The Hitmen of Heraklion

On the morning of June the 10th 1942, six armed men in three rubber dinghies filled with explosives, paddled ashore to a small beach near Mallia Creek. Their mission to destroy as many planes as possible at the Luftwaffe Air Base at Heraklia. The reason I joined the SPS was to take the fight to the enemy, and that's exactly what these guys are doing. This was classic Special Forces stuff, a small waterborne incision operation deep behind enemy lines, who were going to cause maximum chaos and disruption to the German war machine. But already the operation wasn't going to plan. They had landed in the wrong location, and the occupied island was not only crawling with German soldiers, but also Nazi spies, the Allies called Quizlings. Vidcon Quizling, the Norwegian politician who collaborated with the Germans is synonymous with the word traitor, and in the Second World War those who cooperated with the Nazi occupiers became widely known as Quizlings. This is the remarkable true story of the SAS's first seaball operation. By the end the seven heroes were forced to play a deadly game of cat and mouse as the Nazis and traitors tried to capture the fleeing SAS operatives. Sadly not all of them would survive. They were the hitmen of Heraklia. I'm Bruce Compton, history lover, military antique collector and ex-paratrooper. In amazing war stories you're going to hear about incredible actions, all taken from records housed in museum collections. It's only by unearthing these wonderful tales that I hope to support these important institutions, honour the heroes that sacrifice so much and help preserve their legacies for future generations. At 4.30 pm on the 11th of May 1942 it was another beautiful day on the Mediterranean Sea, but the clear conditions also made them deadly. A British destroyer flotilla led by HMS Jackal had been on a mission to intercept an Italian convoy. However, having been spotted a day earlier by a small enemy reconnaissance plane the operation had to be aborted. Now they were returning back to Alexandria tailed between the legs. The Jackal's captain, Commander Christopher Jellicome, a distant relation to the late Lord Jellicome, former admiral of the fleet, was on the bridge staring intently through his binoculars. Something had to be done about these bloody planes he thought. The waters in the Mediterranean were particularly dangerous and the Germans and Italians were playing havoc with the Allies' supply routes. If food, armaments and fuel couldn't get through to key positions, especially mortar, then the war in the Middle East would be lost. But the biggest threat to the Royal Navy didn't come from the deadly submarines or enemy destroyers. It actually came from the skies. Just then a cry came from a lookout. All eyes in the bridge turned skyward. The alarm sounded almost immediately HMS Jackal's anti-aircraft gun opened up. There was a squadron of Jungers 88, one of the most feared planes in the Luftwaffe. Heading straight for them. Fading the flank, the Jungers began their bombing run. On board one of the planes it's captain Halmann Helbig ordered the bombay doors open. These ships were sitting ducts-eathelled. Coming in steeply, the Jungers of Lady's Father One, the elite air unit Basing Heratlean, released their deadly cargoes. The bombs whistled through the air with one striking HMS Jackal midships. The explosion was detonating to all on board and the destroyer immediately started taking on water. Another ship in the combat HMS lively took three direct hits and quickly started to sink. With accurate smoke pouring into the sky and fire on the vessels, Commander Jericho wondered whether any of them would make it back to pull alive. Dr Chris Mann is the deputy head of the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. In mid-1942, the strategic picture for the Allies was grim. In North Africa, Rommel and his German Italian army was on the verge of capturing the vital port of Tobruk. In the Mediterranean, the strategic island of Malta was in vital need of supply. Indeed in June, a relief convoy was forced to turn back after coming under sustained pressure from the Luftwaffe. Many of these air attacks were launched from German air bases in Crete, which also acted as an important logistics hub for Rommel's operations in Libya. General Claude Orkinlik, Commander-in-Chief, was under considerable political pressure from Winston Churchill in these difficult times. Thus, he was open to ideas that provided some relief from his considerable difficulties. Back on dry land in Alexandria, Egypt, another Jericho was having a slightly easier time with it. This man, a captain in the army, who was in fact the son of Lord Jericho, was having a drink with a tall Scotsman in a bar of a hotel called the Shepherd. He was blissfully unaware of the difficulties one of his distant relatives was currently facing just over a hundred miles away at sea. However, in a curious