SAS originals

Discussion in 'Special Forces' started by sas jeep pilot, Jan 7, 2011.

  1. Verrieres

    Verrieres no longer a member

    Hi Jim.
    Can you do me a favour. Can you Google "Major Pat Riley" and look at the aubituary. That, and other things I have read indicate that he was part of the first SAS raid. Are you able to dispute this? According to page 3 "Gentleman Jim" he was there. That is the info i used to cross reference the aubituary.
    All the best, Luke


    Hi Luke,
    I was in a bit of a hurry this afternoon and the post should have read;-
    ...Riley`s first mission as 16th November 1941 and the next one is 23rd January 1942. Sorry!
    All bourne out by my first personnel posting featuring Riley. I would not dispute anything ,I do not regard myself as any kind of expert on the matter what-so-ever,as I have said previously its not an area I revisit often.The questions and information you requested were in my possesion and I`m happy to post them,but I don`t know enough on the subject to dispute or confirm anything:).

    Just read an obituary at ;-
    Obituary: Major Pat Riley - Arts & Entertainment - The Independent

    I have just realised also that I`ve only just posted the operations up until the end of 1941 and Riley is not mentioned again(as stated )until 1942 we are jumping ahead here before things are posted.Best thing is if I try and post the rest tonight and that will leave everyone to draw their own conclusions.

    23rd January 1942 method as stated previously
    To Destroy shipping and dumps in Bouerat Harbour
    One party comprising ;-

    Stirling,Badger,Bennett,Kershaw,Seekings,Cooper,Cattell,Rose,Austin,Brough,Rhodes and Baker.Capt Duncan,Cpl Barr (SBS) F/O Rawnsley (RAF)

    LRDG wireless truck lost SBS canoe damaged.Destroyed 18 Petrol bowsers and four food dumps.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    8th March 1942 1942 method by LRDG patrol from Siwa Oasis (due to 8th Army retreat Gialo was abandoned)
    Four Groups
    Group No1 to attack aircraft on Benina Airfield

    No1 Group;- Stirling, Seekings and Cooper

    Found only derelict aircraft Blew 2 torpedo dumps.


    Group No2 to attack aircraft on Berca Airfield

    No2 Group;- Mayne, Rose, Bennett and Burns

    Walked in from 30 Miles and destroyed 15 aircraft and 15 torpedoes. Burns captured.


    Group No3 to attack aircraft on Barce Airfield

    No3 Group;- Fraser, Badger, Kershaw, Phillips, Chesworth, McDonald.

    One aircraft and workshop trucks destroyed.

    Group No4 to attack aircraft on Slonta Airfield

    No 4 Group;- Dodd, Riley, Duvivier, Brough, Cattell, Warburton, Storey

    Unable to penetrate airfield defences

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------
     

    Jim
     
  2. Verrieres

    Verrieres no longer a member

    24th March By LRDG patrol
    To Destroy aircraft on Benina airfield

    Stirling, Cooper, Seekings Bennett Elliot ,Sinclair and Alston

    First made Recce of benghazi and on returnstopped offat Benina 5 Aircraft in hangers destroyed but others on field were decoys.
     
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    ? April As above
    To destroy shipping in Benghazi harbour

    Stirling,Mayne,Lilley,Storey and Seekings

    Blew dumps and Shot up trucks.SAS vehicle also destroyed by accident!

    21 May As above
    To...Destroy Shipping in Benghazi Harbour .

    Stirling, Cooper, Seekings. Rose, Bennett, and Alston, Capts Churchill, and Maclean, Lts Sutherland and Allot (SBS), Major Bob Melot.

    Drove into Benghazi by car and stayed for two days No damage done but useful Recce.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    13/14 June From Siwa by LRDG patrol. Then by Navy submarine to Crete.
    To destroy aircraft on 8 airfields in Libya and Crete in order to assist passage of convoy from Egypt to Malta

    Derna (3)Party ;- Lt Jordan and 17 French SAS. Capt Buck and S.I.G.

