In this WW2 memoir, the author of SAS: With the Maquis continues his thrilling account of life as a British Army commando behind enemy lines.
Colonel Ian Wellsted, OBE, served with the British Army's elite Special Air Service during World War II. In this vivid personal account, he vividly recounts his involvement in Operation Archway, a mission supporting Field Marshal Montgomery's Allied 21st Army Group in operations Varsity and Plunder.
In this offensive, the SAS teams were thrust deep into German territory, often having to battle their way through enemy lines to get back to safety. 'I quickly learned that there was no way to control an SAS battle,' Wellsted wrote of his first major encounter in charge of a patrol. 'The din was deafening – seventy odd Vickers and half a dozen Brownings all chattering together.'
In one of these encounters, as the war was drawing to a close, Wellsted's troop found itself surrounded. In the ensuing firefight, Wellsted was wounded, bringing his active front line career to an end.
