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Lieutenant Colonel William Joseph "Bill" Stirling of Keir (9 May 1911 – 1 January 1983) was a Scottish officer of the British Army who served during the Second World War. Initially joining the Special Operations Executive , he would go on to command No. 62 Commando and then the 2nd Special Air Service (2 SAS).
Stirling was commissioned into the Scots Guards on 24 July 1937. [9] When the Second World War broke out in September 1939. [10]: 8–10 Stirling was in Montana, USA, working as a cattle-rancher until returning to Britain on SS Manhattan, from New York City to Southampton on 16 September 1939. [11]
Stirling went on to be Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War in 1961 and Commander-in-Chief, British Army of the Rhine and Commander, Northern Army Group in 1963; he retired in 1966. [3] From 1967 to 1973 Stirling was Gentleman Usher to the Sword of State, an officer of the Royal Household. [4] [5]
The men involved in Operation Houndsworth were part of the Special Air Service Brigade.The Special Air Service (SAS) was a unit of the British Army during the Second World War, formed in July 1941 by David Stirling and originally called "L" Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade—"L" being an attempt at deception implying the existence of numerous such units.
A number went to the Middle East and served in the Special Boat Squadron, most notably Major Anders Lassen, the only member of the Special Air Service awarded the Victoria Cross during the war. [9] [17] Appleyard also went to the Middle East and helped to form the 2nd Special Air Service with Bill Stirling from a detachment of No. 62 Commando ...
The Raid on Sidi Haneish Airfield was a military operation carried out the night of 26 July 1942. A British Special Air Service unit commanded by Major David Stirling attacked a German-held airfield in Egypt during the Western Desert Campaign of Second World War.
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On January 1, 1942 the unit became the French Squadron of the Special Air Service under Major David Stirling, a special forces unit garrisoned at Kibrit Air Base on the Suez Canal. June 1942: the French SAS destroyed 20 German airplanes in Crete, then attacked the airports in Matouba-Derna, Benina, Barce and Benghazi on the Libyan front.