    Raid betrayed by .German collaborator all captured except Jordan and Buck
     
    Benghazi (2)Party;- Stirling, Mayne, Cooper, Seekings, Storey, Lilley, Warburton. Lt Zirnheld and 7 French SAS.

    20 aircraft destroyed

    Heraklion Party : Capt Berge and 3 French SAS. Capt Jellicoe.

    21 aircraft destroyed all except Jellicoe captured

    Kastelli ;-Lt Duncan SBS

    Timbaki:- Lt Sutherland ?SBS

    Maleme Party :- Lts Kealy/Allot)

    8 aircraft destroyed
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Next missions list Officers and `Party` rather than individuals so unless theres anything more specific I`ll stop there.Good Luck.Riley info here too
    Charles George Gibson (Pat) Riley - Special Forces - Roll Of Honour - Archive
    Jim
     
  3. 17thDYRCH

    17thDYRCH Senior Member

    This is ace. Just what I am looking for. I noticed that there were 2 Whites, which would make my man the private. A lot of info I got on Pat Riley was from his aubituary that contained errors that i managed to iron out. I will attach what have so far. Do you have any more early history on the regiment that is not in "Sterling's Men", or "Gentleman Jim" as these are the books I have so far. Thanks a lot for your help with this.
    Cheers, Luke

    Luke,

    From Special Forces Library " Winged Dagger, Adventures on Special Service" by Roy Farran. ISBN 0-85368-734-X.
    Roy Farran was awarded the MC and THREE bars.
    Thanks to Tom Canning for the reference. Tom met Roy Farran on several occasions. Quite the character!

    Randy
     
  4. sas jeep pilot

    sas jeep pilot Junior Member

    24th March By LRDG patrol
    To Destroy aircraft on Benina airfield

    Stirling, Cooper, Seekings Bennett Elliot ,Sinclair and Alston

    First made Recce of benghazi and on returnstopped offat Benina 5 Aircraft in hangers destroyed but others on field were decoys.
     
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
    ? April As above
    To destroy shipping in Benghazi harbour

    Stirling,Mayne,Lilley,Storey and Seekings

    Blew dumps and Shot up trucks.SAS vehicle also destroyed by accident!

    21 May As above
    To...Destroy Shipping in Benghazi Harbour .

    Stirling, Cooper, Seekings. Rose, Bennett, and Alston, Capts Churchill, and Maclean, Lts Sutherland and Allot (SBS), Major Bob Melot.

    Drove into Benghazi by car and stayed for two days No damage done but useful Recce.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    13/14 June From Siwa by LRDG patrol. Then by Navy submarine to Crete.
    To destroy aircraft on 8 airfields in Libya and Crete in order to assist passage of convoy from Egypt to Malta

    Derna (3)Party ;- Lt Jordan and 17 French SAS. Capt Buck and S.I.G.

    Raid betrayed by .German collaborator all captured except Jordan and Buck
     
    Benghazi (2)Party;- Stirling, Mayne, Cooper, Seekings, Storey, Lilley, Warburton. Lt Zirnheld and 7 French SAS.

    20 aircraft destroyed

    Heraklion Party : Capt Berge and 3 French SAS. Capt Jellicoe.

    21 aircraft destroyed all except Jellicoe captured

    Kastelli ;-Lt Duncan SBS

    Timbaki:- Lt Sutherland ?SBS

    Maleme Party :- Lts Kealy/Allot)

    8 aircraft destroyed
    -------------------------------------------------------------------
    Next missions list Officers and `Party` rather than individuals so unless theres anything more specific I`ll stop there.Good Luck.Riley info here too
    Charles George Gibson (Pat) Riley - Special Forces - Roll Of Honour - Archive
    Jim
    Hi Jim
    Your help in all this is very solid, and I am not trying to disprove anything (my misuse of words sorry) just want to know that info I put into my teaching aides are correct. I have recently contacted "The Desert Raiders" re enactment club, and have started receiving info from them. I understand that you are not an expert on this subject, but your info is leading me forward, so there fore you have become my info Guru!
    Cheers Luke
     
