#LRDG

[rockyp77mk3]

Member of a Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) patrol poses with a Vickers K machine gun on a Chevrolet 30cwt truck in North Africa - May 1942.  

[pedroam-bang]

SAS Rogue Heroes (2022)

[tzekkaz]

Army showcase: SAS Independent Reinforced Platoon

David Stirling's L Detachment SAS were formed in 1941 after Layforce a commando unit, of which Stirling was a member, was disbanded. Stirling believed a small covert unit of men could parachute behind enemy lines and sow chaos and mayhem amongst the German and Italian supply lines and airbases and along with Jock Lewes, who invented the Lewes bomb that the SAS would go on to use to great effect and Paddy Mayne who had a reputation for being a mad man and a violent temper after a few drinks, the SAS was formed.

During November 1941 the SAS parachuted behind German and Italian lines, this turned out disastrous for L Detachment as both the weather and the enemy being on high alert conspired against them, of the 66 men that made up the SAS half of them lost their lives or were captured. The SAS changed tactics and began using the LRDG to transport them around instead, eventually Stirling secured armed Jeeps for the SAS, reducing reliance on LRDG vehicles. The SAS used the jeeps to devasting effect including at Sidi Haneish where a large convoy of jeeps under Stirling's command used their machine guns to destroy 30 aircraft. Stirling was captured at Gabes Gap trying to link up with US forces, eventually ending up in Colditz, Lewes was killed whilst on a mission, the SAS convoy came under an aerial attack and Lewes was last seen destroying mission notes in the cab of a truck before it was blown up. Mayne became a major and led the SAS for the rest of the war, he became one of the most decorated soldiers of the war, though he was denied the Victoria Cross for reasons unknown. Under Mayne's command, the SAS went on to see action in Italy and Western Europe helping the allies in their push to Berlin. 

Starting at Christmas 2022 I began a project to paint an SAS jeep and an LRDG truck, both from Warlord Games,this quickly spiralled out of control and became a platoon for Bolt Action. I began work on a 1000pt SAS independent reinforced platoon, however thanks to some nice models from Warlord Games and Perry Miniatures my force expanded beyond the 1000pts I planned. There are two army lists in Campaign:the Western Desert  book the first is reinforced platoon-early: November 1941-May 1942 or reinforced platoon- independent: June 1942-April 1943. I chose the reinforced platoon- independent as they have a large number of Jeeps and ford/chevy trucks available to them, which meant more vehicles for me to paint and I love painting vehicles.

Below is my initial 1000pt list:

Second Lieutenant (veteran) 

SMG, 

veteran team medic with rifle

                                                                         96ptsSAS infantry section

NCO with SMG

2 veterans with SMG

1 veteran with rifle 

Team medic with rifle

Veteran LMG team

                                                                      164pts

SAS infantry section

NCO with SMG

2 veterans with SMG

1 veteran with rifle 

Team medic with rifle

Veteran LMG team

                                                                      164pts

SAS Demolition team (veteran)

NCO

Team medic 

                                                                         55pts

SAS Jeep (veteran)

HMG

Wing mounted MMG

Rear facing MMG

                                                                        95pts

SAS Jeep (veteran)

Rear facing MMG

Forward facing twin vickers K

                                                                         80pts

SAS Jeep (veteran)

Forward facing HMG

Rear facing MMG 

                                                                         80pts

SAS Jeep (veteran)

Rear facing MMG

Forward facing twin vickers K

                                                                         80pts

LRDG chevy CWT 30 truck

Forward facing MMG

Rear facing MMG

                                                                         93pts

LRDG chevy CWT 30 truck

Forward facing MMG

Rear facing MMG

                                                                         93pts

Total points:                                               1000pts

Order dice: 10

My list is far from competitive, I have tried to make the squads rather eclectic with a mix of rifles, LMGs and SMGs, the intention behind that is to demonstrate that the SAS used whatever they could lay their hands on. There is very little choice in the selector and the hardest part is fitting everything in as a good proportion of the points goes on compulsory purchases, the officer and two squads of vererans, three jeeps and transports for everything, what with everyone being veterans too, it did not leave many points to play with. Once I have used them I shall write a Tumblr post on how they performed, though with my track record it will not be very well.

 

(Left-right) Paddy Mayne, David Stirling and Jock Lewes

SAS officer with SAS veteran

SAS demolition team 

SAS veteran squad

SAS veteran squad

SAS Jeeps

(Left to right) LRDG Chevy, LRDG Ford, LRDG Chevy

[lightthewaybackhome]

Just finished Killing Rommel! I highly highly recommend!

The British Army 1939 - 1945: The Long Range Desert Group.

[antoni-g]

From "SAS Rogue Heroes" (2022)

[amnesiacprophetphotography]

Had a great time taking photos of these guys reenacting the Long Range Desert Group. They really worked hard on these vehicles that they've restored and kitted out. Looking for more opportunities like this to shoot! DM me.

[anxiouslowercase]

sas rh: let eoin survive the fall au » meeting the lrdg

[captain-price-unofficially]

LRDG on patrol, 18 Jan 1943

[fisarmonical]

Captain Bruce Ballantyne, Patrol commander of T Patrol, the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), probably taken in the Western Desert, Libya, 1940-43.

[rockyp77mk3]

"Founded in July 1940, the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) specialized in raids and reconnaissance behind enemy lines. Masters of desert navigation, they relied on lightly-armed jeeps and trucks to traverse the Sahara and gather intelligence. The LRDG's 'Road Watch' reports on Axis troop movements were vital to Allied successes." - National Army Museum of the UK NAM Accession Number 1988-09-39-4)

[justforbooks]

Mike Sadler, who has died aged 103, won both the military medal and the military cross as an honorary “founding member” of the wartime SAS before going on to a long career in the British secret intelligence service MI6. He was the last original member of the SAS, whose exploits were dramatised in the BBC series SAS: Rogue Heroes (2022), based on the 2016 book of the same name by Ben Macintyre.

When the second world war broke out, Sadler was working on a tobacco farm in what was then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He joined the Rhodesian army and was promoted rapidly to sergeant, but established an early willingness to question the wisdom of his officers’ orders.

When his commanding officer threatened to strip him of his rank if he did not apologise to an officer with whom he had disagreed, he told him in no uncertain terms that he would reduce himself to the ranks.

As a result, he was highly receptive to an invitation in a Cairo bar to join the recently formed Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), which had been set up by the British in 1940 to mount behind-the-lines attacks on German and Italian forces on the Libyan-Egyptian frontier.

During the long journey from the Egyptian capital to the LRDG’s base at Kufra, in south-east Libya, Sadler became fascinated by the group’s use of stars and the position of the sun to navigate their way across more than 700 miles of largely featureless desert.

“It was a voyage of discovery because the maps, except in the very coastal regions, had nothing much on them except longitude and latitude lines and the odd dotted line marking a camel track or something,” he said. “It was entirely like being at sea.” As a result, when they arrived at Kufra, he was offered the role of unit navigator. “The idea of navigating by the stars was so fascinating I couldn’t resist.”

Sadler’s involvement with the newly formed SAS began some months later, in the immediate aftermath of its disastrous first mission. The regiment had tried to parachute into the desert in the dark during a fierce storm, and 34 of the 55 men taking part were killed or captured.

David Stirling, who had founded the SAS, needed to mount another operation quickly or see the unit disbanded, and asked the LRDG to ferry them on the next mission, in December 1941. Sadler was attached as navigator to the mission commander Blair “Paddy” Mayne, an Irish rugby international with a similar lack of respect for poor decision-making, and they got on well.

The raid, on an airfield at Wadi Tamet, on the Libyan coast west of Sirte, destroyed 24 aircraft, blew up a number of fuel dumps and killed or wounded around 30 Italian and Germans, ensuring the SAS survived.

During another raid on a German airfield at Sidi Haneish, 235 miles west of Cairo, in July 1942, Sadler, now officially transferred to the SAS, navigated 18 jeeps across the desert without headlights or maps. Storming across the airfield firing tracer bullets from their machine-guns, the men destroyed an estimated 37 aircraft.

Sadler was told to wait at the edge of the airfield and make sure everyone got out. “So I only got away from the airfield at dawn, after the raid, and found myself driving through a German column that had set out into the desert to look for us,” he recalled. “I drove through the column from the back and nobody noticed. I don’t think they expected anyone to be behind. They’d stopped to have a cup of tea on the roadside, and I drove on and out.” As a non-commissioned officer, Sadler was awarded the military medal for his bravery.

