History of the Special Air Service

The history of the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) regiment of the British Army begins with its formation during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, and continues to the present day. It includes its early operations in North Africa, the Greek Islands, and the Invasion of Italy. The Special Air Service then returned to the United Kingdom and was formed into a brigade with two British, two French and one Belgian regiment, and went on to conduct operations in France, Italy again, the Low Countries and finally into Germany.

After the war, the SAS was briefly disbanded, only to be reformed as a Territorial Army regiment, which then led to the formation of the regular army 22 SAS Regiment. The SAS has taken part in most of the United Kingdom's wars since then.^[1]