Michael Morgan

To say in derogatory fashion that David Stirling only had some success in the Western desert as Mortimer does ignores the fact that he and the SAS destroyed over 400 of the best German fighters and bombers on the ground plus countless convoys and ammunition dumps. Also David Stirling unlike his brother Bill had the guts and daring to actually go on many of the raids risking his life many times. Bill Stirling obviously followed on from his brothers earlier pioneering success and was instrumental in saving the force from being inserted too close to the Germans in France which resulted in his sacking for arguing his case by the top brass. But to give him the full credit for forming the SAS is historically wrong. David Stirling himself in many speeches to the SAS Regimental reunions after the war refused to take credit himself for forming the SAS but said his co-founders were Jock Lewes, Paddy Mayne and George Berge.