  5. Verrieres

    Verrieres no longer a member

    Hi Jim
    Your help in all this is very solid, and I am not trying to disprove anything (my misuse of words sorry) just want to know that info I put into my teaching aides are correct. I have recently contacted "The Desert Raiders" re enactment club, and have started receiving info from them. I understand that you are not an expert on this subject, but your info is leading me forward, so there fore you have become my info Guru!
    Cheers Luke

    No apology neccesary Luke I understand your need for accuracy and that is why I pointed out my lack of expertise..I`ll give you the tools, you finish the Job!:DTo amend a well known phrase.
    I can vouch for the origin of the sources but the content as you are rightly doing needs cross checking.Keep up the good work
    Cheers
    Jim

    Ps Read the citations online for the actions they give you some nice pieces of info on the actions. I posted Rileys on one of my earlier posts.
     
  6. sas jeep pilot

    sas jeep pilot Junior Member

    Luke,

    From Special Forces Library " Winged Dagger, Adventures on Special Service" by Roy Farran. ISBN 0-85368-734-X.
    Roy Farran was awarded the MC and THREE bars.
    Thanks to Tom Canning for the reference. Tom met Roy Farran on several occasions. Quite the character!

    Randy
    A lot of the main players are well documented. That's why I am looking into the lesser known names. My last name is Riley, hence my interest, even though no relation.
    Cheers, Luke
     
  7. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Those are great lists Verrieres. Just one note, for the attack on Agedabia airfield 18 Dec 41, the number of e/a destroyed is overstated by about 100%. It appears that 'no more' than 18 or 19 were destroyed.

    Nevertheless, these were all great achievements.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  8. Treadcarefully

    Treadcarefully Junior Member

    Hi there everyone, I've just begun trying to find out info about my grandfathers contribution to the war effort on other forums.

    I'm specifically trying to ascertain info regarding what appears to be the first picture taken of him where he appears to be wearing a white shirt + white sas beret with what I'm informed could be Royal Artillery insignia.

    I have discovered that later on he was in the RSR (Sergeant) and I have pics including the SAS wings, but the apparant white or bleached, faded togs + what appear to be wings on his right arm, coupled with the light coloured beret imply early SAS.

    He rarely talked about the war and we were encouraged not to ask - he was an absolute gentleman and like others I have heard of, he never used to swear...

    All responses will be most appreciated...
     
  9. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    The RSR shared the wings and beret of the SAS the capbadge however was different. Not much has been written about the RSR about from Francis Reid's Book I Was in Noah's Ark published later in paperback as Guerrilla Fighter. The RSR operated alongside some of the OSS Operational Groups in Greece as well as conducting ops in Yugoslavia, Albania and Italy.Below is a link to Harry Boddington's memoir of the RSR
    World War II, RAIDING SUPPORT REGIMENT, Captain Harry Boddington, CD, tells of his days with one of Britain's World War II special service groups.

    Raiding Support Regiment

    Hal C F Astell - Biography and Family History - Norman F Astell and the Raiding Support Regiment
     

    Attached Files:

  10. Treadcarefully

    Treadcarefully Junior Member

    Thanks for the info Jedburgh; I have found as much as poss from the internet re the RSR which was formed late in 1943; Its the other picture which intrigues me most as he appears to be in white, bleached faded togs with I'm assuming an SAS beige or white beret.... he's much younger than in the RSR picture which appears to have been taken towards the begining of that regiments formation (subsequent RSR photos of him nearer the end of the war show him , not unsurprisingly, far more substantially aged....)

    If the beret is white, not beige then would this not indicate early SAS? but then it would have to have been before the winged dagger design... did they not have different insignia before then or perhaps worn that of their original regiment?

    The insignia on the earlier pic is def not RSR but I have not heard of RSR wearing SAS berets with non RSR insginia..

    I guess nothing will be definitive until I obtain his records...
     
  11. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    I tried to PM you about RSR, did quite a bit of research on it a few years back.
    Both the SAS and RSR wore a white Beret in their early days,
     
  12. Treadcarefully

    Treadcarefully Junior Member

    Hi Jedburgh - sorry about that I may have gone offline or had a problem with the popup blocker - didn't realise you tried the PM....