twist of coincidence, both their predicaments were deeply entwined. The ten 23 year old army officer had backed the family trend by not joining the Royal Navy. He had joined the Scots Guards instead, and it was a decision which would change his life forever. The imposing Scotsman he was talking to was David Sterlin, the six foot five inch commanding officer of the SAS. Sterling, an ex-Gardsman himself, was trying to persuade the young Scots Guards left tenant to join him in elder attachment, especially a service brigade, a seconding command. Jericho, who had already had a stint as a commando, leapt at the chance. Little did he realise that one month later he would be involved in the SAS's first sea-born action, Operation Albumen. Remember, everything you're about to hear is true, no matter how extraordinary it sounds. Although I'm an ex-parah, I do have a particular respect for the guards. There are five regiments, the grenadiers, the cold streams, Scots, Irish and Welsh guards, and they are amongst the oldest regiments in the British army, and have always been considered by many as elite foot soldiers. As a result, over the years they have turned out some of the toughest and most extraordinary men, and their list of accomplishments is legendary. Each regiment has a museum in their respective countries, but one of my favourite places to go is their combined museum, located in Wellington Barracks in London. Andrew Wallace is the curator, and he's understandably proud of their tradition. George Jericho was a very embodiment of a guards officer, resourceful, humorous, a fantastic leader, and extremely brave. It's interesting to note that in October 1939, just at the outbreak of war, he was already at Santa's, training to become an officer in the coaching guards. Now that in itself was a brave move. His father, Abel John Jericho, who came out of the British fleet, the Battle of Juppland in 1916, one would have thought that he would have gone into the Navy. But George Jericho, being his own man, said no, I don't want to do that, which is why he decided to join the army and in specific the coaching guards. He was commissioned on the 23rd of March 1940 into the Cold Stream, and about a year later, he was away with number eight guards commando, sailing off to the Middle East, and in doing so, that exposed him to meet up with a whole bunch of other interesting guards officers in the shape of David Sterling, who was Scott's guards, Jacques Lewis from the Welsh guards, but Riley from the Cold Stream, between them, they came together to form what we now know as the special air service. The Raidon Creek co-dane Operation Albumum would see the SBS assault three German air bases, Malin, Castile and Tim Bakke. A fourth attack run by the French SAS, with Captain Jericho, would strike Passos Airfield in Heraklion. Sterling had long been impressed by the special boat service, and wanted to see what he could learn from their tactics in the field of waterborne assaults. Until now, the SAS had mainly relied on the vehicles of the long range desert route to hear air bases in Libya, coupled with a few largely unsuccessful parachute jumps behind enemy lines. He was a chance Sterling thought, to show our eye command that the SAS could excel at sea too, so pulling a few strings, he managed to get the Heraklion raid, taken off the SBS and given to his men instead. Jason Fox is an extra-almering commando, and former Special Forces operator in the SBS. There is still rivalry between the SAS and the SPS, they work together, but there is still that healthy competition. The SPS was originally called the special boat section, and was attached to lay force, a special commando unit in the Middle East. In those days, there wasn't really much distinction between the men of the Special Forces detachments. The SAS, SBS, lay force, small scale raiding force, they were all one and the same really, with very marginal specialisations. The SPS wouldn't have taken kindly to losing a target, but Sterling was on the rise, and ultimately, he wanted to take them under his command, or have them totally integrated into his force. The plan called for Jelico to join a small detachment of three French paratroopers, who, having escaped with the British at Dunkirk, were now attached to Sterling's SAS in Alexandria. This unit, along with a Greek army officer, was to infiltrate the enemy-held island of Crete, and take out the German airfield at a raclion. The same airfield, in fact, that the Yunker 88 planes had left to bomb the convoy from. Jelico was the perfect person thought Sterling. He was a guardsman, an ex-commando, spoke fluent French, and of course, had big connections in the Navy and British Royalty. But the raid against the Luftwaffe airbase was going to be particularly challenging, especially because the SPS attacks were scheduled to happen a week before Jelico landed. The Germans would be on high alert, and on the lookout for more infiltrators. So