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Nigel Warwick's avatar

"The Phantom Major" was also the first book I read on the Special Forces (also as an 11 year old or similar). My frustration was that I couldn't find a decent book on the LRDG (I couldn't track down Kennedy Shaw's book) where I was in New Zealand. I found the LRDG to be more interesting and possibly a more sophisticated and focussed organisation with a clear modus operandi. Even when Swinson's "Desert Raiders" came out, it still focussed heavily on Stirling and the SAS. The appearance of David Lloyd Owen's "Providence their Guide: A Personal Account of the Long Range Desert Group 1940-45" gave a better description of the LRDG's activities in North African and after. Purnell's History of the Second World War did give them a little more coverage based on Kennedy Shaw's book.

It is interesting to look at Mortimer's latest interpretation of Stirling and now looking back to reading "The Phantom Major". It is clearer now that a lot of the raids that Stirling thought up were complete stuff ups or a waste of time. I too fell a little bit miffed that I invested some hero worship in Stirling. I wonder if there is a book on Bill Stirling in the works? I was always puzzled as to why Stirling wasn't called on to form the Malayan Scouts rather than Mike Calvert, though the latter's jungle experience, and that he was still serving may have had a part to play in the choice.

R.A. Bagnold who set up the LRDG didn't have the same cachet, or hagiography, but had a more meticulous and scientific approach to his efforts. What he established became a reliable, professional and effective source of intelligence for 8th Army. He is of course known more widely in the geomorphological community for his book "The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes", which remains a classic in its field of science to this day.

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Rory Cooper's avatar

Thanks for the review. Convinced me to buy the book, for the reasons you mention...

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