In January 1943, now a lieutenant, he was part of a small team led by Stirling looking for a route for the British forces to outflank the Germans and link up with allied forces in Tunisia.

They were captured by the Germans but Sadler and two colleagues escaped, crossing 100 miles of desert with little water and no compass or maps to meet up with US troops. An American journalist, Abbott Liebling, who saw Sadler when he arrived, said: “The eyes of this fellow were round and sky blue and his hair and whiskers were very fair. His beard began well under his chin, giving him the air of an emaciated and slightly dotty Paul Verlaine.”

Sadler reprised his nonchalant approach to driving past German vehicles during an operation in France in August 1944. He was in the first of two jeeps crossing a busy road east of Orleans when they encountered a heavily armed German patrol.

Rather than abandon his mission, Sadler drove slowly up to the patrol, waved to them and crossed the road, less than 6ft from the Germans. It was only when they had passed that the Germans realised they were British, and opened fire.

Sadler whipped his own jeep around and fired on the Germans, giving the second jeep time to escape before withdrawing himself, having knocked out two German machine-gun crews. As an officer, he could now be awarded the military cross.

Born in Kensington, central London, Mike was the son of Wilma and Adam Sadler. When his father became director of a plastics factory in Stroud, Gloucstershire, the family moved to the nearby village of Sheepscombe.

Sadler was educated at Bedales, an early co-educational private boarding school in Petersfield, Hampshire, that was founded on Montessori principles, with children freed from rigid educational methods and encouraged towards independent thought. He left in 1937 for Rhodesia, to work on a farm.

By the end of the war, he was adjutant to Mayne, now the SAS commander, and with the SAS being temporarily disbanded, they both volunteered to go to Antarctica with the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (later the British Antarctic Survey).

Sadler was awarded the Polar medal for his work setting up a new base on Stonington Island, which was connected to the mainland by a glacier. When the glacier melted, the area it vacated was renamed Sadler’s Passage in his honour.

On his return to the UK, he briefly worked for the US embassy in London, before being recruited into MI6 to help plan cold-war operations. During the Falklands conflict he was involved in a deception operation over the sale of Exocet missiles to the Argentinians.

He stayed with the intelligence service until the mid-80s, spending his retirement indulging his love of sailing.

Sadler married twice, first, in 1947, to Anne Hetherington, a former driver with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Fany) whom he had met when she drove him to an airfield. They divorced after two years. In 1958 he married Patricia Benson, who worked for the Foreign Office, and they had a daughter, Sally. Patricia died in 2001. Sally survives him.

🔔 Willis Michael Sadler, SAS navigator and intelligence officer, born 22 February 1920; died 4 January 2024

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[just-barrow]

How close are the cast of SAS: Rogue Heroes to their real life counterparts? Today we remember possibly the most tragic member of the original L Detachment, Bill Fraser played by the enigmatic Stuart Campbell.

If there is a single SAS member that's been most overlooked in the telling of the story, its the fourth officer Bill Fraser. Bill was born into a family of Gordon Highlanders and himself was a professional soldier throughout the late 30s. After serving with the BEF and being evacuated from Dunkirk, he was commissioned and joined the Commandos, serving alongside Mayne.

He was one of the platoon commanders at the Litani River battle and was severely concussed by a bullet hitting his helmet and had to hand over to his trusted Sergeant, John Cheyne. After recovering in Cyprus, like Mayne, he answered Stirling's call for men to join L Detachment. Due to a broken arm sustained during parachute training, he was absent from the disasterous Op Squatter, but was part of the LRDG party that went to collect them. Cheyne was killed on landing, an unnecessary casualty that must have infuriated Fraser the professional soldier.

Fraser's first jolly was the attack on Agadebia airfield. After laying up for a day to observe the airfield, he and his team stealthily destroyed 37 aircraft and one tractor from a possible 38 Lewes Bombs, the most of any of the raids. After the initial explosions went off, they lit up the airfield and showed another row of brand new ME109s, which Fraser duly returned to destroy. It was such a successful raid that the Italians thought they had been attacked by aircraft.

