Rogue Heroes: The History Of The SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged The Nazis And Changed The Nature Of War Quotes
"The opportunity to attack the enemy in the rear, when he least expects it, is the pipedream of every general."
"In a short life, he had tried his hand at a variety of occupations – artist, architect, cowboy and mountaineer – and found success in none of them."
"He appears to have lost his virginity in Paris as an art student."
"Bonds of any sort are a pressure I find very difficult to bear."
"If there was a serious side to life it totally escaped me."
"His natural shyness coupled with a stern all-male Catholic education seems to have left him in fear of women."
"I don’t like you, and I don’t like this business."
"Reality beats fiction for sheer, cold, calculating courage."
"The whole section behaved extremely well, and although lacerated and bruised in varying degrees by their landing, and wet and numb with cold, remained cheerful."
"It’s been a fiasco, but the weather did it all. The general plan was alright."
"You can’t sit around thinking about casualties. We joined to fight a war. We knew what it was about."
"I should have been with that plane. The terms of fate are past all understanding."
"If there was a real love in [Mayne's] life, it was his friend Eoin McGonigal."
"The desire to live. The desire to see things through."
"Some unit commanders such as Stirling want to be absolutely independent."
"Never disbelieve in luck again, or coincidence."
"He just couldn’t resist holding forth about how the war should be handled."
"Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals."
"I have always found that in dealing with foreigners whose language one does not speak, it is best to shout."
"We could forget the job in hand andandand time passed very quickly."
"Give me, my God, what you have left. Give me what others do not want."
"These men were seldom impressed by what an officer said, or the way he spoke; it was what he did that counted."
"I’ll Never Smile Again", "My Melancholy Baby", "I’m Dancing with Tears in My Eyes."
"The secret – and perhaps the hardest thing of all – is to control that fear."
"If a chappie liked a weapon – a Luger, a Beretta or just the .45 – he carried that."
"A strange body of men thrown together for a few days by the fortunes of war."
"It was a joy cruise. I went up for pleasure, and it ended unhappily ... C'est la guerre."
"It is a small world, even in the vast desert."
"The targets, Stirling promised, would be 'very enticing'."
"If you require any medical assistance, you have only to let me know."
"The irresistible force meets the immovable object."
"He was the mildest-mannered man / That ever scuttled ship or cut a throat."
"But nasty little pockets of resistance remained, including a number of snipers."
"‘To a certain extent I enjoyed it, but it’s not everyone’s cup of tea,’ he said. ‘I enjoyed the killing. I was scared, but I would have gone into action every day if I could.’"
"‘We looked in amazement at the armada of ships which filled the sea to the horizon,’ one of the officers recalled."
"Yet it had been a brutal introduction to a new form of conflict."
"‘All was very quiet and peaceful.’ Then machine-gun fire spattered across the bay."
"The rest of July was spent encamped in Augusta. It was a strange time for the unit."
"In August, the squadron set up camp in Cannizzaro, 25 miles north of Augusta."
"But the moment Garstin’s men hit the ground... they were surrounded and captured."
"‘Are we going to be shot?’ Vaculik asked Haug. ‘Of course you are,’ Haug laughed."
"‘Constant tension leaves its mark,’ wrote Fraser McLuskey, the padre."
"‘Thank you, Madame, but I intend to attack them.’ - Fenwick’s response to a warning."
"One day their exploits in France will be told, but for the moment they must remain secret."
"‘With correct timing and in suitable country, a small specially trained force can achieve results out of all proportion to its numbers.’ - Farran's observation on guerrilla warfare."
"‘My task was to bring in more SAS and it helped if I was alive to do it,’ - Druce’s rationale for evading enemy attacks."
"‘We never took prisoners on those occasions.’ - A grim reality of war."
"‘If you shot one little bastard the others would start crying,’ - The harsh reality of facing young soldiers."
"‘50 mph seemed like snail’s pace.’ - Poat's reflection during a retreat."