The true story behind SAS Rogue Heroes series 2

SAS Rogue Heroes returns to BBC with a second series, which charts the Special Air Service’s campaign in Italy during the Second World War.

Working to bring down fascism in Sicily and Italy ahead of the Allied forces invasion, the military brigade launched a series of raiding missions under the guidance of Paddy Mayne (Jack O’Connell) following the capture of David Stirling (Connor Swindells) during the North Africa campaign. The BBC drama, created and written by Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight, examines this new campaign in detail in the second series.

Here is everything that you need to know about the true story behind the drama.

Paddy Mayne takes over the SAS

After Lieutenant-Colonel Stirling was taken as a prisoner of war in Tunisia in January 1943, the powers that be made Mayne the new commander of the SAS. Several changes were made the group as well, the 1st SAS were reorganised into two groups — the Special Raiding Squadron under Mayne and the Special Boat Squadron commanded by George Jellicoe.

Mayne’s squadron was put in charge of the fighting in Sicily and Italy alongside the 2nd SAS, with the Special Boat Squadron fighting on the Aegean Islands and Dodecanese for the remainder of the Second World War.

The Allied Forces Italy campaign took place from 1943 to 1945, with the group first helping with raiding missions in advance of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, in 1943 and then fighting behind enemy lines in Italy thereafter. In 1944 Mayne was promoted and made commanding officer of the re-formed 1st SAS Regiment, with their final campaigns taking place across Europe in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway.

Reflecting on the real-life Mayne, Knight said of his approach to series 2: “Paddy is the born rebel, he’s the one that punches the commanding officer, rather than being the commanding officer.

“What fascinated me all the way through reading the history was how Paddy dealt with that, and he did deal with it in an incredible and different way. I wanted Paddy front and centre, to look at his character, not brush over some of the flaws and understand – as I think with all of the men actually – that they were selected by war.”

The SAS campaign in Italy

The SAS worked tirelessly during the Second World War, and the Italy campaign saw the group continue to parachute small groups behind enemy lines to conduct attacks strategic targets and obtain intelligence that would have been useful for Allied Forces.

Overall the SAS conducted over twenty missions in Italy. Their campaign first saw the group mount island raids before turning their attention to the invasion of the mainland, they also helped to rescue escaped prisoners of war, and supported events such as the Anzio Landings of 1944.

Later the group helped to breach the Gothic line —the Italian and German defensive line— to secure victory for Allied forces, during this phase of their campaign the group worked side-by-side with Italian Resistance.

Knight also spoke of approaching the story of the SAS in the new series, sharing: “The fact is that the true story of the SAS is a piece of drama better than anyone in fiction could invent.

“The characters are beyond belief but, in the majority of cases in the series, they’re real. I said at the beginning when we were promoting the first series, some of the things that really happened I can’t depict because no one would believe me.”

SAS Rogue Heroes series 2 is out now on BBC iPlayer, with episodes continuing to air on BBC One from Thursday, 2 January.

EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel