02 Hundred Hours: British SAS/Commandos #1

on March 25, 2024

Hello friends!

I'm starting a new project - related to my memories - over 20 (25?) years ago I played a great PC game- Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines.
In which you commanded a small, elite commando unit.

And now, thanks to the game 02 Hundred Hours, I return to sabotage operations during World War II.
The first two S.A.S. (The Special Air Service) commandos from the Wargames Atlantic plastic set today.

We can assemble our commandos in many ways - with knives, explosives, with short and long-range weapons, with or without helmets, with berets, etc...

The Special Air Service was a unit of the British Army during the Second World War that was formed in July 1941 by David Stirling and originally called "L" Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade – the "L" designation and Air Service name being a tie-in to a British disinformation campaign, trying to deceive the Axis into thinking there was a paratrooper regiment with numerous units operating in the area (the real SAS would "prove" to the Axis that the fake one existed).

It was conceived as a commando force to operate behind enemy lines in the North African Campaign and initially consisted of five officers and 60 other ranks. Its first mission, in November 1941, was a parachute drop in support of the Operation Crusader offensive, codenamed Operation Squatter.

Due to German resistance and adverse weather conditions, the mission was a disaster; 22 men, a third of the unit, were killed or captured. Its second mission was a major success. Transported by the Long Range Desert Group, it attacked three airfields in Libya, destroying 60 aircraft without loss.
In September 1942, it was renamed 1st SAS, consisting at that time of four British squadrons, one Free French, one Greek, and the Folboat Section.

In January 1943, Colonel Stirling was captured in Tunisia and Paddy Mayne replaced him as commander.
In April 1943, the 1st SAS was reorganised into the Special Raiding Squadron under Mayne's command and the Special Boat Squadron was placed under the command of George Jellicoe.
The Special Raiding Squadron fought in Sicily and Italy along with the 2nd SAS, which had been formed in North Africa in 1943 in part by the renaming of the Small Scale Raiding Force.
The Special Boat Squadron fought in the Aegean Islands and Dodecanese until the end of the war. In 1944 the SAS Brigade was formed.

It was tasked with parachute operations behind the German lines in France and carried out operations supporting the Allied advance through France, (Operations Houndsworth, Bulbasket, Loyton and Wallace-Hardy) Belgium, the Netherlands (Operation Pegasus), and eventually into Germany (Operation Archway and Operation Howard).
As a result of Hitler's issuing of the Commando Order on 18 October 1942, the members of the unit faced the additional danger that they would be summarily executed if captured by the Germans.
In July 1944, following Operation Bulbasket, 34 captured SAS commandos were indeed summarily executed by the Germans. In October 1944, in the aftermath of Operation Loyton, another 31 captured SAS commandos were summarily executed by the Germans.

The last original member of the Special Air Service and the last survivor of the Long Range Desert Group, Mike Sadler, died on 4 January 2024, at the age of 103.

https://www.quora.com/Which-division-is-the-better-SS-or-SAS

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" 02 Hundred Hours is a fast paced game with roughly 10-20 models on either side.
The game’s Alert system makes stealth a core part of the action – spotting your enemy in the darkness is key to victory!

Field an elite force of SAS Commandos to infiltrate the enemy lines under cover of darkness. Recruit SOE spies and local resistance fighters to bolster your chances. Sneak past sentries, take them out with silent attacks, or open fire with a devastating ambush.
Plant charges to destroy your objective, assassinate a target or grab vital intel, then fight your way to safety before reinforcements arrive.

Or play as the defenders, carefully setting patrol routes so your sentries can spot raiders in the shadows, utilise guard dogs, officers or even the dreaded Gestapo and make use of informants and intercepted transmissions to thwart the attackers’ plans".