SAS and the raid on Rommel

On the night of November 14th, 1941 two British submarines - HMS TORBAY AND HMS TALISMAN approached the shores of the northern most part of Cyrenaica. In the rough seas a much smaller than planned raiding party of commandos managed to land ashore. The group was led by Col. Keyes and was largely composed of the members of the LRDG, SAS and SBS. Their first objective - Rommel's HQ in Beda Littoria, second - Italian HQ in Cyrene, third Italian Intelligence Office in Appolonia, and finally general sabotage actions in the Axis rear. Due to an astonishing ammount of bad luck the whole operation ended in fiasco. Already under-strength due to weather conditions during landing, they managed to attack Rommel's villa on the night of November 17th.(Keyes died during the assault, Rommel was meanwhile somwhere else), from that point onwards the group was being pursued by both Italian and DAK patrols as well as by pro-Axis Libyans. In ensuing skirmishes most of the raid members were either shot or captured. Out of 59 men that left for that mission only the overall commander Col.Laycock and sargeant Terry survived after dodging the enemy for 41 days in the hills of Cyrenaica. This was the "only" official "Raid on Rommel" during the North African campaign.

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Qu...7414/imag.html

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