Ian McHarg writes about the daring raids and indomitable fighting spirit of the Second World War Commandos and other Special Forces and clandestine units, including the Special Air Service (SAS), Special Boat Squadron (SBS), Special Operations Executive (SOE), Combined Operations Pilotage Parties (COPP), the Cockleshell Heroes, Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF), Special Raiding Squadron (SRS), and Long Range Desert Group (LRDG).
He introduces the readers to legends of the Second World War, including: Blair “Paddy” Mayne, Lord Lovat, John Durnford-Slater, Peter Young, Charles Newman, Jack Churchill, Derek Mills-Roberts, Colin Gubbins, David Stirling, Tommy Macpherson, and other Commando and Special Forces leaders.
His writing follows the Commandos and other Special Service units across all the major theatres of operations during the Second World War, including: Norway, France, Algiers, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sicily, Italy, Burma, Normandy, Holland, and Germany.
Ian McHarg passed the All Arms Commando Course and earned the Coveted Green Beret at the Commando Training Centre Royal Marines. He is working on his fourth book, and lives in Abu Dhabi with his wife Donna and GSD Tala.
Recipient of the Military Medal (MM), Johnny Dowling of No. 3 Commando, was a fighting man. He learned to box at the famous St. Malachy’s Boxing Club in Liverpool, and after spending three seasons in the city’s tough boxing booths,
Commando come fighter pilot, Eric Garland MC and Bar, had a remarkable war. In a period full of incredible achievements by extraordinary people, the actions of Eric Garland were of the highest order. During the withdrawal from Dunkirk in June
Lieutenant Denis O’Flaherty, Royal Artillery, of 6 Troop, No. 3 Commando is helped by his fellow commandos during the raid on Vaagso, Norway, in December 1941. During the previous hours the commandos had been engaged in fierce fighting on the
Operation Postmaster was one of the most audacious raids of the Second World War. In August 1941 a small force working for the Special Operations Executive (SOE) departed Poole in a converted Brixham trawler called the Maid Honor. Their destination
Bill Millin was the commando piper of Lord Lovat’s 1st Special Service Brigade. The following is his personal account of landing on Sword Beach on D-Day: ‘I went along to the Hamble River, aboard the landing craft with twenty-one others,
