Authors: Vincent Brugeas; illustrated by Thomas Legrain
Age: 15 years and upSize: 18.4 x 25.7 cm
Number of pages: 64 colour pages
Publication: September 2019
ISBN: 9781849184465
£8.99 inc. VAT
1941. Almost all of Europe is under the Nazi heel. Great Britain still holds out, but the situation worsens with every passing day. And in North Africa, gateway to the Middle East and its immense oil reserves, Rommel now threatens Egypt, keystone of British defences. In those desperate times, three men (David Stirling, Blair Mayne and ‘Jock’ Lewes), three unconventional officers, band together to create a small, elite unit that will become a military legend: the SAS.
Here's a free fact for you. When the SAS was being put togetherv they wanted a beret that would distinguish them from other units. We know that the Royal Marine Commandos have the green beret -copied by many other countries elite units- and we know the Paras have the maroon or Red beret -again, copied world wide. Other than black that was it (the modern Army Air Corps has a grey beret of course) so the foundling SAS had to make do with white schoolgirl berets.
If you have ever read the historical accounts about the SAS in North Africa, Europe, Borneo etc then you will know only the toughest men were chosen -there is a gut churning account of one member lost in the desert having to store and drink his own urine to survive...he still had a swollen black tongue though. I read most of the SAS history (allowed to be published) back in the 1980s and wrote several articles about them. So I got this latest Cinebook release and took a deep breath and waited for the inaccuracies.
After reading the volume all I can write is that I highly recommend this book. If you are interested in military history or just in the genre of war comics then this is a good one for you and some nice artwork to boot -and text features.
Incidentally, They Who Dare (1954), starring Dirk Bogarde, is often quoted as the first SAS film due to the 'motto' title. It is not. "Who Dare Wins" is the SAS motto while "By Strength and Guile" is the motto of the Special Boat Service (SBS) which is what the movie is about.
But Cinebook does it again by presenting history in a way that is far from boring.
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