The Phantom Major: The Story of David Stirling and the SAS Regiment

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The book paints a portrait of a man who was great at coming up with schemes and ideas and charming others into believing, and investing, in them. But Stirling did not have the discipline or talents needed to pull them off. To form the SAS and for it to succeed he needed Bill Stirling and Mayne. Everything he tried before and after the war was unsuccessful because he didn’t have such quality support. He was jealous of Mayne, a far better fighter and leader. His brother, though he never went on an SAS raid, was probably more important in the history of the unit than David ever was. The SAS: Savage Wars of Peace: 1947 to the Present, by Anthony Kemp, John Murray, 1994, pp. 88–89 [ ISBNmissing] In mid-1970s, Stirling became increasingly worried that an "undemocratic event" would occur and decided to organise a private army to overthrow the government. He created an organisation called Great Britain 75 and recruited members from the aristocratic clubs in Mayfair; these were mainly ex-military men, and often former SAS members. The plan was that in the event of civil unrest resulting in the breakdown of normal Government operations, they would take over its running. He described this in detail in an interview from 1974, part of which is featured in Adam Curtis's documentary The Mayfair Set, episode 1: "Who Pays Wins". [21] Stirling was dubbed the “Phantom Major” by German Field Marshal Rommel, and was rumoured to have personally strangled 41 men.

Mortimer also reveals the critical influence that David Stirling’s older brother, Bill, had on the formation of the unit. An early recruit to SOE, it was Bill Stirling who first understood the importance of excellent fieldcraft and training for irregular forces. He set up a training school in Scotland where he taught fledgling Commandos – many of whom would go on to be members of the nascent SAS, including David Stirling and Mayne – how to survive and fight behind enemy lines. Contrary to David’s tall tale of breaking into GHQ, it was Bill who ensured the memo proposing the formation of the SAS, which he had composed with David, landed on the right desks. ‘A disruptive influence’ After his capture, Stirling’s war was over, despite a number of abortive escape attempts, which eventually led him to Colditz. The SAS thrived under Mayne for the rest of the war. Following Mayne’s untimely death in a car crash in 1955, Stirling once again used his powers of self-promotion to create his own myth, appropriating many of Mayne’s qualities and successes along the way. The 66 soldiers recruited to the SAS were all commandos, and many came from No 11 Scottish Commando, among them Robert Blair Mayne, from Newtownards. Mayne had played rugby for Ireland before the war, and he was also a champion heavyweight boxer and qualified solicitor. He and Bill hit it off, but David was intimidated and envious of the Irishman. Wartime Raid is Recalled in Leader's Libel Actions". The Glasgow Herald. Glasgow. 24 May 1968. p.9 . Retrieved 30 March 2015.Jellicoe, George (2004). "Mayne, Robert Blair (1915–1955)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Michael Alexander speaks to the author of a new book who thinks SAS founder Sir David Stirling should be regarded as a ‘phoney major’. Gavin Mortimer. Stirling's Men: The inside history of the SAS in World War Two (Cassell, 2004) ISBN 0304367060 ISBN 978-0304367061

There are parts of his closely guarded personal life that Mortimer briefly touches on towards the end of the book that help explain Stirling’s unease with himself and why he was such an awkward youth and unfulfilled adult. You can sympathise with why David Stirling so assiduously took most of the credit for the creation of the SAS for himself. It was like being on the sea in a way. You could go in any direction. There was a great sort of freedom attached to being in the desert. There was so much variety – beautiful smooth surfaces, sand, and impassable great sand dunes hundreds of feet high –slowly moving across the desert with the prevailing wind, the sand dunes moving very, very slowly, perhaps a foot every year, but altering their arrangements quite considerably. Like many dramatic gestures, Bill STIRLING's resignation proved premature, since his concerns were eventually given due consideration: the plan for deployment of the SAS was amended to something far closer to the role envisaged by the STIRLING brothers. Only five three-man teams would be dropped immediately beyond the Normandy beaches on the eve of D-Day, to sow confusion by imitating a much larger paratroop force - an operation codenamed Titanic. Stirling received a knighthood and plaudits from military forces around the world before his death in 1990 aged 74. Mortimer credits him with being “physically brave and charismatic”. What is the SAS?

The road to success

The BBC is set to explore the beginnings of the elite British military force, The Special Air Service (SAS) in SAS Rogue Heroes. Stirling was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and the SAS was expanded into a regiment. According to Gavin Mortimer, it was a move by top brass to keep better control of Stirling and his operations. “He might have been the Phantom Major to the British tabloids but to his soldiers, Stirling was a liability who had repeatedly gambled with their lives in his pursuit of glory,” wrote Mortimer. There was of course Bill Stirling. But because he recognised David’s flaws and how lost he was after the war, he was quite happy to let David take the plaudits. Stirling may be accompanied by up to 3 men (Veterans armed with anti-tank grenades and submachine guns, pistols or rifles/carbines as depicted on the model) for +19pts each

Police probe after plaques stolen from SAS memorial". BBC News. 5 June 2014 . Retrieved 9 May 2018.

In 15 months, the SAS put hundreds of enemy vehicles out of action and destroyed more than 250 aircraft.

Q How do you feel about young people watching SAS Rogue Heroes and learning of the amazing things you did? But was the Perthshire-born officer really a military genius, or was he in fact a shameless self-publicist who manipulated people, and the truth, for his own ends? Analysis of character The proposal flew in the face of properness – of battlefield etiquette and chain of command. It would never get past the army’s equivalent of middle management, so Stirling embarked on his daring mission into British Middle East Headquarters, located in Garden City, Cairo. As Stirling told it, he clambered over the wire but was spotted by the guards – so he dived into the first door, landing at the feet of an incredulous major. In a stroke of poor fortune, this major had previously tried to boot Stirling out of the Scots Guard for falling asleep in a lecture. Stirling hobbled off, guards still in pursuit, and put the proposal in the hands of General Sir Neil Ritchie, who all but commissioned it on the spot.

But the death of Paddy Mayne meant he could rewrite the history of the SAS because there were really no officers left to challenge his version of events. Nicholson, Rebecca (30 October 2022). "SAS: Rogue Heroes review – is the follow up to Peaky Blinders fun? Does Arthur Shelby like a drink?". The Guardian . Retrieved 31 October 2022. The other key player in the early SAS, who was never given the credit he deserved, says Mortimer, was Paddy Mayne. Why? Because Stirling feared and envied the talented Ulsterman in “equal measure”. Mayne was one of the few men who had seen through Stirling and recognised him for what he was: an incompetent egomaniac. I didn’t use it much because I didn’t like it either, I had lots of hair in those days and I used that. It was better to have the breeze blowing through you than to have something wrapped round you which was hot.