Sterling had his work cut out. It had just under a month to get Jelico fit, a ready for one of the most difficult and dangerous operations. The SAS had attempted so far. On the 10th of June 1942, the Greek submarine HMS Triton surfaced once again, just off the island of Crete. It had arrived earlier in the day, but had to immediately die to avoid detection from a passing German convoy. Now the coast was clear, and under the cover of darkness, six men clamped off the submarine into two inflatable dinghies, ironically captured from the Germans. Whilst a third was crowned full of explosives and weapons, they were glad to get off the sub. They had spent three days sailing from Alexandria in a cramped torpedo room, which was especially arduous for outdoorsmen that crave space and action. In the first dinghy was Jelico, known to his friends as Curly, a French SAS trooper called Jack Mahood, and a Crete and Lieutenant called Costas Petracus, whose nickname was simply "costy". Mahood, a heavy smoker, would often be seen puffing on a gall wall cigarette. On the other dinghy was the leader of the operation, made to George Berger. The Frenchman was small, tough and stocky, and had a wicked sense of humour. His men respected his energy, bravery and enthusiasm, and he had already won British military cross before he joined the SAS. The remaining two troopers in his craft were French corporals Pierre D'Ostic and Jack C-Bard. The Ostic was known as the Kid, he had joined the Free French Army when he was 16 by lying about his age. Now he was in the SAS aged 18, and Berger felt a direct responsibility for him. Corporal C-Bard needed no such supervision, but his silent and seemingly taciturned disposition was viewed by Samus Salon, and Jelico didn't really warm to him. The feeling it has to be said was mutual. You know, I was part of a squadron, and it's made up of 30 to 40 guys, and you do have some of your closest mates ever within that group, but there are also people you don't get on with, there's people that you wouldn't go out for a beer with. You don't have to like each other, but you do have to respect each other. Even if you dislike the person next to you, you have to be able to trust them, because quite frankly, they've got your life in their hands. The paddles of dry land was tough going in the darkness, especially as they were tearing the third heavy dinghy. Unfortunately, they had been deployed three miles offshore, two miles further than planned, and there was a horrendous cross-current to contend with, which made staying on target almost impossible. Once they reached terra firmer, they realised they had drifted roughly 18 miles down the coast to Malia. The beach they were supposed to land at was only a mile or so from the target airfield. Now they found themselves nearly 25 miles away. They unloaded their equipment from the boats, and then Jellico and Matt Hoo filled them with stones and sank them out and see. When they returned, the others had split the 80 Lewis bombs equally between them, but C-Bard argued that they had too much to carry over such a long distance. As well as the bombs, they each had two grenades, a water canteen, ammunition, a machine gun, cold pistol and basic rations. Berger ignored C-Bard and loaded up like pack horses, they set off with costy dressed as a civilian, taking the lead. Within the hour, they saw some creeps and civilians walking down the path toward them. Jellico and his men had been warned about the danger of meeting local informers known as 'quizzlings' so they had a bruise. Jellico could speak passable German, so he greeted any civilians in the language of the occupying force. When you're on an operation behind enemy lines, you have to be disciplined with regards to your contact with civilians, because even if they are friendly, people cannot help but talk. They could be the nicest little old lady who's given you food, giving you shelter, but in the end she cannot help but talk, and that could compromise the entire operation. Unfortunately, Jellico's trick didn't work at all. Almost immediately the locals realised they were allied commandos. I guess carrying large amounts of weaponry coupled with a man in civilian clothing was too much for even the persuasive captain to pull off. Bidding the civilians farewell, the team continued the march of the night over rocky and barren ground. A couple of the Frenchmen dropped some of their loads as C-Bard predicted. It was just too much to carry. However, Jellico and Berge continued with theirs, they needed as many Lewis bombs as possible. Berge kept up a brutal pace. He knew the longer they were out in the open, the greater the chance they would be caught, perhaps they had already met a quisling. As dawn broke, they had been on the move for over six hours, finding a cave that meant gratefully slumped into it. They were still at least ten miles away from their objective, but they needed a break and couldn't risk