SAS Brothers in Arms: Churchill's Desperadoes: Blood-and-Guts Defiance at Britain's Darkest Hour.

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Using hitherto untold stories and new archival sources, Damien Lewis follows one close-knit band of warriors from the SAS foundation through to the Italian landings - chronicling the extraordinary part they played as the tide of the Second World War truly turned in the Allies' favour. For decades he worked as a war and conflict reporter for the world's major broadcasters, reporting from across Africa, South America, the Middle and Far East and winning numerous awards. Damien Lewis' wondrously realized Churchill's Shadow Raiders isn't a work of fiction, but that doesn't stop it from reading like a top-notch thriller fashioned by the likes of Jack Higgins or Frederick Forsyth. Moreover, Lewis's ability to contextualize these operations within the broader strategic landscape of World War II is exceptional. Now doesn't that sound exactly like what would appeal to a rambunctious, piratical, enigmatic, shy yet impertinent loose cannon like Robert Blair Mayne?

Please leave performing the text to a professional next time Mr Lewis and get on with what you do best.

Damien Lewis is a number one bestselling author whose books have been translated into over forty languages worldwide. Still studied by the SAS today, The Secret Hunters are a founding part of the Regiment's myth, constituting one of the great untold stories of the Second World War. A good yarn, based on the sources and for once accurately and evenly told (looking at you SAS Rogue Heroes). A rightfully proud regiment with an unrivalled esprit de corps, they were disavowed as unruly by top brass, unyieldingly vaunted by Churchill, and courageously loyal to the clandestine “butcher and bolt” raids that made their sacrifices—and their triumphs—legendary.

He spent over two decades reporting from war, disaster, and conflict zones around the world, winning numerous awards.Lewis delves into the lives and personalities of these courageous individuals, painting a vivid picture of their motivations, fears, and the bonds they formed with one another.

As is mentioned in the book, especially in medic Malcolm Pleydell's reminisces, this very strange and focused life the men lived in the desert, dedicated to destroying enemy equipment and the killing that went with that work, meant that these men would never be able to truly leave this time behind them. His work has been published in over forty languages, and many of his books have been made, or are being developed, as feature films, TV series, or as plays for the stage. In June 1944 my father, Captain Patrick Garstin MC, led a band of warriors into war to help liberate Europe. He expertly weaves together firsthand accounts and documentary sources to convey the camaraderie and valour of the SAS and the dangers they overcame.He was injured, and was hospitalised with bizarre tropical diseases – including flesh-eating bacteria, worms that burrow through the skin and septicemia – but survived all that and continued to report. A detailed and fascinating history of the men who helped establish and shape the SAS (especially "Paddy" Mayne), this work focuses on the early African deployments during WWII. He is a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

With Damien’s style of writing it causes your imagination to meet his and leaves you with a complete picture of the particular situation in hand. World War II aficionados and historians are sure to enjoy Lewis’s latest book, his contributions to military history and World War II history, and Brothers in Arms is an amazing addition to the existing literature on the topic. The frankly astonishing raids that they entered into are brought tremendously to life and are described in such ways and in such detail that you feel you could be sitting in one of the jeeps in North Africa as they blazed up and down the dunes. Lewis suggests this was a result of the ruthless logic of war in the dark days of 1941, when Britain had its back to the wall. He skillfully weaves together the political, military, and personal threads to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by the British special forces during this darkest hour.This spellbinding account brings to life the exploits of a brave band of warriors, one of whom was my uncle, Colonel Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne DSO, who commanded the SAS for much of WWII. Having blown to pieces scores of prize targets, Garstin’s patrol executed one of the most daring escapes of the war … only to fall victim to shocking betrayal. In late summer 1944 eighty SAS soldiers parachuted into the French mountains, targeting one of the last great defences of the Reich.