The Special Air Service was born in 1940-41 at the lowest ebb of the war for Britain. Churchill had called for the setting up of raiding units able to hit back against Occupied Europe. By 1940, fledgling commando and paratroop units had been formed. In November, 2 Commando was renamed, '11 Special Air Service Battalion' and in February 1941 'X' Troop from 11 SAS BN. made the first ever British para-commando raid against an aqueduct in Italy. It was then that 11 SAS became the core of the 1st Parachute Battalion.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, Colonel David Stirling had persuaded the C-in-C to form a small force of para-commandos to wage irregular warfare behind the enemy lines in North Africa.

By 1942, the SAS had adopted its badge, the winged dagger, and been joined by French and Greek units and a Special Boat Section.

SAS regiments were next committed in Italy, then in January 1944, the SAS Brigade was formed with two British and Commonwealth Regiments - 1 and 2; two French regiments - 3 and 4, A Belgian squadron, 5 SAS, was added later. Already the Brigade had come a long way from the original concept of small raiding parties and was now to be committed as conventional airborne troops. After D-Day, however, the old style was revised and the SAS carried out a series of raids behind enemy lines, often operating with the resistance groups.

In October 1945, the British SAS regiments were disbanded and the French and Belgian ones absorbed into their own armies. But in 1947, a territorial regiment was raised, 21 SAS, based on the old London volunteer regiment, The Artists Rifles

It was thought that the SAS were committed to a role on nay future European battlefield, but the subsequent SAS story has been one of fighting in the far-flung conflicts of colonial withdrawal. In fact, it was during the Malayan emergency that a special unit called the 'Malayan Scouts' operated with a squadron of 21 SAS and from this unit was spawned the 22 SAS, the regular in today's army.

From the early '70s, one squadron of the SAS began to concentrate its training on specialist anti-terrorist operations, drawing an ever-tighter veil of secrecy over operations and methods. The successful release of hostages at the Iranian Embassy siege of May 1980 revealed how skilled they had become and subsequent actions in the Falklands, Northern Ireland and The Gulf War have all added to the prestige of what many people say is the finest special forces unit in the world.

Today the SAS consists of 22 regiment based at Stirling Lines in Hereford and 21 and 23 Territorial Regiments. Both regular and Territorial formations require the same high standard of recruit. But only 22 Regiment is trained in anti-terrorist operations and in turn it only recruits from the Army itself. The headquarters of 22 SAS controls a training wing, a signals squadron and a number of so called 'sabre squadrons'.

The Special Air Service deployed two of these squadrons during the conflict. D and G squadrons were involved in many special operations including the capture of South Georgia, the raid on pebble Island, a raid on Stanley Harbour, a diversionary raid on Goose Green and much reconnaissance work. SAS were also used on the Argentine mainland to report on the movements of the Argentine Air Force.