In the dark and uncertain days of 1941 and 1942, when Rommel’s Afrika Korps was sweeping towards Egypt and the Suez Canal, a small group of daring raiders made history for the Allies.
Her narrative, based on the eyewitness testimony of the men who took part, gives a fascinating insight into the early years of the SAS..
Virginia Cowles’s The Phantom Major is a classic account of these raids, an amazing tale of courage, impudence and daring, packed with action and high adventure.
Under his command, small teams of resourceful, highly trained men penetrated beyond the front lines of the opposing armies and wreaked havoc where the Germans least expected it.
The men were the Special Air Service, the SAS, the brainchild of David Stirling, a deceptively mild-mannered man with a brilliant idea.
They hid by day and struck by night, destroying aircraft, blowing up ammunition dumps, derailing trains and killing many times their own number.
They operated deep behind the German lines, driving hundreds of miles through the deserts of North Africa.
In the dark and uncertain days of 1941 and 1942, when Rommel’s Afrika Korps was sweeping towards Egypt and the Suez Canal, a small group of daring raiders made history for the Allies
