By Gen Terblanche 31 January The position seemed impossible. After they successfully took the Lamba Doria battery thanks to an expert mortar round that landed smack-dab in the ammunition store without casualties, they then moved on to the second battery, AS This is when Reg Seekings stepped up. He then led his division to wipe out the neighbouring mortar post.
Fact check: As seen in episode 1, the bad weather proved disastrous for the British gliders involved their part of the mission was code named Operation Ladbroke. After they were released too far out from the target, only 12 landed where they were supposed to, and 69 crashed in the sea, drowning men.
And yes, the SAS units did have to pass them by without helping, for exactly the reasons that Paddy states. While the on-screen opening scene gives us a daring dodge featuring Paddy and Reg deceiving German soldiers at the harbour in Augusta by pretending to be Italian fisherman before blasting them to bits with a bazooka, the real-life taking of Augusta involved a far more dangerous full-daylight beach landing under enemy fire.
And according to historian Gavin Mortimer author of The SAS In , Sergeant Bill Deakins remembers Paddy nonchalantly striding up the streets of Augusta with one hand in his pocket at one point to encourage his men.
He personally led his men from landing craft in the face of heavy machine-gun fire. By this action, he succeeded in forcing his way to ground where it was possible to form up and sum up enemy defences. In October , unknown to the Allies, Adolf Hitler issued the top-secret Commando Order, stating that all Allied special forces operatives like the SAS were to be executed promptly and without trial this is and was a war crime.
