The SAS in Occupied France: 2 SAS Operations, June to October 1944

Gavin Mortimer

Apr. 2023 · Pen and Sword Military

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In the world of military history there is no brand as potent as that of the SAS. They burst into global prominence in 1980 with their spectacular storming of the Iranian Embassy, and there have been hundreds of books, films, documentaries and even reality TV shows about them. But what there hasn't been is a guide to the scenes of some of their most famous Second World War operations. That is why Gavin Mortimer’s vivid two-volume account of their daring missions in German-occupied France in 1944 is such compelling reading.

SAS actions in France delayed German reinforcements reaching the battlefront in Normandy, later sewing confusion among the Germans as they withdrew. The SAS trained the French Maquis and helped to turn them from an indisciplined rabble into an effective fighting force. Their exploits inflicted heavy casualties on the Germans, and they left a trail of destruction and disorder in their wake.

In this second volume focusing on 2 SAS he describes in graphic detail operations Loyton, Wallace and Hardy, and Rupert, all of which were carried out in eastern France. Using previously unpublished interviews with SAS veterans and members of the Maquis as well as rare photographs, Gavin Mortimer blends the past and present, so that readers can walk in the footsteps of SAS heroes and see where they lived, fought and died.

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Gavin Mortimer is a writer, historian and television consultant whose ground-breaking book 'Stirling's Men' remains the definitive history of the wartime SAS. Drawing on interviews with more than sixty veterans, most of whom had never spoken publicly, the book was the first comprehensive account of the SAS brigade. He has also written histories of the SBS, Merrill's Marauders and LRDG, again drawing heavily on veteran interviews. Gavin was the historical consultant on the 2017 BBC documentary about the wartime SAS and he has guided several serving members of the SAS around the sites in France where their predecessors operated in the summer of 1944.