From Churchill's SAS to Hitler's Waffen-SS: The Secret Wartime Exploits of Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye

Michael Scott

2023년 1월 · Pen and Sword Military

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Captain Douglas Berneville-Claye was serving with the fledgling SAS with fellow officers such as David Stirling and Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne when he was captured in the Western Desert. He was ‘turned’ and became a member of the Nazi Waffen-SS. Collaboration with the enemy was confirmed when dressed as an SS captain he approached remnants of the British Free Corps; the Waffen-SS unit composed of renegade British nationals. He exhorted them to serve under his command against Russian forces.

Post-war Berneville-Claye was investigated by MI5 for treachery. Following an Army court-martial he was dishonorably dismissed and sentenced to six months imprisonment. Upon release, his escapades and private life were no less contentious. A philanderer and bigamist, he married four times, sired ten children and rubbed shoulders with the criminal underworld in and out of prison. Eventually he succeeded in emigrating to Australia.

Thanks to the author’s painstaking research, this is a compelling yet shocking biography of one of the most intriguing, colorful and disreputable characters of his era. How he escaped with his life is a question readers will ponder.

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Michael Scott served in the British Army infantry for 35 years, latterly as a colonel in the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment. Overseas tours of duty included Gibraltar, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. He also saw active service in numerous theaters including Northern Ireland, Congo, Iraq, Sudan, Djibouti and Somaliland. His final appointment was Defence Attaché covering the Horn of Africa. Trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he has university degrees from King’s College London, and Newcastle Upon Tyne. His books include From Churchill’s SAS to Hitler’s Waffen-SS, Tigers at War, Special Forces Commander, and The Royal Rifle Volunteers. He lives with his wife between East Africa and the UK.