moving in broad daylight. The day's rest was exactly what the men needed, although they got through their entire supply of rations and almost all their water. The setting of the sun signaled that they were to move again, and the men set off towards their final objective, Heraclian airfield. It was now the 13th of June. The men had been holed up in a cave on a hillside overlooking the German airbase. They were massively behind schedule, and although they had arrived on the 12th, despite several wreckies, they couldn't find a suitable route into the airfield. German security was high, with continuous patrols around the base. It seemed the SBS attacks of the previous week had really stirred up the holinessness, and now they weren't taking any chances. Their delay in the attack also had huge consequences for the men. They had run out of supplies, and now had to take necessary and in bourgeois eyes, unpleasant risks. The night before had seen Mahoo and Seabar approach the locals for food and water. They were successful, but they were once again worried about quizzlings. If word got out, they were near an airfield, it would be all over for them. Food and drink is vital for a soldier. Whenever we were away, you'd be on operations, and just before you go out the door, you literally ram everything down your throat. It is like the last supper. To be honest, your life can depend on it. You don't know when you're behind enemy lines, when your next meal is going to be. Sometimes you will find yourself in really sticky situations, and you've got to take those calculated risks. You have to eat, you've got to drink water, and if you don't, then you're as good as dead anyway. Jericho and Berger knew they had to attack that evening, and thankfully they thought they'd found a way in. The airfield was filled with planes that counted over 60 German aircraft, which included several squadrons of Junker 88 bombers. The twin engine Junkers was the perfect multi-purpose aircraft. Not only deployed as a heavy fighter, but also as a dive bomber and a night fighter. It was a truly devastating weapon in the German arsenal. The men were eager to get at them. They set off as soon as darkness fell. Looping around the southwest corner of the airfield, where the largest concentration of part bombers were located. Clambring over the rocky ground, they made their way to the wire fence and began cutting. Then, at that moment, disaster struck, a German patrol appeared out of nowhere. Jericho thought it might pass them by, but a beam of torchlight called Mahu as he lay on the ground near the fence. One of the Germans cried out and ran over the men lay stock still. The SAS captain ran through the options in his head. He could throw a grenade at the patrol, but then the operation would be over, and they would probably have to make a fighting retreat to the coast. Option 2 was to surrender, but again, this didn't seem like a very palatable outcome, especially if the Gestapo got their hands on them. The guard stopped within a foot of Jericho's head. The SAS officer had his eyes closed and held his breath. Had he been spotted too? Then he heard an extraordinary noise, snoring. It was an act of genius. Mahu was pretended to be asleep and was making the most ridiculous snoring sounds. Incredibly the German guard fell for it, shouting back to the others that it was just a drunken creature and farmer. After a quick tap with these boom, to make sure the man was asleep, the German rejoined his colleagues. The patrol moved on, laughing to themselves as they mocked to the locals. It doesn't surprise me that Mahu's tactic totally worked because when you join the special forces you are encouraged. In fact, it's second nature to think outside the box. It's very often the unexpected that can save your life. As the German patrol moved off, the men quickly returned to business, cutting through the wire they moved silently onto the airfield. But just as they started to move towards the park plains, all hell broke loose. A warning claxon went off and Germans started running around the base. The raiders first thought must have been that they surely had been discovered. However, the truth was slightly more terrifying. An RAF blend and bomber had come to try and destroy the airfield, a pre-planned offend that should the base have not been obliterated on the first night by the SAS, then the RAF would have a go. As Jericho and the team had nowhere of contact in HQ to inform them of the delay, command had thought that their mission had failed. The six soldiers ran to take shelter in a small building by the edge of the runway. As the blinning bomb started to rain down on the airfield. Taking a moment to compose themselves, the men looked around and discovered to their horror they had probably chosen the worst place to hide in the event of an air attack. They were in the German bomb store. Hello, I hope you're enjoying this episode of amazing war stories. I'm Ed