David Stirling
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Sir Archibald David Stirling , DSO OBE (born November 15, 1915 in Lecropt , † November 4, 1990 in London ) was a Scottish laird , mountaineer , officer in the British Army and founder of the Special Air Service .
Life
David Stirling was born near Stirling in his parents' house. His parents were Archibald Stirling of Keir and Margaret Fraser , daughter of Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat , a direct descendant of King Charles II of England . Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat , was his cousin.
In 1937 David Stirling joined the Scots Guards . In 1940 he volunteered for commando operations with the British Army. After the dissolution of his command on August 1, 1941, he was still convinced that a small team of highly specialized soldiers could do more than a whole platoon of conventional armed forces in armed conflicts .
Since he saw no way to prove his theory in a regular way, he convinced Claude Auchinleck to let him lead such an operation. He was given command of the L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade (SAS), officially a battalion-strength unit of the existing brigades in North Africa.
The unit's first operation as a paratrooper behind enemy lines was a total failure. Only a third of the unit reached the agreed assembly point.
With changed tactics through attacks on foot under cover of the desert night with the help of the Long Range Desert Group , the unit was finally successful. After the allocation of its own off-road vehicles and manoeuvrable small trucks that were equipped with machine guns, the SAS under Stirling's leadership quickly became a feared force operating behind the German-Italian lines, which among other things destroyed around 250 aircraft and large quantities of war material. but above all was a permanent "thorn in the flesh" of Rommel's troops.
He was caught by the Germans in January 1943, but escaped captivity four times before he was interned in Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle for the remainder of the war. The command of the SAS took over after Stirling's capture until the end of the war his brother Bill and the Northern Irish boxer, rugby player and lawyer Major Blair ("Paddy") Maine, who Field Marshal Montgomery proposed for the award of the Victoria Cross .
David Stirling was knighted on December 30, 1989 and died the following year.
Others
The Stirling House in Welbeck College is named after him .
In 2002, a SAS memorial was erected in his honor, which depicts him standing on a stone.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Stirling, David |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stirling, Sir Archibald David (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British founder of the SAS |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 15, 1915 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lecropt |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th November 1990 |
| Place of death | London |