The Brits and WW II

WW II was a long time ago, existing outside most living people's memories. So when a veteran of WW II passes away it's guaranteed they are going to be of a very advanced age, and their New York Times tribute obituary will likely be written by Robert McFadden. Another one of McFadden's advance obits leaves the morgue.

WW II is just as long ago for the Brits as it is for us, but the Brits seem to hold onto it more. They still produce a miniseries like "World at War," a story of the civilian and military population who were affected by the war.

Both my parents were in the Army in WW II. My father was an engineer Tech Sergeant stationed on Guam, making maps from reconnaissance photos. My mother was a Lieutenant R.N. nurse who was never sent overseas, but was assigned to General Thayer Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. My parents met during the war and married before it was over. As a kid I always remember hearing the adult conversations dividing time—before the war and after.

The Brits love to create any historical entertainment that shows off their trains. How many times are we treated to a train whistle from a steam engine pulling into a remote station somewhere in the countryside?

I love reading about the departed veterans and their exploits, be it building a glider to get out of Colditz prison in Germany, or a Jew whose family left Germany before it was too late, but joined the U.S. Army and acted as interpreters when they went back overseas.

Ben MacIntyre writes tirelessly about spies and military exploits, and I read most of what he's written.  I read Rogue Heroes, with a freight train length subtitle: The History of the SAS, Britain's Special Forces Unit that Sabotaged the Nazi's and Changed the Nature of War. a few years ago. 

If you like reading about military commandos who don't do things purely by the book, it's a good read. The multi-part streaming  miniseries that just came out is equally as good.

When I read the book one of  the members of the unit stood out. He was a very young lad who grew up on a farm and was very adept at finding his way around the desert using the stars as a navigational guide. He could get his unit anywhere, and get them back through the Sahara Desert, no mean feat since there is nothing there but thousands of miles of sand and no roads. He was a human GPS.

We learn from a just published NYT obit by Robert McFadden that Mike Sadler, Intrepid Desert Navigator in World War II has passed away at 103.

His contribution to his unit's success was legendary, allowing a special forces group of commandos attack the German and Italian presence in Northern Africa, destroying planes, blowing up supply depots and killing pilots on the ground.

The effectiveness of their missions are described in the obit and depicted with dramatic action sequences in the miniseries. The full-on drive by of jeeps just barreling down the runway in Libya and shooting at parked planes, disabling a slew of aircraft is stunning. Just as dramatic is when the commandos burst into a recreation hall filled with unarmed German and Italian pilots caught off guard and mowed down with machine gun fire. War is more than hell. 

Until reading Rogue Heroes I never really understood what was the big deal about tanks and the Sahara Desert? Well, After WW I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Libya was an Italian colony. Control Libya and you have access to the Mediterranean. You also have a direct route to British-controlled Egypt.

The Axis powers of Germany and Italy were thus very interested in preserving the territorial advantage of holding Libya. Thus, the German General Erwin Rommel, The Desert Fox, saw the importance of keeping that control. And General George Patton was just as intent as smashing the Aix powers and taking Italy from the south, which he did.

The life of Michael Sadler already was a story in a book, Tales From the Special Forces Club: Mike Sadler's Story (2013). The obituary mentions his capture by the Germans, and that is that last episode in the miniseries, sure to have a second season.

The commander, Lt Colonel David Stirling (pictured on the right) was also captured and taken to the notorious German P.O.W. prison Colditz deep in Central German.

Ben MacIntyre has also written about Colditz prison: "Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison." David Stirling passed away in 1990. He had been captured, escaped, and then recaptured and spent the rest of the war at Colditz prison. The Germans nicknamed him the" Phantom Major" because for 14 months they couldn't capture him.

After the war Mike Sadler remained quite busy. He is thought to be the last member of the S.A.S. fighting unit. He went on an expedition to Antarctica and later worked for the British Foreign Office doing classified work.

I like to think that whenever David's exploits were revealed to someone he never paid for another drink in his life.

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