Sair, the co-founder and producer of the show and I just wanted to tell you about our interactive military museum finder on amazingwarstories.com. If you want to plan your next great day out, all you're thinking of visiting our fair isle, then head over to our finder, enter your postcode and discover where the nearest military museum is to you. There are over 250 military museums all around Britain and they're each stacked with their own amazing war stories along with housing some incredible artifacts. These institutions need your support. Without people visiting them, their doors will close forever. So to find out where your nearest museum is, please click the link on our show notes or visit our website. Amazingwarstories.com, the home of military heroes. With the last of the blending bombs having hit their targets and luckily, missing the ordnance store, the men came out hiding and quickly returned to work. With so much confusion happening, they were able to plug Lewis bombs on 16 Junca's 88 planes. Mahou had to sit on sea-mar shoulders to reach the aircraft's wings while Leostick, known as the Kid, fed them explosives. Burjai and Jelico kept them covered, but they were undisturbed as the Germans rushed around trying to deal with the damage that had happened from the RAF raid. Once the Juncas had been taken care of, Jelico grabbed a bunch of explosives. There were so many targets of opportunity he wanted to cause as much destruction as possible. As the French started on another group of blames, Curly Jelico found crate after crate of engine parts in a hangar. Set in the time as on the Lewis bombs, he moved quickly, throwing a couple into some of the nearby trucks for good measure. In the Special Forces, you're always looking for new ways of defeating the enemy and you encourage to come up with new methods to employ explosives. The Lewis bomb was invented by Jokluis, one of the original SAS soldiers. It was designed specifically to destroy aircraft and were set off by using pencil charges. The only problem was that the pencil charges were notoriously unreliable and would often go off at different times than what they were set to. Regrouping burgeoning discussed the best options to exfill the base. There was so much chaos that the men decided to walk out the front gate with the other German soldiers that evacuated. It was the shortest route back to the cave and the rest of their kit. Just then, the first of their bombs went off. More and more explosions rippled through the base, yet the Germans didn't seem to realise that they were under ground attack. They must have thought the explosions were timed delayed ordnance, dropped rather blame in bomber, which were finally going off. So as unbelievably as they entered the base, they exited in even more improbable circumstances, surrounded by panicking Germans. The six men nonchalantly walked out of the front gates, still lobbing Lewis bombs into targets of opportunity as they went. Once they were free however, the race was on. The time was now 2.30am in the morning. In just over an hour, they had destroyed 19 Junkers 88, a single Dornier 17, a Miss Smith 109, a single engine storage reconnaissance plane, four trucks and a petrol dump. As they made their way back, explosion after explosion was heard. The men were overjoyed, but Berger knew they weren't out of trouble yet. Quickly gathering their positions, the men headed out into the night. They had to get back to the coast, contact an SOE agent who would in turn take them to a boat, which was hopefully waiting for them just off the coast. The extraction point was nearly 40 miles to the south and reached there would not be easy. As soon as daylight hit, the Germans were sure to be aware that there were commandos on the island and the hunt would be on. The men made slow progress, moving only at night and hampered by Berger's terrible mat reading, they crept their way across the island, trying to avoid locals as much as possible. When you are operating behind enemy lines and you've finished a task and you're on your way out and you know that you're being followed up, it is petrifying. I've been on the ground having been involved in quite a high profile operation and we've been surrounded by approximately a two to three hundred enemy and it was petrifying. Your mouth goes dry, your legs ache, you know, you're trying to move at speed and your legs are killing you. You can feel your eyes are so wide that they're almost going to pop out your head, you're trying to see everything, you're trying to be so aware of everything around you that it actually hurts, your senses hurt you and it is to be quite frank, it is petrifying. Five days later on the 18th of June, they reached a small valley just east of a hamlet called Vasilika at Nokia. They were exhausted, starving and had totally run out of supplies. As they lay up behind a wall in a vineyard, two local Creetans had to stumble upon them. They offered to bring