Stirling's Desert Triumph: The SAS Egyptian Airfield Raids 1942

by Gavin Mortimer, Peter Dennis (Illustrator), Johnny Shumate (Illustrator), Alan Gilliland (Illustrator)

Overview

The night of July 26, 1942 saw one of the most audacious raids of World War II, just as the outcome of that conflict hung in the balance. In North Africa, a convoy of 18 Allied jeeps carrying Special Air Service personnel appeared out of the early-morning darkness and drove onto the Axis landing strip at Sidi Haneish in the Egyptian desert. Within the space of a few savage minutes 18 Axis aircraft were ablaze; a dozen more were damaged and scores of guards lay dead or wounded. The men responsible for the raid then vanished into the night as swiftly as they had arrived, prompting the Germans to dub the enemy leader, David Stirling, 'The Phantom Major'.

Featuring full-color artwork, gripping narrative and incisive analysis, this engaging study recounts the origins, planning, execution and aftermath of the daring raid that made the name of the SAS at the height of World War II.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472807632
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	04/21/2015
Series:	Raid , #49
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Gavin Mortimer is the author of Stirling's Men, a ground-breaking history of the early operations of Britain's Special Air Service, The Longest Night: Voices from the London Blitz and The Blitz: An Illustrated History. An award-winning writer whose books have been published on both sides of the Atlantic, Gavin has previously written for the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph, the Observer and Esquire magazine. He continues to contribute to a wide range of newspapers and magazines from BBC History to the American Military History Quarterly. In addition he has lectured on the SAS in World War II at the UK's National Army Museum. The author lives in Paris, France.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

The Phantom Major 5

Origins 8

The Commandos in the Middle East 8

Enter the Afrika Korps 10

Initial Strategy 12

L Detachment 12

Operations with the LRDG 13

Breaking the stalemate 18

The first jeep attack 21

The Plan 25

Waiting in the desert 29

The jeeps arrive 32

The airfield at Sidi Haneish 35

The Raid 44

A deadly convoy 45

The opening burst 51

Regrouping on the airfietd 55

The raiders' escape 56

Sadler and Almonds 56

Mather's party 59

Stirling's party 64

Debrief 67

Analysis 72

Epilogue 76

Bibliography 79

Index 80