He is said to have come up with one of the most famous armed forces regiments in history from a hospital bed before sneaking into military headquarters to make sure his plan was heard.
Many believe Sir David Stirling, known as the father of the SAS, was the man solely responsible for its creation.
But a new book has uncovered the ‘secrets’ around its origins and claims there were a number of other figures vital to the SAS’s development, including an intelligence officer who originally came up with the name to try to trick the Italians into fighting a fake unit.
Stirling wanted to use small bands of highly trained soldiers to strike at small targets in one night, believing it would be a perfect form of warfare for the desert, jumping into action from the air.
He became a member of the No.2 Commando regiment established in 1940 and served in missions in Greece, before allegedly coming up with the plan to turn it into the SAS from his hospital bed following a parachuting accident.
According to many historians, Sir David Stirling, left, is the founding father of the SAS. Influenced by the guerrilla warfare methods of T.E. Lawrence in the Arab Revolt from 1916-18, Stirling joined 2 Commando in 1940, a regiment specialising in small raids on enemy territories that would go on to become the SAS. After a parachute accident put him in hospital, Stirling is said to have drawn up a plan for an airborne force to launch sneak attacks behind enemy lines and then broke into military headquarters in Cairo on crutches, coming across and convincing General Neil Ritchie, right, of his plan
But historian Tim Jones argues it was more than just Stirling’s plans that led to the creation of the SAS. Jones said General Archibald Wavell (right) favoured unorthodox warfare, setting up intelligence organisation the Long Range Desert Group to go on reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck (left) was also vital in the creation, having signed off on Stirling’s plan soon after taking command of the Army’s African forces because it was ‘low risk’ after being convinced by General Ritchie
T.E. Lawrence (left) and his commanding officer General Edmund Allenby (right) can also be argued to have had a role in the formation of the SAS after their participation in the Arab Revolt during the First World War. Lawrence led small groups of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire, attacking railway lines, bridges and outposts on the orders of Allenby to disrupt enemy actions
Jones argues Dudley Clarke (left) was also a key part of the creation of the SAS, certainly because he came up with the name. Clarke was given permission to conduct misinformation missions in North Africa, spreading false details and even coming up with a fake air regiment to spark fear into the Italian Army, agreeing to work with Stirling only if his fake unit’s name, the Special Air Service, was adopted for the real regiment. Meanwhile, Ralph Bagnold (right), commander of the LRDG, also helped shape the future of the SAS after convincing his commanding officer to allow his regiment to commit ‘acts of piracy’ behind enemy lines
Stirling was said to have entered the Grey Pillars building in Cairo without permission in 1941, initially finding it difficult to locate any higher-ups to propose his ideas to until entering General Ritchie’s office. He told Ritchie, and subsequently Auchinleck, he wanted to use five groups of 12 men to strike at German oil fields and was given the green light to use 2 Commando
By 1941, highly trained commandos began being recruited into the SAS and are pictured here ahead of practice jumps at Manchester Airport, then known as Ringway. They would work with the LRDG to be guided to targets and initially tried to sneak onto airfields to attach bombs to planes
The regiment, pictured during training at Ringway in 1941, went on to change tactics under Stirling, adapting US jeeps with weaponry to stage fast-paced raids on airfields, shooting at men and aircraft and then making a fast escape
Tim Jones, author of SAS Zero Hour, said: ‘It is Stirling who was purportedly the one blessed with the inspired idea of establishing a new type of special force comprising small units operating behind enemy lines who would be delivered covertly to their targets, notably by parachute.
‘It is reiterated time and again by numerous authors that the idea came to him when he had time on his hands while recuperating in an Egyptian hospital bed after an experimental parachute jump over the Western Desert in June 1941.
‘At first sight, and by just about all accounts, he appears to have had a stroke of inspiration that marked him out as one of the military geniuses of World War II.
‘Indeed, given the repercussions of the SAS’s inception on the style of warfare that has characterised much of the post-war world, Stirling’s idea has been seen as a turning point in modern military history.’
He added: ‘Stirling made a unique, invaluable contribution to the genesis of the SAS and should be considered, at least, to be its prime godfather. But he was not alone.
‘This was down to a team of conceptual donors, whose seeds, when taken together, created the environment in which a newborn force could be established.
‘The concept of a strategic small unit raiding force stemmed from their combined knowledge and experiences of, and/or their service in, other wartime and pre-war special forces and unorthodox military units.
‘That Stirling oversaw the delivery of their own embryonic special force and fought to ensure that it would not be still-born, meant that he rightly came to be regarded as its true father.’
