Summer, 1944. The Vosges Mountains, Eastern France.
Desperate men slip across the wooded slopes of rugged mountains, seeking to evade the hunters who hound their trail. They are the remnants of a raid deep into German-held territory by the elite British special forces of the 22nd Special Air Service Regiment.
The storied fighting men of the SAS had parachuted into the wild, sparsely populated Vosges to link up with French Resistance fighters to disrupt German Wehrmacht operations in advance of a thrust by Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.’s American Third Army.
But there was a problem. Patton’s army was starved of gasoline and its advance had stalled out. And the Wehrmacht, along with the infamous Nazi security services, was entering the rugged region in force to counter Patton’s anticipated attack.
The small SAS force was aggressive, patrolling and ambushing German troops, moving swiftly on mountain roads in Jeeps armed with twin machine guns, which had been airdropped into the mountains. But they were heavily outnumbered. Realizing that the British force had to be operating with support from the locals, the Germans rounded up all of the able-bodied men of the town of Moussey and sent them to concentration camps. Of the 210 interred, only 70 would return home.
The mission, which was only supposed to last 10 days to two weeks, dragged on for two months, with the SAS operators growing more and more desperate as they sought to evade heavier and heavier German patrols through the forests. Finally, the men were ordered to break up into small groups and exfil through German lines to the west.
Thirty-one of them never made it out. After the war, their comrades launched an investigation into the fate of the missing operators. What they discovered was murder in the mountains, and the investigation swiftly became a quest for justice.
This terrible tale of woodland warfare and mountain murder is the subject of a compelling BBC documentary that reminds us just how harrowing the “Good War” really was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwugNC7aVmQ
Paul McNamee says
I will need to watch the video later. It all sounds intriguing. Thanks!
JimC says
Worth the time.
deuce says
Whoa! How did I miss this tale of the SAS?
Thanks, Jim.
JimC says
Mcintyre’s Rogue Heroes doe cover it, but I’d never really delved into the story. Thought the dodo was well done.
Norman Andrews says
” The Nazi Hunters” by Damien Lewis , covers this and also the SAS hunt for the leading nazi’s involved in the murder of these SAS troops. A lot of the hunting down was done after the SAS had been disbanded in 1945, by a ” secret” SAS group.
Norm.
JimC says
I’m not familiar with Damien Lewis’ work — saw it all over the place in a google search. Good?
Norman Andrews says
Hi Jim, I found the book to be very good, I liked the fact he did not gloss over some of the actions of the SAS, that may have been outside the rules of war. I have another of his book on the shelve , ” Hunting Hitler’s Nukes” this deals with the events in Norway , to stop the German’s getting a atom bomb, just reading the cover shows a lot more went on than is shown in the film ” Heroes of Telemark” .
Norm.
JimC says
I’ll have to pick up both of those.
Breaker Morant says
Re:SAS
After spending years in my TBR pile, I pulled down Fitzroy Maclean’s “Eastern Approaches” almost at random. He spent time in the SAS in the desert and did nasty stuff in Yugoslavia.
I am early in the book in which he is talking about his attempts to get to Central Asia during Stalin’s purge years.
I am glad this one jumped to the top of the TBR pile-enjoyable read so far.
JimC says
Fitzroy Maclean is our people.