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The Special Air Service (SAS) is the special forces unit of the British Army. The SAS was founded in 1941 as a regiment, and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Brief history of the regiment )〕 This special forces unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action, hostage rescue and human intelligence gathering.〔Griffin, pp.150–152〕〔Adams, p.102〕 The corps presently comprises 22 Special Air Service Regiment, the regular component, under the operational command of United Kingdom Special Forces, and 21 (Artists) Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve) and 23 Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve), which are reserve units under the operational command of 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade.〔Army Briefing Note 120/14, NEWLY FORMED FORCE TROOPS COMMAND SPECIALIST BRIGADES, Quote . It commands all of the Army’s Intelligence, Surveillance and EW assets, and is made up of units specifically from the former 1 MI Bde and 1 Arty Bde, as well as 14 Sig Regt, 21 and 23 SAS(R).〕 The Special Air Service traces its origins to 1941 and the Second World War, and was reformed as part of the Territorial Army in 1947, named the ''21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists Rifles)''. 22 Special Air Service Regiment, part of the regular army, later gained fame and recognition worldwide after successfully assaulting the Iranian Embassy in London and rescuing hostages during the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege, lifting the regiment from obscurity outside the military establishment.〔Thompson, p.8〕 ==History== The Special Air Service 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 Brigadethe "L" designation and Air Service name being a tie-in to a British disinformation campaign, trying to deceive the Axis into thinking there was a paratrooper regiment with numerous units operating in the area (the real SAS would 'prove' to the Axis that the fake one existed).〔Molinari, p.22〕〔Haskew, p.39〕 It was conceived as a commando force to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign〔Thompson, p.7〕 and initially consisted of five officers and 60 other ranks.〔Thompson, p.48〕 Its first mission, in November 1941, was a parachute drop in support of the Operation Crusader offensive.〔 Due to German resistance and adverse weather conditions, the mission was a disaster: 22 men, a third of the unit, were killed or captured.〔Haskew, p.40〕 Its second mission was a success: transported by the Long Range Desert Group, it attacked three airfields in Libya, destroying 60 aircraft with the loss of 2 men and 3 Willys MB.〔 In September 1942 it was renamed 1st SAS, consisting at that time of four British squadrons, one Free French, one Greek, and the Folboat Section.〔Molinari, p.25〕 In January 1943, Stirling was captured in Tunisia and Paddy Mayne replaced him as commander.〔Haskew, p.42〕 In April 1943, the 1st SAS was reorganised into the Special Raiding Squadron under Mayne's command and the Special Boat Squadron was placed under the command of George Jellicoe.〔Morgan, p.15〕 The Special Raiding Squadron fought in Sicily and Italy along with the 2nd SAS, which had been formed in North Africa in 1943 in part by the renaming of the Small Scale Raiding Force. The Special Boat Squadron fought in the Aegean Islands and Dodecanese until the end of the war.〔Haskew, pp.52–54〕 In 1944 the SAS Brigade was formed from the British 1st and 2nd SAS, the French 3rd and 4th SAS and the Belgian 5th SAS.〔 It was tasked with parachute operations behind the German lines in France〔Shortt & McBride, p.16〕 and carried out operations supporting the Allied advance through Belgium, the Netherlands (Operation Pegasus), and eventually into Germany (Operation Archway).〔Shortt & McBride, p.15〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Airborne Museum Oosterbeek )〕 As a result of Hitler's issuing of the Commando Order 18 October 1942, the members of the unit faced the additional danger that they would be summarily executed if ever captured by the Germans. In July 1944, following Operation Bulbasket, 34 captured SAS commandos were summarily executed by the Germans. In October 1944, in the aftermath of Operation Loyton 31 captured SAS commandos were summarily executed by the Germans.〔Schorley, Pete; Forsyth, Frederick (2008). Who Dares Wins: Special Forces Heroes of the SAS. Osprey Publishing, page 50〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Special Air Service」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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