WHO DARES WINS

COMPLETELY REVISED AND UPDATED

THE STORY OF THE SPECIAL AIR SERVICE 1950 TO THE GULF WAR

(TONY GERAGHTY)

‘Who Dares Wins’ – the motto of the SAS Regiment – became world famous in May 1980 when a squad of SAS men dramatically, and in full view of live television cameras, rescued nineteen people held hostage by terrorists in the Iranian Embassy in London.  But this operation, the inside story of which is recounted in this new study of the Regiment, is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’.

Who Dares Wins encompasses every major action involving the SAS in the postwar period – including many operations of which the public has had no knowledge hitherto.  An exciting story of secret warfare, high adventure, and unpublicised military success, it is told with the aid of maps and photographs from the campaigns of Malaya, Borneo, Radfan, Omar and Northern Ireland make it a special target for articulate radicals, while equally committed to a partisan view of the Regiment are some of its political allies, who hold that all SAS soldiers are heroes and supermen.  Within the military community, the suspicion lingers that the SAS is not only a corps d’elite but also a ‘private army’, functioning outside the normal control of government.  The SAS itself says nothing about its activities, reacting in public neither to blame nor to praise.

Tony Geraghty’s history of the Regiment since it was reformed as the Malayan Scouts in 1950 (an inauspicious beginning, during which deserters from the French Foreign Legion were pressed into service) describes how the SAS has evolved, then goes on to recount the campaigns in which the Regiment has fought – including free-fall parachute drops into the Malayan jungle, clandestine operations in Borneo, the Battle of Mirbat and the tangle of Intelligence operations in Northern Ireland.

In addition to the above which were covered in the first edition, this revised and updated edition includes the SAS role in more recent conflicts and controversial situations.  In comprehensive and enthralling detail, this new edition recounts near disaster during the Falklands War as well as the success of retaking South Georgia; the regiment’s involvement in the continuation of the Northern Ireland conflicts and in countering terrorism being experienced from numerous actors, the events surrounding the ‘shoot to kill’ debate and the role the SAS played during the First Gulf War and in Iraq.

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This 1993 edition paperback publication is in very good overall condition.  The pages are tightly bound and are free from tears, creases, and significant marks.  The cover pages display some rubbing, light knocks, and minor creasing to the edges and corners (see photograph).  The book runs to 594 pages (19.5cm x 12.5cm), includes several interesting appendices, is well indexed, and Illustrated with maps plus an additional 16 pages of photographs.