gave orders to arrest the commandant of the camp
0:52:34 > 0:52:36along with the rest of the guards.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43Instead of exacting revenge on the SS,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46Tonkin demonstrated the meaning of civilisation.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54My father had huge self-control when he was there in Belsen
0:52:54 > 0:52:59not to have wanted to get rid of all of the officers.
0:53:03 > 0:53:06Dad always said to us that we must never,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10ever forget what happened there so that it never happens again.
0:53:12 > 0:53:18What a creed like Nazism can do to people is unbelievable.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22And this is a bit of a grim story
0:53:22 > 0:53:26but the truth should be known because it's glossed over.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50On May the 8th, the war in Europe was officially over.
0:53:52 > 0:53:57Millions took to the streets to rejoice on V-E Day.
0:53:57 > 0:54:02The Prime Minister Churchill made the speech that it was all over
0:54:02 > 0:54:06and so, you can imagine, the army chiefs of the SAS
0:54:06 > 0:54:10driving right up the steps into bars.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12And the men had another reason to celebrate.
0:54:13 > 0:54:18David Stirling, the maverick visionary who created the SAS,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21had been freed from Colditz and was on his way back to London.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29But Stirling was not quite free yet.
0:54:29 > 0:54:32On his return he was held in a psychiatric evaluation camp.
0:54:34 > 0:54:40They assumed anybody who came out of Colditz required treatment before
0:54:40 > 0:54:44they were safe to be allowed back into normal circulation,
0:54:44 > 0:54:49so we were put inside a camp which had a wire perimeter and so on.
0:54:50 > 0:54:54And they had all the official nannies there.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58We were told we had to be there for two days.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03For over two years Stirling had been trying and failing to escape from
0:55:03 > 0:55:07captivity. He was determined not to fail this one last time.
0:55:09 > 0:55:13I don't think there was anybody left in that camp at all by 11 o'clock.
0:55:13 > 0:55:17We were all in London or gone home.
0:55:17 > 0:55:21By 12 o'clock that evening I was in a nightclub.
0:55:21 > 0:55:25By two o'clock I was having my first roger for years.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34Stirling was too late to re-join his regiment.
0:55:34 > 0:55:37It was assumed that a specialised unit like the SAS
0:55:37 > 0:55:39had no future in peacetime.
0:55:43 > 0:55:45On October 4th 1945,
0:55:45 > 0:55:51the SAS received a crisp, unemotional memo from the War Office
0:55:51 > 0:55:53with a directive they knew was coming.
0:55:55 > 0:55:59"It has been decided to disband the Special Air Service."
0:56:03 > 0:56:06Everyone was going to be sent back to their regiments.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Well, you can imagine people had been away from their regiments
0:56:09 > 0:56:14for years and all this comradeship in SAS,
0:56:14 > 0:56:16it was frightening.
0:56:16 > 0:56:21I asked for a favour and I was told, "Your day is over.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25"You're not a blue-eyed boy now."
0:56:25 > 0:56:28And I said, "Well, I'll stand on my own two feet and I'll survive where
0:56:28 > 0:56:31"you won't, you so-and-so." That was to an officer, too.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37I'm inclined to think at the present age that
0:56:37 > 0:56:41I must have been a bit of a fool but I still wouldn't have missed it.
0:56:42 > 0:56:43We certainly unsettled people.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48I think that the Germans knew who the regiment were
0:56:48 > 0:56:50by the time the war came to an end.
0:56:50 > 0:56:52And I think we probably helped to speed it up,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55we helped to speed up their collapse in Europe.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58I think as you get older
0:56:58 > 0:57:01you appreciate it more
0:57:01 > 0:57:02in different ways.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06It's not that you are
0:57:06 > 0:57:08so proud or so...
0:57:09 > 0:57:13What's the word I can think of? It's the family, it's the people,
0:57:13 > 0:57:19the friends that you will never, ever, until you're dead, forget.