THE ORIGINAL ROGUE HEROES

It's a story of extravagant lies, homemade bombs and adrenaline-pumped commandos. Joshua Levine charts the formative years of the SAS through the exploits of four extraordinary servicemen

- Joshua Levine

1 Fake news in fancy dress

How MICK GURMIN became a member of the SAS before it even existed 

In 1941, a young British trooper based in Palestine was sent on an unlikely mission. Together with a fellow soldier named Smith, Mick Gurmin was dispatched to Cairo with instructions to spread an elaborate yarn around restaurants, bars and tourist hotspots. For the mission, Gurmin was issued with a uniform liberally sewn with parachute badges, to back up his membership of the 1st Special Air Service (SAS) Battalion parachute unit, which was completing its training in Transjordan. It was an intriguing costume – because the 1st SAS didn’t exist.

Both battalion and uniform were inventions of Lieutenant Colonel Dudley Clarke. He had recently arrived in the region, having been summoned by his friend and supporter Sir Archibald Wavell, British commander-in- chief for the Middle East. Clarke’s task was to deceive the enemy about British intentions – and the capture of an Italian officer had presented him with an opportunity. The officer’s diary revealed an Axis belief that British parachute troops were present in the Middle East. In truth, there were none – but Clarke spotted the chance to exploit an existing fear. He schemed a plot to convince enemy intelligence that 500 parachutists, all specialists in vehicle sabotage, had arrived in the region. This deception operation was codenamed ‘Abeam’, and Gurmin’s carefully staged performance was a key element.