From the secret SAS archives and celebrated author Ben Macintyre: the first authorized history of the SAS. "Unmatched in research, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II" - Antony Beevor. In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, devised a plan that was radical and completely against the rules: a small undercover unit to create chaos behind enemy lines. Despite fierce resistance, Winston Churchill personally granted Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, smartest, and most ruthless soldiers he could find. Thus began the world's most famous and mysterious military organization: the SAS. Now, 75 years later, the SAS has finally decided to tell its remarkable story. For the first time, it has opened its secret archives and granted historian Ben Macintyre full access.