He received the MC for his leadership and tactical skill. He served with the SAS throughout Sicily and Normandy, injured in each theatre and earning a bar to his MC as well as a Croix de Guerre. After the war when the SAS was disbanded, he returned to the Gordon Highlanders. Sadly he was demoted for being drunk on duty and subsequently left the army. His later life was one of instability and illness, dying at the age of 58 in obscurity.

Fraser's initial raid was the most successful and secured the future of a very uncertain L Detachment.

For those who are curious as to why Fraser was mostly omitted from the records, it is possibly because he was homosexual. It is reported that he was mercilessly bullied by Mayne when he had been drinking, which further adds to the speculation that Mayne himself might have been gay and repressed. It could also be the undignified manner in which he left the military and subsequently dropped off the radar.

source

[homeahoy]

A Poker Game in Cairo

Warnings: Pure Filth. Fluff.

Characters: Mike Sadler/ Y/N

It was a standing arrangement between them, code named poker night. They both had acknowledged the fact it was a double entendre or whatever you called it. Simply because it sounded like poke her which would have been closer to what they were actually up to.  It was more than a simple one night stand or a fling.  It was an agreement between two friends. Friends who before the war had no idea the other existed but after a nasty incident with an enemy bomber plane and a scoping mission they had become fast friends.  Him the wounded idiot in the ward, Y/N Mike’s nurse.  Idiot? Yes only because he had insisted that he was fine while wincing everytime he tried to sit down. A Broken coccyx would do that to you. With a firm friendship formed they had spoken about the inconvenience of love in a war zone or how bothersome it would be to find someone anytime you felt frisky.  So they had come up with an idea between them.  Every second Thursday they would meet at a hotel and sleep with each other.  

It was a simple arrangement and not one that always went to plan. As both parties never really knew when something would come up and they couldn't make it. When this happened they could always get a message to each other somehow. There was always someone you could bribe to pass on a message.  This time however saw You waiting outside the Night Bird Hotel waiting and becoming steadily more and more pissed off.  When the hell was Mike.  If he wasn’t coming, why the hell hadn’t he got the message to you?  You wondered if something had happened but then remember the last time. The message had come the day before something about a taxi service and being engaged in the desert for a while.  This time he had sent a letter letting you know he would be on leave.  Had it been cancelled and he had been called back to whatever it was he had been doing?  Or had gone with the other members of the LRDG and gotten so hammered that he had forgotten?

Just as you were about to either give up or go hunt him down and kill him for making you wait like an idiot, you were sure which option to go with, you heard someone jog towards you.  Looking around you saw Mike coming towards you, hand held up in apology until he was close enough to say “Sorry, A few of the guys got in a fight and I had to help” he gave a familiar grimace as he spoke.   Looking over him you saw what had been a neat uniform was now askew around the collar and he had what looked like a sand coloured beret in his hand.  His hair was a little wild but then again it always was. “I can tell '' You said as you reached out and fixed his hair and tugged his shirt back into place like he was a naughty school boy and you an adult having to make him presentable.  Finally when he was presentable enough you asked “So will we get this show on the road”.  “Yes” was the simple and plain answer that was given as he turned towards the entrance of the hotel and offered you his arm. 

The Hotel had played a key part in the whole operation.  It wasn’t like you could go back to the nurse’s boarding house or the barracks where neither of the opposite sex were allowed for just this exact reason. The hotel itself offered you a chance to be together and to keep it secret also.  It wasn’t the most luxurious but it wasn’t some dive either.  The staff were discret about what went on behind its doors which was a god send. It took only a few minutes after you had both entered to get a key and to the second floor room where you would be staying.  Normally it was only for a few hours but tonight you had a feeling you would be staying. 

You had expected the night to go how it always did with Mike all but dragging you into the room and pouncing on you. Instead he had acted like a perfect gentleman right up until you got in the door, where he closed it behind you and then walked towards you where he buried his face into your neck, while wrapping his arms around you, and letting out a sigh. Tossing your bag towards the bed without looking, you then wrapped your arms around him, one hand coming up to stroke the nape of his neck, which earned you a happy murmur. “ Rough couple of weeks?” You asked. “Mmm” in the affirmative was all that came back. Walking yourself and Mike backwards, towards the bed you knew you would talk about it later.  

