The SAS (Special Air Service) was founded by an imaginative and dedicated British officer called David Stirling in North Africa during the summer of 1941. Initially known as "L" Detachment (Chosen because if the Germans found out about "L" detachment they would also wonder about Detachment A,B,C etc). The unit had its first taste of action some time around the 16th or 17th of November 1941. The term "L" detachment was dropped soon afterwards and the unit simply became known as the SAS from that date forward. David Stirling was captured and taken prisoner in January 1943 but by that stage the SAS had become a self-sufficient unit and was able to cope without its founding father for the rest of the war. The unit flourished and was later enlarged by foreign elements (French and Belgians).
David Stirling
The Belgian Independent Parachute Company was officially installed at Malvern Wells (Worc.) on the 8th of May 1942 by Mr Henry Rolin, Belgian under-Secretary of Defence. It comprised of the following.
1. - A Company 2nd Battalion Belgian Fusiliers, a Battalion mainly made up of volunteers from South and North America assembled since January 1941, who moved to Great Britain in June 1941. "A" Company as a whole had volunteered in February 1942 to train on the lines of an Independent Parachute Company under Lt. Freddy Limbosch as Chief Instructor.
2. - A platoon of the 1st Battalion Belgian Fusiliers with some qualified parachutists (since January 1942).
3. - Volunteers from other units of the Belgian Forces who had escaped from occupied Belgium via France, Spain and Gibraltar.
The newly formed Company continued to train as an Independent Parachute Company making extensive use of the many schools and training facilities offered by the British (The first Parachutist wings worn by Belgians were earned at Ringway parachute school in early 1942). The unit was attached for 3 months to the 8th Parachute Battalion of the 6th Airborne Division in 1943, then spent a month intensive training in December 1943 at the 'Allied Training Centre' Inverlochie Castle (Fort William), and finally moved, in February 1944, to Loudon Castle Camp, near Galston (Ayr) to join the Special Air Service (S.A.S.) Brigade.
Click here to view a photograph of the first Belgian parachute company
Like all military units and formations the men came from all walks of life and this was especially true with this particular unit. The volunteers included a former world cycling champion, lawyers, farmers, laborers, lumberjacks, a circus acrobat, a professional wrestler and even three bonafide barons. The commanding officer himself was both a qualified engineer and dentist. The men who volunteered came from all four corners of the world to carry on the fight against the Nazis. Not all of them could even speak the same language. Some spoke French, some spoke Dutch while others spoke only English. These differences of upbringing, class, lifestyle and even language might have seemed problematic but a real esprit de corps developed quickly within the unit.
The table above shows the S.A.S. brigade layout on D-Day and the Belgian placement within it.
The role of the Belgian SAS parachutists during the Second World War was primarily sabotage, intellgience gathering and reconnaissance. The men saw their first action towards the end of July 1944 in France. During the battle of the Ardennes in 1944 the unit was regrouped and equipped with armoured jeeps. As a reconnaissance squadron, they executed security and reconnaissance missions in order to support the 6th British Airborne Division. In 1945 they were used for counter-intelligence work which involved the location and arrest of top ranking Nazis and war criminals.
In the beginning of April 1945 the Belgian SAS Squadron consisted of three reconnaissance squads which were deployed in the north of Holland and in Germany. After the capitulation of the Germans on the 8th of May 1945 the Belgian SAS participated in 'Counter Intelligence' missions in both Germany and Denmark. At the end of the war the Belgian SAS Regiment had much to be proud of. They had been the first allied unit to set foot in Belgium & Germany and the only Belgian unit permanently on active deployment between July 1944 and May 1945. They had also been responsible for the capture of Admiral Doenitz’s government in Flensburg and the German Foreign minister Von Ribbentrop (A high ranking Nazi official).
Below is a facsimile of a letter written by General Dwight Eisenhower (Supreme Allied Commander in Europe) to Brigadier McLeod (Commanding Officer of the S.A.S. Brigade). It bears testament to the high regard in which the Allied High Command held the S.A.S. and their great contribution to the European campaign. The 'ruthlessness' that Eisenhower alludes to is a reference to the infamous "commando" order given by Hitler. That order stated that special Allied troops (Commandos and S.A.S.) should be shot upon capture. Although a savage reflection on the German leader and his military it also bears testament to the effectiveness of these special troops against the enemy. The contents of this letter are taken from the book 'The SAS - The Official History' by Philip Warner.
