WWII British SAS and Jeeps

[Geoarch]

In this Sunday's Times was an extended obit for Major Mike Sadler a member and later leader of the British Army Service Regimental Association (SAS) during WWII in Africa and then France. He was 103 when he died recently, and considered one of the best desert navigators in the war. The SAS (see attached image) was the original rat patrol. They were one of the most successful raiders, hated by the Axis forces in north Africa, and Rommel as well. Before Pearl Harbor, they used British small 4X4s, but after the Americans got to Africa they switched to MB Jeeps as you can see in the photo (I know it's been here before). They preferred the Willys Jeep due to its small size, relatively good gas mileage (see the jerry cans on the jeeps), and ease of maintenance (unlike my Gladiator). The book to read if you're interested is Ben Macintyre's "Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War". On one of their first raids, in December 1941 they sneaked onto a German airfield, an attached timed explosives to 30 aircraft, on the ammo dump, and housing for German and Italian pilots. No casualties on the SAS side. This was only the beginning. The Axis air forces always expected attacks from the air - the SAS changed all that. British medals all around. As you can see in the image, unique uniforms were typical.

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[Mr.Wilson]

Thank you for sharing. Very interesting!

 

[KevinC]

As an owner of a Mojave, prior military who conducted desert operations in the Middle East, and as a kid who watched the Rat Patrol on tv, I tried to pay a little homage to Jeep. I try to be subtle about it.

 

[Geoarch]

As an owner of a Mojave, prior military who conducted desert operations in the Middle East, and as a kid who watched the Rat Patrol on tv, I tried to pay a little homage to Jeep. I try to be subtle about it.

That's cool. It was Vietnam for me (69-70), so a very different experience.

 

[Geoarch]

As an owner of a Mojave, prior military who conducted desert operations in the Middle East, and as a kid who watched the Rat Patrol on tv, I tried to pay a little homage to Jeep. I try to be subtle about it.

I had a different fun time. I bet I sweat more than you did!

 

[KevinC]

I had a different fun time. I bet I sweat more than you did!

They told us it was a dry heat. The wind only made it worse.

 

[Geoarch]

They told us it was a dry heat. The wind only made it worse.

That's a line from a Space Marine in Alien - "but it's a dry heat".

 

[KevinC]

3rd Battalion / 75th Ranger at Ft. Benning Ga (circa 1984) testing a concept of Fast/Light/All Terrain/Firepower. Granted, it is with a M151 as the Willys was long gone by then. Before the HMMV. Can you tell I like this conversation.

 

[Hipbilly]

Yeah the Long Range Desert Group is some fun history!
I got my kid a 1/6 scale Willy MB scaler for his 6th bday, and started him watching "Rat Patrol" for some fun jeeping content. We, of course, have been gearing up his wheeler.
He's gotten pretty good with rock crawling, and Santa fixed him up with jerry cans and a trailer, he's now learning to back up with it.

 

[Geoarch]

3rd Battalion / 75th Ranger at Ft. Benning Ga (circa 1984) testing a concept of Fast/Light/All Terrain/Firepower. Granted, it is with a M151 as the Willys was long gone by then. Before the HMMV. Can you tell I like this conversation.

Cool image. Yeah, we had those in 'nam, but no comparison with the MBs. In Korea they had the M38-A1s that were the precursor of the CJ-5. I had one I got as surplus in 1968 and put one of those small Buick V-6s in it. Too bad DOD didn't stick with them.

 

[1945gpw]

I hope they continue the series, did a good job on it!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10405370/

 

[Geoarch]

I hope they continue the series, did a good job on it!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10405370/

Yeah, they have an image of a photo from that series in the Times article. Looks pretty cool. It says on the BBC website that it can only be viewed in the UK. Maybe Netflix et al. will pick it up.

 

[Geoarch]

Yeah, they have an image of a photo from that series in the Times article. Looks pretty cool. It says on the BBC website that it can only be viewed in the UK. Maybe Netflix et al. will pick it up.

Check out this image from the 4th episode compared to the original photo. The Brits seem to make things pretty accurate. If you see that the series shows up, let us know. I'm sure the US left a lot of Jeeps in the UK after the war.

 

[cranbiz]

Yeah, they have an image of a photo from that series in the Times article. Looks pretty cool. It says on the BBC website that it can only be viewed in the UK. Maybe Netflix et al. will pick it up.

Use a VPN on a UK server. That will let you watch it.

 

[bd100]

Inspired by this thread and a chapter from a WWII book on SAS, my kid converted a few soap refill containers into the following, to be used with his desk when he converts it into a SAS jeep:

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