After the surrender of the Axis forces in Tunisia, the Nortj African campaign came to an end, and the SAS underwent a complete reorganisation. A second SAS regiment, made up of men from 62 commandobegan to train at Phillipville in Algeria, and was officially established in May 1943, while 1 SAS was reformed as the Special Raiding Squadron (SRS). This unit was to attack German and Italian coastal positions in the Balkans and central Mediterranean. During the invasion of Sicily in 1943, the SRS successfully assaulted a number of coastal positions, while some members of 2 SAS were dropped by parachute behind enemy lines in support of the Allied landings to perform their usual duties of raiding supply routes. 2 SAS, led by David Stirling's brother William, also participated in the italian campaign, and was give free-license to operate against the enemy's supply lines. His men struck at vulnerable points behind the front line, destroying bridges, hitting airfields and coordinating the efforts of partisan groups. In many cases, small teams were put in by parachhute, harrying the Germans for several weeks before returning to Allied lines.
While the SAS was active in the Mediterranean theatre, preperations were also being made for it's role in the invasion of France. As well as raiding enemy communications, David Sirling had also envisaged that the SAS could act in conjunction with Resistance forces operating behind enemy lines. The highly trained SAS men would provide a nucleus of disciplined troops to organize the Resistance groups into units capable of coordinated action against enemy soldiers in the area.
Most SAS operations in the liberation of France were conducted along these lines. Operation Kipling, which took place between 14 August and 25 September 1944 to the west of Auxerre in central France, is a good example of the 40 or so operations that took place that summer and autumn. |