back some food and wine, the SAS men gladly accepted. When they returned, they were joined by another man, a short fat Creetan. Borje was immediately suspicious of him and told the others that there was something about him he didn't like. He said he had dancing eyes and nervous artistic hands. Kosti told the men to relax. He knew the man he said. He came from the same village. This appeased the Frenchman a little but something still nor do I at the SAS commander. As the food and wine was brought out, the Creetan declined to eat with the men. Instead, making his excuses, saying he had to get back. As the men ate with the other two locals, they learnt some terrible news. The day after the raid, the Germans had executed 50 civilians from the small port town of Chaniere in retaliation. Why have they chosen this place to exact their avenge? No one knew. Maybe they thought it was to be the place the SAS were to escape from and that the locals had conspired to a system. Whatever the reason, the men felt sick to their stomach. They had to get off the island before they caused any more harm to the local population. This day broke on the 19th the men slept, taking in turns to take watch. Borje asked Jellico and Kosti to push on and make contact with the SOE operative called Miro Janis, who's to organise their escape off the island. This meant moving in daylight but they felt they had no option. Setting off the pair moved as fast as they could in the burning sun. Kosti's feet were in tatters. His civilian shoes were not as tough as the army should boats of the others. But back at can, things had taken a turn for the worst. Just as the French were about to change watch, Borje spotted some Germans, they had clearly been betrayed. Waking the others, Borje counted the enemy soldiers. It looked like there were about 50 men beginning to surround their position. He had a choice, stay and fight or try and invade them by leaving immediately. He chose to fight, hoping that perhaps they could hold off the Germans till darkness when they could try and escape, but that was nearly 3 hours away. Like a scene from Butch Cassidy in the Sun last year, the men totally surrounded, caught their weapons and began to ready themselves for their last stand. Meanwhile down at the coast, Jelico and Lieutenant Petracus had made contact with the SOE agent Mirro Yannis. Kosti was exhausted and literally couldn't walk another step. After a night's rest and with the British forces contacted by coded transmission, Jelico decided to go back to collect the others alone, leaving the hobble creek lieutenant with the agent. When the SAS captain arrived back at where he left Borje and the team the previous day, there was no sign of them. At first he thought he must have travelled up the wrong valley, but then a group of young boys came running up to him. They explained through hand signals and noises that there had been a big gunfire. Looking around, Jelico saw the evidence, shell casings and even more ominously blood on the ground. I've been in situations where an operation hasn't gone quite according to plan and teams are split and the confusion that comes with being a split what we call a split call sign is sometimes it's quite difficult to take in. Jelico must have felt terrible. I can imagine the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realised he was alone, but not only that, his friends arrive a dead or captured by the SS. 20 miles away bouncing down the unfinished roads of Crink drove a convoy of German trucks. Inside were two company soldiers and the captured French SAS men. After quite a gunfire, the Germans had overwhelmed Borje and his men. Sadly and much the sorrow of the major, Leostick the Kid had been killed, shot as he tried to make a break to the south. Seabalt too had been wounded and had almost escaped. However, a German soldier managed to corner him. Both Borje and Mahoo held out the longest, but inevitably ran out of ammunition. So we're also captured. As they were being loaded into the truck, Borje looked over and glimpsed the same roadtuncreeton they had met the previous evening, talking to the Germans. It was clear he was the quislin that had betrayed them. Luckily for the SAS soldiers, they ended up with the Luftwaffe garrison back at the hierachlian airbase, a far better outcome than being handed over to the Gestapo. They gave up nothing under questioning, despite being threatened with a firing squad. After interrogation, the three Frenchmen were eventually shipped off the island to prisoner war camps in mainland Europe. Borje being taken to the infamous Coldits. Mahoo and Seabalt both managed to escape the following year in 1943. But unfortunately for Seabalt, his escape was so incredible that the British thought he must have been a German plan and incarcerated him for the rest of the war. A truly dark block on the British intelligence services. On the 24th of June, two weeks after first landing, Jellico