    Re yr research - The family story had been special air service you see, but loads of my grandmothers pictures have somehow gone astray, including one which I remember from when I was a child - He was at the Great Pyramid - him and a few of his mates climbed to the top - one got vertigo and was carried to the bottom - All sounds a bit too incredible considering them all bailing out of aircraft etc but there you go...

    Anyhow, I've only got the few remaining pics - none show winged dagger insignia - it took me ages to determine that the RSR cap badge was an RSR capbadge - I've subsequently bled the internet dry of all the limited, available info...

    I'm considering contacting the chap at Plymouth Uni who's due to release a book shortly...

    Have you come across RSR chaps wearing berets without the RSR insignia though?

    I'd only heard of the SAS men wearing something alternative before the winged dagger design had been issued + going by his comparatively extremely youthful appearance I'd have put him wearing that beret nearer the start of the war (not only that, he looked far less war ravaged).

    I guess getting his records will help more than just slightly, but wondered if any similar picture may have been seen by anyone before...
     
  13. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

    RSR were raised and trained in Egypt, adn also trained in Lebanon at the Cedars (still in use by the British Army for ski-ing mountain training in the 1970s) and at Ramat David in Palestine. That would explain the Pyramid pictures. I have copies of most of the RSR wartime magazine 'The Bumble Bee' which had reference to many unit members.
     
  14. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

  15. wtid45

    wtid45 Very Senior Member

  16. Jedburgh22

    Jedburgh22 Very Senior Member

  17. James D.N.MacKenzie

    James D.N.MacKenzie Junior Member

    Thanks for the info Jedburgh; I have found as much as poss from the internet re the RSR which was formed late in 1943; Its the other picture which intrigues me most as he appears to be in white, bleached faded togs with I'm assuming an SAS beige or white beret.... he's much younger than in the RSR picture which appears to have been taken towards the begining of that regiments formation (subsequent RSR photos of him nearer the end of the war show him , not unsurprisingly, far more substantially aged....)

    If the beret is white, not beige then would this not indicate early SAS? but then it would have to have been before the winged dagger design... did they not have different insignia before then or perhaps worn that of their original regiment?

    The insignia on the earlier pic is def not RSR but I have not heard of RSR wearing SAS berets with non RSR insginia..

    I guess nothing will be definitive until I obtain his records...
    Good Afternoon Gents

    I am new to this forum, found it while looking for info on a South African RSR Officer, C.W.R. "Bill" Bluett, whose medals I have in my collection. I have a photo of Bill wearing his Natal Mounted Rifles badge on his RSR beret, so, yes, it would seem that at least some of them wore their parent regiment badges.

    Kind regards

    James D.N. MacKenzie
    SAM - Southern Africa Militaria
    Southern Africa Militaria
     
  18. zaziork

    zaziork Junior Member

    Group 2 To destroy aircraft at Sirtee (Tamet) airfield
    Group consists of
    Stirling, Mayne, Brough, MacDonald, Burns, White, Seekings, Cattell, Cooper, Chesworth, and Hawkins.

    Stirling and Brough on recce to Sirte but no aircraft. Mayne with main party attacked Tamet and destroyed 24 aircraft.



    Hello gents,

    In case anyone's researching this Operation, my great uncle, Charlie Cattell, was in Group B. He was awarded the Military Medal for his actions during this raid. I have a copy of the MM recommendation, describing his part in the raid, for which he was awarded the MM - if anyone is researching this operation and would like a copy, please let me know.

    I also believe that Seekings was awarded the DCM for his part in this operation - although I'd need to double check that.

    Dan
     
  19. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Dan please post any info forum members will be most interested
     
  20. jorgriv

    jorgriv Junior Member

    I am trying to research the RAF Regiment 2798 Rifle Squadron and their capture of the Longchamps racecourse in Paris during the Liberation of Paris.

    And what forces besides a FFI Company assisted them in the capture of the racecourse.
     

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