He Who Dares: Recollections of Service in the SAS, SBS and MI5

by David Sutherland

Overview

With so few survivors of the Second World War military generation alive today, it is extremely fortunate that men like David Sutherland recorded their experiences for posterity. There can be few veterans whose contribution to victory can rival Sutherland’s as readers of this superb memoir will discover.

Much of the action is set in the Aegean where the author served with the Special Boat Service, an offshoot of the infant SAS, raiding airfields on the German-held islands. This is made all the more moving by the author's profound and lasting admiration for the Greek resistance fighters who risked not just their lives, but those of their families and entire villages, by giving their support.

David Sutherland's war certainly ranks very high indeed in the thriller ratings. While modest when describing his own role, he is typically generous in his praise of comrades. Yet he cannot disguise the fact that he found it all exhilarating - while realizing that ultimately he was extremely lucky to come out alive.

Post-war Sutherland served with MI5, and he rounds off his account with a brief description of his time in the secretive counterintelligence agency.

He Who Dares is more than a military memoir, it is true adventure story which, over seventy years on, remains an inspiring and revealing insight in to Second World War special forces operations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526782229
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	11/20/2020
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword xiii

Preface and Acknowledgements xvii

Glossary xx

1 Origins 1920-38 1

2 Sandhurst, The Black Watch and Dunkirk 1939-40 13

3 Joining the Commandos 1940 26

4 With 18th Indian Cavalry in Tobruk July-September, 1941 35

5 The Rommel Raid November, 1941 46

6 With the SAS in the Western Desert March, 1942 50

7 The Aluite Plan April-May, 1942 60

8 Attacking German Airfields in Crete June, 1942 63

9 Operation Anglo September, 1942 70

10 SBS Reorganization and Operation Albumen June, 1943 96

11 With the SBS in the Aegean 1943-44 113

12 A Shipwreck and a Turkish Bath March, 1944 146

13 Hitler's Commando order and the Alimnia Patrol April, 1944 149

14 With the SBS in the Adriatic 1944-45 153

15 With Greek Raiding Forces in the Civil War 1948 177

16 MI5 183

Bibliography 193

Index 197