He must have been about 70 years old," recalled Courtney, "and had a brown leathery wiriness remarkable in a man of that age. He had come about 500 miles in a week, but he apologised mildly for being late; he stated that he had stopped once or twice along the coast to sample the seaweed." Despite battling heavy winds, a rising swell and a hole in their canoe (a gash they tried to stem with one of their Commando woolly hats), they managed to breach the defences of a major enemy port, having reached their target, set the mines, escaped again and rendezvoused with the launch only minutes before their canoe sank. Struggling against a strong tide and headwind, they took more than an hour to reach the outer harbour where they paddled in a prone position to avoid being spotted. A party was in progress and they were almost hit by a beer bottle thrown into the water. It was an unlikely partnership. Courtney was a big-picture person "with a flair for improvisation in a tight corner", while Willmott was a details man. This combination of vision and precision would be the making of the SBS.

Falconer served the majority of his military service with the SBS. During his time in the military, he also served with the SAS, and 14 Intelligence Detachment, deployed to Northern Ireland with each for one year and two and a half years respectively. After he left the Detachment he took a sabbatical for a year before returning to the SBS where he was posted to MAT ("Maritime Anti-Terrorism") operations in which he was involved in a number of exercises retaking oil rigs and tankers. [3] After the SBS [ edit ] The first problem is the mission. The SBS has historically specialized in coastal reconnaissance. A vital task that is also done quietly. Successful recces involve slipping onto a coastline, assessing the beach, then slipping out unnoticed. A vital task, but not one that makes for terribly exiting stories (excluding those from WWII). The second problem is the vagueness of stories. Parker explains that SBS units deployed to certain regions (usually alongside other units like the SAS) but rarely provides mission details, often stating that they were “involved” with missions like intelligence gathering. An absolute must-read if you are a fan of derring-do and Andy McNab. I am going to be telling everyone to buy it’ Nigel Willmott’s Coppists did vital war work, losing several men in the process. But their finest hour was in preparing the ground for D-Day. First, during the night of New Year's Eve 1943, two of Willmott's best men ‑ Major Logan Scott-Bowden and Sergeant Bruce Ogden-Smith ‑ swam ashore in a highly risky mission to take samples from Gold Beach in Normandy to confirm the sand was firm enough for Allied vehicles to land. Falconer joined the British Royal Marines at the age of 18. At 19 years of age, he attended SBS selection in Poole Dorset and was one of nine Marines to successfully complete the course out of 147 men. Most candidates are required to serve some time in a Commando unit before applying, however Duncan was given an exception. This was due to many SBS operatives leaving to instead work as deep sea divers in the North Sea for the lucrative salaries. The SBS briefly allowed recruits from CTCRM to apply for selection before serving the usual minimum time in a commando unit. Later he was posted to 42 Commando as a career broadening opportunity. [2]His autobiography, and first literary publication, First into Action included accounts of the actions carried out by the SBS and 14 Intelligence Detachment. The tone of this work was in contrast to a number of biographies of other ex- special forces personnel at the time – the tales not just about the heroic actions of those he served alongside, but also showed the more humorous, realistic side of the troops. The book also highlighted the rivalry and antagonism between the Special Boat Service and Special Air Service and the history behind their conflict.

Zero Six Bravo is a fantastic record of special forces soldiering but, more than that, it sets the record straight about this controversial operation. A must read. Put ashore in the wrong place, the American troops were massacred. More than 2,000 died on Omaha on June 6, 1944. The value of beach markers was demonstrated a short way to the east of Omaha where Coppist teams in two midget submarines ‑ X20 and X23 ‑ successfully guided in British and Canadian landing craft.

The book is told through the eyes of an SBS veteran with the moniker, 'Grey', who commands a Pinkie driven by 'Moth' and its HMG manned a U.S. SOF embed known as 'the dude'. On their last operation together, Wilson almost drowned in freezing water. "Wetsuits were in the future," commented a submarine officer. Killing Rommel is a fictionalized story, based on real events of World War 2. Told in the style of a first person memoir, the story features a mission by the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) to assassinate the German general before his Panzer divisions could sweep into the Middle East oil fields.