With the SAS - Across the Rhine

With the SAS – Across the Rhine tells the story of the latter part of Captain Ian Wellsted's military career with the Special Air Service. The first part of his career was detailed in his well-received work, SAS: With the Maquis.

After spending three months behind enemy lines in France from D-Day on Operation Houndsworth, during which his unit operated with the Maquis to disrupt enemy lines of communication, Ian commanded an SAS Jeep patrol during Operation Archway. Operation Archway was a British special forces mission involving the 1st and 2nd Special Air Service Regiments acting in direct support of the advance of Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery's Allied 21st Army Group into Germany in operations Varsity and Plunder.

This crossing of the Rhine was one of the largest and most diverse operations ever carried out by the SAS. As part of this offensive, SAS teams were thrust deep into German territory, often having to battle their way through enemy lines to reach safety. "I quickly learned that there was no way to control an SAS battle," Wellsted wrote of his first major encounter in charge of a patrol. "The din was deafening – seventy odd Vickers and half a dozen Brownings all chattering together. The screech of ricochets and the fire of the enemy made my voice sound like the squeak of a mouse against a church organ. I was helpless."

In one of these encounters, as the war drew to a close, Wellsted's troop found itself surrounded. In the ensuing firefight, Wellsted was wounded, bringing his active frontline career to an end. This is a very personal account, revealing the many emotional as well as physical strains placed upon men in the fighting line.

Author: Having served with 'A' Squadron 1 SAS during 1944 and 1945, and being wounded in April 1945, after the Second World War, Colonel Ian Wellsted OBE remained with the British Army for a further twenty-two years. He served in Palestine, Egypt, Europe, and the Far East. He died in 2002 aged 83.

16 black and white illustrations.