Promoted to captain and authorized to raise a force comprised of six officers and sixty men, Stirling selected soldiers who thrived on independence and rapid decision making, atypical traits in a conventional army. His ranks filled with soldiers labeled as “misfits,” or “vagabonds.” Ill-suited to the regular army, these men fit the archetype Stirling sought. The unit received its first designation, L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade, from Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke, father of the British Commando teams and commander of strategic deception operations.
Initially, the SAS did not enjoy widespread approval. Equipment destined for the unit, for example, mysteriously vanished or arrived elsewhere. The newborn SAS discovered this firsthand when assembling at their first training post, which included a few ragged tents, several chairs, a sign post, and little else. Stirling responded by launching the unit’s first operation: stealing themselves a campsite. Fortunately for the SAS, and unfortunately for an extremely well-stocked New Zealand brigade on maneuvers, Stirling and his men had no objection to thievery. Tents, equipment, and supplies, including bars and a grand piano, abruptly vanished. The SAS’s first mission was a success.
Training, much like the unit, was unorthodox. The SAS’s design hinged on airborne operations, yet Stirling could not acquire a training aircraft. Lieutenant John Steel “Jock” Lewes, head of SAS training, chose to improvise, and safety was not high on his priority list. Lewes simulated paratrooper landings, for example, when he ordered soldiers to jump from a moving truck… facing backward. They performed the exercise at ten miles per hour, then twenty, and finally thirty (some reports state forty), before satisfying Lewes. Injuries to the soldiers and officers piled up quickly, including Lewes, but the improvised, and often dangerous, training created a unit that thrived under adverse conditions.
Stirling pronounced his command combat ready amidst preparations for the upcoming allied offensive, Operation Crusader. General Auchinleck intended to relieve the besieged city of Tobruk, yet the bases for the Axis’ formidable, and out of allied reach, air force represented a significant threat. The Axis believed the Great Sand Sea, a 45,000-square mile desert, precluded southern assaults, and concentrated defenses elsewhere. This was a perfect test for the SAS, and Stirling had designed the unit with this attack in mind. The SAS would parachute in by night, wreak havoc, and escape into the desert via pre-positioned trucks to the south.
Dubbed “Operation Squatter,” Stirling charged into disaster. Hours before the attack, a powerful storm smothered the region with strong winds. Command offered Stirling the option to cancel. Stirling believed canceling would end the SAS experiment, and sixty-five men boarded their planes. Unsurprisingly, the storm blew them off course. Stirling ordered the jump anyway. Strong winds carried men miles from their drop zones. Powerful gusts prevented others from releasing their parachutes and died as wind dragged them across the desert. Their mission was a failure, the SAS headed to the extraction point. Several days passed as survivors struggled in, including Stirling. Sources conflict over the number of losses, but a photo published in 2016 shows the unit following their first operation.
Beaten, but not defeated, the unit recovered quickly. Stirling followed his first failure with a series of increasingly successful operations and set the course for the future of the SAS.
Sources For Further Reading:
Forces – The Day the SAS Became Famous: Operation Nimrod and The Iranian Embassy
RFERL – Dramatic Hostage Rescue in London: The 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege