Ghost Patrol A History of The Long Range Desert Group 1940 - 1945 (HC)

Ghost Patrol A History of The Long Range Desert Group 1940 - 1945 (Hard Cover)

The origins of most of the west's Special Forces can be traced back to the Long Range Desert Group which operated across the limitless expanses of the Libyan Desert, an area the size of India, during the whole of the Desert War from 1940 - 1943. After the defeat of the Axis in North Africa they adapted to serve in the Mediterranean, the Greek islands, Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece. They became the stuff of legend. The brainchild of Ralph Bagnold, a pre-war desert explorer, featured, in fictional terms in The English Patient, who put all of his expertise into the creation of a new and, by the standards of the day, highly unorthodox unit. Conventional tactical thinking shunned the deep heart of the vast desert as it was thought to be a different planet, a harsh, inhospitable wilderness where British forces could not possibly survive even less operate effectively. Bagnold, Pat Clayton and Bill Kennedy Shaw created a whole new type of warfare.
Using specially adapted vehicles and the techniques they'd learned in the'30s, recruiting only men of the right temperament and high levels of fitness and endurance, the first patrols set out bristling with automatic weapons. The 30-cwt Chevy truck and the famous Jeep have become iconic, the LRDG, in a dark hour, was the force which took the fight to the enemy, roving over the deep desert - a small raider's paradise, attacking enemy convoys and outposts, destroying aircraft and supplies, forcing the Axis to expend more and more resources protecting their vulnerable lines.

Age Group: Adult
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Author: John Sadler
Pages: 232
Edition: Hardcover
Product Dimension: L: 15.2cm x W: 2.4cm x H: 22.8cm
ISBN: 9781612003368