and Kosti both emerged from hiding and managed to make it to a British motor torpedo boat called Porcupine which took them back to safety. Operation Albumen was largely considered a success. The raids at Hierachlian and Castelli destroyed over 30 planes, 10 trucks, several fuel dumps and killed over a dozen Germans. The other two assaults at Timpaki and Malene weren't quite as successful. The SBS team found the intelligence to be bad about Timpaki and when they arrived, it was empty. It was the opposite at Malene, which was so heavily guarded with electrified fences and guard dogs that it was impossible to get in. The commander of the raid, Captain Keely, said, "The place sounded like crafts on Show Day." Most importantly, however, the destruction of the planes coupled with the raids that Sterling was doing on the airfields in Libya meant that a few vital ships managed to get through to mortar so they could continue their resistance against the Germans. A final word from Jason. It's always difficult to immediately assess the success of special forces operations. If you think about it, the enemy are petrified of them. They don't know when they're coming but they know it hurts and then when it does happen, they don't want that sort of thing to happen again so they move their pieces of the puzzle, they move their reserve forces into positions that they wouldn't necessarily want them to be in. So actually, the impact of these raids were very significant and far reaching. It came at a high price for the creeps, however. Prior to the attack on the 3rd of June, the Nazis executed 12 Heraclian citizens. After the raid, another 50 were executed in retribution. In modern Heraclian, there is a street named after them, the avenue of the 62 martyrs. Andrew Wallace, the curator of the Guards Museum, told how George Gellico was recognised by the British people. Gellico received a DSO of his actions on that mission and a war just short of a Victoria Cross. The Guards became synonymous with the early special forces and many members being drawn from these regiments, the five regiments of footguards, something that still happens to this day. In fact, the SAS is an entire squadron named after the Guards, G Squadron. Gellico was also unique, however, because not only was he a Guards when an NSS soldier, but he also became the commander of the SBS. He became First Sea Lord, which I think would have made it to Father Extremely Brow, leader of the House of Lord, and also Britain's oldest parliamentarian of his age. Of course, I'm biased. For me, the Guards have always represented everything that is truly great about the British army, and I would encourage as many people as possible to come and visit our museum and to find out more about the many actions they have been involved in around the world. To find out how to visit their museum at Wellington Barrett's in London or any of the other Guards museums around the country, you can find the details on our website, amazingwarstories.com. But there is one other Gellico that appears in this story that we need to wrap up. Christopher Gellico. The commander of HMS Jackal did in fact make it back to Alexandria, but sadly he shipped it and neither did nine of his men. However, Christopher Gellico had a distinguished career being awarded in September 1942, a DSO for protecting an important convoy to mortar a gates an overwhelming enemy. He ended up as a rear admiral and was knighted in 1955. For more information on the other incredible Gellico, George, then I can highly recommend his new biography written by one of the men that knew him best. He's son Nicholas. Another fantastic book about the history of the SAS is Ben McIntire's Rogue Heroes. Notes on where to find these are on our website amazingwarstories.com. While I'm sure at our website, please do consider back in this venture with a subscription if you can afford it. We don't charge the museums for raising their profiles so we rely entirely on your generosity to keep our mission going. Also don't forget to visit our shop. Everything you spend helps us continue to publicise military museums. There are some lovely items in there which would make wonderful gifts and it's all for a good cause. I really want to help these vital institutions in these difficult times. They've taken a financial battering and I'm worried that if we're not careful the important stories they hold will become locked away from the public forever. So please do spread the word of what we're trying to do here and if you can please take the time to rate this podcast as it helps to be discovered by new listeners. One final thing, a word of thanks to the people, museums and organisations who free of charge gave up their time to help me tell this story. This episode of amazingwarstories was researched, written and produced by Ed Sail. The associate producer is Lois Krompton. Sound design and 3D mastering is by Vordville Sound and the music is by Extreme Music.