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The History of the British Army's Special Air Service or SAS regiment begins with its formation during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, and continues to the present day. It includes their early operations in North Africa, the Greek Islands, and the Invasion of Italy. They then returned to the United Kingdom and were formed into a brigade with two British, two French and one Belgian regiment. The SAS Brigade then conducted operations in France, Italy again, the Low Countries and finally into Germany. After the war the SAS were disbanded only to be reformed as a Territorial Army regiment, which then led onto the formation of the regular army 22 SAS Regiment. The new regiment has taken part in most of the United Kingdom's small wars since then. However the Ministry of Defence does not comment on special forces matters, therefore little verifiable information exists in the public domain on the regiment's recent activities. At first, service in the SAS was considered an end to an officer's career progression, however in recent years SAS officers have risen to the highest ranks in the British Army. General Peter de la Billière was the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in the 1990 Gulf War. General Michael Rose became commander of the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia in 1994. In 1997 General Charles Guthrie became Chief of the Defence Staff the head of the British Armed Forces. Lieutenant-General Cedric Delves was the Commander of the Field Army and Deputy Commander in Chief NATO Regional Headquarters Allied Forces Northern Europe (RHQ AFNORTH) in 2002–2003.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom )〕 ==Second World War== The Special Air Service began life in July 1941 from an unorthodox idea and plan by a Lieutenant in the Scots Guards David Stirling, who was serving with No. 8 (Guards) Commando. His idea was for small teams of parachute trained soldiers to operate behind enemy lines to gain intelligence, destroy enemy aircraft and attack their supply and reinforcement routes. Following a meeting with Major-General Neil Ritchie, the Deputy Chief of Staff, he was granted an appointment with the new C-in-C Middle East, General Claude Auchinleck. Auchinleck liked his plan and it was endorsed by the Army High Command. At that time there was a deception organisation already in the Middle East area, which wished to create a phantom Airborne Brigade to act as a threat to enemy planning of operations. This deception unit was known as K Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade and so Stirling's unit was called L Detachment SAS Brigade. The force initially consisted of five officers and 60 other ranks.〔Thompson, p.48〕 Following extensive training at Kabrit camp, by the River Nile, L Detachment, SAS Brigade undertook its first operation. Operation Squatter was a parachute drop behind the enemy lines in support of Operation Crusader, they would attack airfields at Gazala and Timimi on the night 16/17 November 1941. Unfortunately because of enemy resistance and adverse weather conditions the mission was a disaster, 22 men were killed or captured - one third of the men employed.〔Haskew, p.40〕 Allowed another chance they recruited men from the Layforce Commando, which was in the process of disbanding. Their second mission was more successful, transported by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), they attacked three airfields in Libya destroying 60 aircraft without loss.〔 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「History of the Special Air Service」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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