Britain's Fighting Elite The SAS Quiz

Answer: Special Air Service

The Special Air Service was fundamentally created in the Western Desert in North Africa in 1941, under the command of 2nd Lieutenant David Stirling, a well-connected Scottish Lord (or Laird) in the Scots Guards (as well as the help of Jock Lewes, an Australian Officer in the Welsh Guards).

The original concept was an elite raiding unit that would stealthily penetrate enemy lines and cause disruption to lines of communication, supply lines and enemy moral. During the Second World War, the SAS destroyed hundreds of German planes and supplies, markedly adding to the woes that Rommel faced in his desert campaigns.

Their activities in fact caused Hitler to issue a shoot to kill order in which he stated 'These men are dangerous.'

Answer: Hereford

For an extremely covert organization, the location of the SAS's home turf is hardly a well-kept secret. Located in Hereford, England, close to the Welsh and English border, many SAS members can often be found in the local pubs, although they generally don't want to discuss work, particularly if they don't know you.

Answer: Who Dares Wins

The simple expression stems from the SAS's earliest activities and stands for the Regiment's pluck and courage under fire and the use of stealth in its method of penetration behind enemy lines. The words are written below the Regiment's emblem, which is a dagger with its blade pointing down between a pair of outstretched wings.

Answer: Archibald David Stirling

Stirling was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland (now Stirling District, Central Region) on November 15, 1915. Son of a Brigadier General, he attended Trinity College, Cambridge for one year, but then joined the Scots Guards Supplementary Reserve of Officers at the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

He then transferred to the Commando Brigade of Guards, fighting in the Middle East. Although he established the SAS during this time and was promoted to the rank of Major, he was captured in Tunisia in 1943 and spent the remainder of his war days in POW camps (although he did escape three times and was finally put under close lock and key in Colditz).

After the war he went on to establish organizations encouraging racial integration in Africa, provided security services to heads of state, financed African television stations and the actively helped with the preservation of endangered animals.

He was knighted in 1990 and died that year in London, England.

Answer: Gibraltar

This incident gained particular notoriety due to the excessive force that was used in the alleged ambush of 3 unarmed IRA members planning a terrorist attack on the British Army installations located on Gibraltar. British troops were often sent to Gibraltar after an arduous tour of Northern Ireland almost as an unofficial reward. Security was not lax, but was at a slightly lower standard than that exhibited in most other Armed forces installations.

The IRA members were spotted in their early planning stages in Spain by the Servicios de Informacion, a Spanish anti-terrorism unit and reported to British intelligent sources.

It was quickly deduced that the IRA was in Spain to initiate an attack on Gibraltar. With advance warning, the SAS commenced Operation Flavius and prepared an ambush for the IRA members to arrest them before they could carry out their attack.

Intelligence reports stated that the IRA members were heavily armed and so deadly force was authorized. If the 16 strong SAS squad felt that a threat to a life or lives was imminent, they could shoot to kill.

This meant, therefore, that even a hand movement towards a pocket could count as such an act, as it could be to push a button setting off a remote detonation. On March 8, 1988, the SAS apparently made moves to arrest the three members after they left a car parked close to the site where a Changing of the Guards was about to occur. Instead the three members were shot dead, one being shot twice, another 6 times and the other between 16 an 18 times in the space of approximately 8 seconds. An inquiry was held with the soldiers saying that the IRA members made movements that appeared threatening, while other witnesses said that the IRA members appeared to be trying to surrender. None of the IRA members were found to be armed or possessing a detonation device. The soldiers were all cleared. A lot of controversy still covers this incident.

Answer: Special Boat Service

The Special Boat Service (SBS) is a naval special forces group, technically a branch of Great Britain's Royal Marines. Before that it was called the Special Boat Squadron. (Yes, it's a shade confusing). To join the SBS, a trooper must first have at least two years' experience in the Royal Marines.

While the SBS is involved in many of the same activities as the SAS, most of its diving and demolition missions are carried out in two man teams (unlike the SAS's four man teams) and by way of a Klepper canoe (a small assembled canoe).

Answer: Terrorists taking hostages in an embassy

On May 5th, 1980, soldiers from the Special Air Service (SAS) stormed the Iranian Embassy in Princes Gate, London. In an operation that took less than twenty minutes, they killed five members of the Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan (DRFLA) -- shooting one more than eighty times -- who were scattered throughout the embassy and rescued twenty-four hostages (the DRFLA had already killed one, and shot dead another during the rescue).

This took place in full view of the public and was shown live on television, famously interrupting the snooker. Later that day, prime minister Margaret Thatcher went to congratulate the SAS men involved and sat among them watching a re-run of the attack.

Answer: 1 to 2

The SAS is the most sought after exchange partner in the world of counter terrorism. Their troopers have trained other troopers from all of the following organizations: The United States' Delta Force, the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), France's GIGN, Germany's GSG-9, Spain's GEO, the Royal Dutch Marines, and the SAS groups from Australia and New Zealand, to name a few.

In return, these organizations have allowed British SAS members to train along side their own units in a reciprocal swap of information.

These exchange programs have had the effect of raising counter terrorist skills worldwide to higher and higher levels. Their presence has oftentimes been in an official advisory role, but ex-SAS members have revealed that the group has often sent men to the scene of an incident, just to learn as much as they can about the success or failure of an operation.

This information is, in turn, brought back to Hereford where it is disseminated and applied accordingly.

Answer: Brecon Beacons

Just a short distance away from the SAS base in Hereford, this mountain range is located just inside the Welsh border. Although the UK is not renowned for its mountains, this range has been known to be particularly dangerous, especially during the winter time.

The SAS has lost a number of men in training in the mountains and many more have severely injured themselves or become ill during the training. The SAS sees this as a way of weeding out those men that it feels are not destined to remain in the SAS.

The SAS is quite well known for its extremely harsh training routine and many many people fail before the training is over.

Answer: It is not an activity regularly used by the Regiment

Although the A stands for 'AIR' and was generally intended to represent the fact that the SAS troops were expert parachutists, the SAS rarely uses the parachute as its modus operendi. In fact the SAS commonly uses small all-terrain vehicles (particularly land rovers) as its usual means of transport in combat situations, although it more frequently uses helicopters as a rapid deployment tactic.

The founder of the SAS, David Stirling, originally intended that the troop primarily use parachuting as its means of deploying behind enemy lines, but this was quickly abandoned when the first attempts resulted in significant casualties (including Stirling himself).