2 Commando would eventually become the SAS and are pictured here at Ringway Airport in Manchester while training for parachute missions
Another example of an influence on the SAS were light car patrols in the Middle East during the First World War (pictured) -designed to be able to carry out speedy raids on enemy targets
Stirling was laid up in Cairo Military Hospital (above) following a parachute accident when he supposedly came up with his brainchild
The others who were key to the inception of the SAS included Dudley Clarke, an intelligence officer who worked out of a ‘converted bathroom’ in a British Army office in Cairo.
Clarke was responsible for naming the unit, after creating a fake paratrooper regiment and spreading misinformation about it to worry the Italians about possible attacks.
He then agreed to work with Stirling if he would adopt the name Special Air Service for the regiment.
Meanwhile the SAS may never have got off the ground had it not been for the installation of Claude Auchinleck as Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Forces in July 1941.
Auchinleck was ordered by Churchill to relieve pressure on British forces at Tobruk, which had come under siege by Axis forces in April.
According to Jones, he was a cautious leader not generally willing to take chances, but when presented with Stirling’s plan to attack five German airfields with five groups of 12 men, he felt it low-risk with ‘nothing to lose’ and signed off, after some persuasion from second-in-command General Neil Ritchie.
The man Auchinleck replaced, Archibald Wavell, was also a fan of unconventional warfare and of Clarke, whom he respected for his ‘unorthodox’ outlook.
Jones reveals how Wavell planned decoy forces and movements to fool the enemy, carried out fake radio communications and considered organising insurgency in neighbouring countries to distract the Axis powers.
Above, the LRDG in operation in the Siwa Oasis in Egypt in 1941 while providing support for the SAS. During the Desert Campaign between December 1940 and April 1943, the vehicles of the LRDG operated constantly behind the Axis lines, missing a total of only 15 days during the entire period
The SAS carried out its first jumps in June 1941 and are said to have acquired their parachutes from Alexandria port (pictured)
A desert landing group pictured near Tobruk in late 1941. Part of the reason the SAS was formed was to cause disruption to the Axis forces leading a siege of Tobruk between April and November 1941, with the Allies eventually overcoming it
Stirling trained as a commando at Pirbright Barracks (above) in Surrey, which is still an Army Training Centre today
The 2 Commando unit set up in 1940 (pictured) also carried out missions in the Mediterranean, France, Italy and Yugoslavia
The author said: ‘Wavell consistently prized “boldness and daring, together with surprise in attack”, having upon his arrival in Cairo declared that the desert “should provide opportunities for more mobile and unorthodox warfare”.’
Wavell then recruited Clarke to North Africa, leading to Clarke discovering an Italian officer’s journal revealing the country’s military’s fear of airborne assaults, prompting him to spread misinformation on a unit that would eventually become real.
Previously Wavell had set up the Long Range Desert Group in 1940, an intelligence organisation that went behind enemy lines in Egypt.
It was made up of volunteers and had at most 350 members at any one time, tending to work in reconnaissance rather than actual battles.
The LRDG could be seen as a precursor to the SAS and went on to act as guides in some of its early missions.
It was commanded by Ralph Bagnold, who convinced Wavell to allow the regiment to carry out ‘acts of piracy’, dividing the group into combat sections and support sections.
Both Wavell and Clarke were influenced by T.E. Lawrence, otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia.
Lawrence had supported guerrilla warfare since the First World War and wrote extensively about his involvement in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire, in which he worked with small Arab forces to attack outposts, railway lines and bridges.
Pictured: Commando instructors at Lochailort in Scotland, where Inverailort House was requisitioned by the War Office for the use of training ‘irregular units’
A Bristol Bombay plane which was used by Stirling and his men for their raids in 1941, including one of the first attacks on German aerodromes in November 1941
A statement from the book’s publishers Pen and Sword said: ‘SAS Zero Hour is an illuminating and provocative account of how this renowned regiment came into being’. Above, an SAS patrol in 1942
His book the Seven Pillars of Wisdom was read by both Wavell and Clarke, according to Jones, and also inspired Stirling, meaning he had a key influence on the SAS despite dying in a motorcycle crash in Dorset aged 46 in 1935, six years before it was created.
A statement from publishers Pen and Sword books said: ‘Britain’s elite Special Air Service Regiment, the SAS, is one of the most revered – and feared – special-ops units in the world.
‘Its high-profile operations include the spectacular storming of the Iranian Embassy in London on 5 May 1980 and the hunt for Osama bin Laden in southern Afghanistan following 9/11.
‘The regiment has become a byword for the highest possible standards in both conventional and unorthodox methods of warfare.’
It added: ‘Drawing extensively on primary sources, as well as reassessing the more recent regimental histories and memoirs, SAS Zero Hour is an illuminating and provocative account of how this renowned regiment came into being.’
SAS Zero Hour: The Secret Origins Of The Special Air Service costs £11.99 and is available online.