Almonds and three other Special Forces men comprised the famous “Tobruk Four” who used tactics that would later be carried into the SAS. Nor could they afford to 'piss about' disciplining anyone who was not one hundred per cent devoted to having a good crack at the Hun. A compass ripped from an enemy aircraft during a daring SAS mission in the Second World War has been in the Almonds family ever since. He was one of the very first Rogue Heroes, the daring men recruited by SAS founder David Stirling into his elite regiment in the Second World War. He showed great resource in managing to extricate this party with only one casualty, although all but one of his trucks had been destroyed.

On Friday 5 September 1941, 'L' Detachment started training for operations to be carried out in enemy territory, for which they would be dropped by parachute. His death in the desert featured prominently in Rogue Heroes as he was a close friend of SAS founding legend Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne who was also on the mission. During one skirmish in Eritrea, his unit shot dead a young shifta [bandit] before others surrendered their weapons, which included a sword and even a spear. Much to the consternation of the Germans, airfields were raided and at Fuka, on 12 July 1942, 22 aircraft destroyed.Led by another founding SAS legend Jock Lewes – played by Alfie Allen in Rogue Heroes – the unit based around the besieged port of Toburk pioneered the stealthy tactic of sneaking through enemy lines to pinpoint positions or launch deadly surprise attacks. Almonds was doing his duty but his job was sometimes difficult, nearly always dangerous and often unpleasant. After the war, Almonds served with the British Military Mission to Ethiopia and with the Eritrean Field Force.

She wrote the best selling biography of SAS hero and ‘original’ Jim Almonds entitled Gentleman Jim (Cassells). At the time of the Armistice, Almonds was in Campo 70 (Monturano) and was sent out by the SBO [Senior British Officer] to watch the coast road. Stirling’s first operation against enemy airfields, by parachute, was a total failure, chiefly because atrocious weather resulted in the would-be saboteurs being dropped wide of their targets.Although when they were out in the desert there might not always be enough water to wash and shave, nothing was changed the rest of the time.