From North African raiders to the heroes of the Iranian Embassy Siege: we commemorate eight decades of the world’s first special forces
Referred to by David Stirling as the SAS’S ‘Libyan Taxi Service’ this band of intrepid eccentrics, explorers and survivalists formed the early blueprint of the special forces regiment
A WWI veteran who had served as a junior signals officer, by September 1939 Ralph Bagnold had returned to civilian life, working as a writer. After joining up with the armed forces once again, he was posted to Officer Commanding, East Africa Signals, and dispatched on a troopship to Kenya. However, he and the rest of his troop were instead transferred to Port Said, Egypt, after their ship collided with another vessel in the Mediterranean. This would prove to be an auspicious turn of events for the future of Britain›s special forces.
Bagnold knew Egypt well, having spent most of the 1920s there with the army. In 1927, he made his first trip into the Libyan desert, leading a small group of explorers in a fleet of Model T Fords. More expeditions followed, penetrating farther into the desert’s brutal interior. Bagnold’s fascination was as much motivated by science as by exploration, and he began studying the terrain.
Within a few days of his return to Egypt, he met with General Archibald Wavell, General Officer Commanding-in-chief of Middle East Command. Wavell questioned Bagnold on the accessibility of the Libyan Desert – the general was increasingly concerned by intelligence reports that the Italians
had as many as 250,000 men in 15 divisions under Marshal Rodolfo Graziani. Wavell was so impressed by what Bagnold told him that he arranged for his transfer to North Africa.
Bagnold was posted close to Cairo – where he discovered that the most recent map the British forces possessed of the region in fact dated to WWI. Bagnold’s idea was to form a small reconnaissance unit to patrol the border with Libya. However, after being repeatedly rejected by his superiors, it would not be until August 1940 that the first patrol was ready to go.
Captain Pat Clayton and his small hand-picked party of seven left Cairo in two trucks. Crossing the border into Libya, they drove to Siwa Oasis and remained there for three days, concealing themselves from the Italians as they observed the track for signs of activity. They returned to Cairo on 19 August, having covered over 2,500km in 13 days.
Clayton and Bagnold reported their findings to General Wavell, who, having heard an account of the unit’s first patrol, fully backed the experimental unit. A week later, Wavell inspected the LRP and told them he had informed the War Office they “were ready to take the field”.