Feeling the back of your legs hit the edge of the bed, you lowered yourself down.  You had to separate yourself from Mike at this point.  Leaning back of your elbow’s you looked up at him wondering where this was going to go as it felt different from the other times.  Mike leaned over you, bringing one knee up to rest on the bed beside your right thigh so he could reach down and kiss you.  You reached up with one hand and cupped his face using it to pull him down onto you. It was then the kiss was hardened, a swipe of your lover's tongue was enough to know it was asking for entrance, granting him it, it became more heated.  You gently spurred each other on and hand’s began to wonder. Mike’s slide up underneath the skirt of your dress. Your’s began to tug on his shirt, freeing it from the waistband of his trousers. You then moved to unbuttoning it, while his hands inched further up and up. HIs touch was all you needed to get you turned on. 

Moaning into the kiss you finally pulled away to say “Let’s get rid of these” as you pushed his shirt off his shoulders.  Mike quickly got up and shed all his clothes before helping you out of yours. Naked, you both quickly returned to the bed. Mike kneeling between your legs and running a hand up them towards your heat. His right hand met the apex of your legs, before a gentle finger began to run itself between your folds and feeling how wet you already were. Sliding the finger into your entrance he began to work you open while his thumb came up to meet your clit where it began to move in small circles, eliciting a small moan for your. Grinning up at you he added another finger, making you gasp. He worked up until he decided you were ready.  Moving quickly he retrieved a condom from his wallet and put it on before moving back between your legs and beginning to line himself up.  “What about you?” You asked.  “We have plenty of time for that later and I need this more” Mike replied, before beginning to push himself into you.  Gripping his arms you moaned a small amount as you began to adjust around him.  Waiting for you to give him permission to move, Mike smiled down at you, it was at times like this you knew you could have fallen in love with him, which you knew was a dangerous thought to have, shaking the thought from your head you gave a small nod. 

If Mike was anything it was a thoughtful and caring lover.  He began moving his hips in a slow and steady rhythm.  As small gasps began to leave your mouth, he leaned down to capture your mouth in another kiss. You both kept this up for a while, before coming up for air and Mike’s pace began to pick up and he himself began to let you moans of his own, spotted in between whispered statements of “You feel so good” ``Oh God” and “Mmm yes”.  The snap of his hips began to become more frantic and the heat in your stomach more intense.  With a few more thrusts he had you arching your back and panting his name “Mike” as you came. Working you through it Mike chased his own high, burying his face into the crook of your neck he came moaning your name like it was some sort of prayer. 

When you had both come down from your high you pulled apart, Mike shedding the condom as he moved and moved so that you were both lying on your sides facing each other. Smiling gently at each other you waited for a while before asking “So you want to tell me about it?” Meaning his week and maybe a little about how this time it felt like something had changed.  It wasn’t something you had ever thought about as you had an agreement not to get attached but for some reason you now had a tiny bit of hope that something had.  What you didn’t know was that Mike was thinking the exact same thing.

[eoinmcgonigal]

"Corporal [Chalky] White decided to leave us, heading back to the Marada Road, in hopes of capturing a truck. Actually I think his feet were too far gone, and he decided to give himself up and not hinder the party. Rather a noble act I think." —Gunner Walsh, LRDG

[adowbaldwin]

In honour of our lovely Scottish boy Bill Fraser I'm gonna start some love for this man!

So who do you think he'd pair up with for the SAS's nightly cuddle sessions??

And how does he cuddle? Does he lie flat on his back? Or is he the classic starfish cuddle guy?

One night hes awake, not just eyes open but mind buzzing and he has 100 questions, and theyre all about the desert.

Theres only one man to ask, so off he trotts to Mikes tent, the be all and end all of Desert knowledge. Theres nothing that the ex LRDG operative doesnt know.

But hes hard to wake up.

Hes like a pile of rocks * evil laugh * or so little Billy thought.

Billy reaches out to shake him again when arms shoot out from under the 'quilt' (its literally one thread away from being scraps) and drags him into the abyss of his little camp bed.

Billy is too stunned to speak but then the warmth of another human seeps into his bones and it reminds him of being home. And so like the snuggle whore he is he pushes his whole body into it and gets spooned the shit out of for another 4 hours.

When he wakes in the morning mikes basically ontop of him, starfished snoring in his face. He just stays there till he wakes up.

[ms-miranda-world]

@elegantstrings