SBS - Silent Warriors - The Authorised Wartime History

With a sub title stating that this is the authorised wartime history of the SBS from their archives, this is clearly more than just a few tales about the SBS. In his foreword Admiral Lord Boyce emphasises the strong relationship between the SBS and the Submarine Service and the book tells of the extraordinary feats achieved by this partnership during WWII. It is difficult to review this book without over using the word “extraordinary” and yet the brave exploits in the book were not carried out by superheroes but by people, many of whom had very ordinary backgrounds. Roger Courtney, acknowledged as the “father of the SBS”, recruited his small teams to carry out beach reconnaissance and raids using folding canoes that could be loaded onto submarines – folboats. Part of the selection process included a session in the pub to find out about the real person! Early operations in the Mediterranean included raids on the Italian coastal railway from submarines, and beach reconnaissance for the Torch landings; not so successful was an abortive attempt to capture Rommel, and attacks on shipping in Italian ports. One of the submarines used was the Torbay commanded by Lt Cdr Miers, and there is an illuminating slant by one of Courtney’s men on the notorious incident off Crete when German troops were machine gunned in the water. Op Frankton (led by Blondie Haslar) on shipping in Boulogne has been immortalised as the Cockleshell Heroes, but militarily the raid on Leros (Op Sunbeam) was more spectacular. Lessons learnt from the Torch landings resulted in the setting up of specialist beach survey units (Combined Ops Pilotage parties - COPP) by Lt Cdr Willmott, which were to prove invaluable in operations in both the Far East and Europe. The COPP manned X craft positioned off the Sword and Juno beaches on D-Day ensured that the landings reached the right place; sadly the US refusal to use X craft was one of the contributory factors to the problems on Omaha beach. Far East operations were to be particularly hazardous with tragic loss of teams. Initially the SBS was a “small inexperienced outfit” fuelled by” raw courage and boyish enthusiasm”. Courtney said he wasn’t looking for tough nuts but “brains not brawn” – I think selfless courage was also a pre-requisite. The many reports on team members are fascinating –“will keep going when bigger and tougher men drop out”, “a professional Shakespeare actor” and a citation that read “high degree of courage, resolution and indifference to danger” illustrate the character of the SBS men. The evolution of their small teams is the basis of today’s special forces – “we prefer the twilight, darkness is our friend”. A compelling read of amazing courage and that makes one glad they were on our side.

‘...if you are a fan of derring-do and Andy McNab. I am going to be telling everyone to buy it’

‘It really is one of the most enjoyable histories I’ve read in many a year’