SAS : the first secret wars : the unknown years of combat and counter-insurgency

The covert, clandestine operations of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS), from the jungles of Malaya, Borneo and Brunei to the deserts and mountains of the Middle East, have been widely documented. There has always been intense fascination in the SAS, stoked by the regiment's closed organization and secretive activities. But no period of activity has remained more secret than the vital years after the Second World War when the regiment seemingly expired, only to rise miraculously from the dead to fight Communism in the Malaya emergency. Tim Jones's fascinating history pieces together the evidence to show that while the Malaya emergency re-established the SAS as a unique source of counter-guerilla expertise, the regiment lived on and was covertly involved in the Greek Civil War of 1945-49, a war unmatched in savagery until the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s. The covert clandestine operations of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) from the jungles of Malaya, Borneo and Brunei, to the deserts and mountains of the Middle East have been widely documented. There has always been intense fascination in the activities of the SAS and similar elite forces, an interest that has only been stoked by the regiment's 'closed' organisation and secretive activities, so essential for covert operations. But no period of activity has remained more secret than the vital years after the Second World War when the regiment seemingly expired, (in the words of the official history: "that was that") only to rise miraculously from the dead to fight Communism in the Malaya Emergency.Official histories have it that the SAS was disbanded in October 1945 and it took the Malaya Emergency to resurrect it. Tim Jones' revisionary and accessible history pieces together the evidence to show that while the Malaya Emergency undoubtedly re-established the SAS as a unique source of counter-guerilla expertise, the regiment lived on, and was covertly involved in the Greek Civil War 1945-49 on the anti-Communist side. The Greek civil war was unmatched in savagery until the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s. Here the SAS fought its most important and difficult battle - the battle for survival - when salvation depended on a few dedicated visionaries and persistent champions. The author draws upon a mass of unpublished evidence and also reveals hitherto unknown plans for SAS forces in Libya and Iraq, as well as covert activities in Palestine, Korea and Malaya. The covert, clandestine operations of the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS), from the jungles of Malaya, Borneo and Brunei to the deserts and mountains of the Middle East have always been the focus of intense fascination, stoked by the regiment's'closed'organization and secretive activities. Yet no period of activity has remained more secret than the vital years in the immediate aftermath of World War Two. Official histories have it that the SAS was disbanded in October 1945 and it took the Malaya emergency to resurrect it. However, Tim Jones's fascinating history pieces together the evidence to show that while the Malaya emergency undoubtedly re-established the SAS as a unique source of counter-guerilla expertise, the regiment never disbanded, and was covertly involved in the Greek Civil War 1945-49 on the anti-communist side. Here the SAS fought its most important and difficult battle - the battle for survival - when salvation depended on a few dedicated visionaries and persistent champions. The author draws upon a mass of unpublished evidence and also reveals hitherto unknown plans for SAS forces in Libya and Iraq, as well as covert activities in Palestine, Korea and Malaya.Revealing important military secrets and shedding new light on post-war history, this book will be essential reading for enthusiasts of twentieth-century and military history. The covert, clandestine operations of the Special Air Service (SAS), from the jungles of Malaya, Borneo and Brunei to the deserts and mountains of the Middle East, have been widely documented. There has always been intense fascination in the SAS, stoked by the regiment's ""closed"" organization and secretive activities. But no period of activity has remained more secret than the vital years after World War II when the regiment seemingly expired, only to rise miraculously from the dead to fight Communism in the Malaya emergency. Tim Jones' history pieces together the evidence to show that while In his history of the SAS, Tim Jones has covered the most secretive period directly after World War II, when the regiment officially "expired", only to rise from the dead to fight communism in the Malaya emergency. In the last decade, there has been an avalanche of books about the world's leading and most respected special force - the Special Air Service Regiment - and various associated 'elite forces'.