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Bill Stirling (British Army officer)

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The Much Honoured

Bill Stirling of Keir
Birth nameWilliam Joseph Stirling
Born9 May 1911
Died1 January 1983(1983-01-01) (aged 71)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
Special Operations Executive
Years of service1929–1936
1940–c.1945
RankLieutenant Colonel
Unit
CommandsNo. 62 Commando
2nd Special Air Service
Battles / warsSecond World War
Spouse(s)
Susan
​
(m. 1940)​
RelationsArchibald Stirling (father)
David Stirling (brother)

Lieutenant Colonel William Joseph "Bill" Stirling of Keir (9 May 1911 – 1 January 1983) was a Scottish officer of the British Army who served during the Second World War. Initially joining the Special Operations Executive, he would go on to command No. 62 Commando and then the 2nd Special Air Service (2SAS). He was the elder brother of David Stirling, one of the founders of the SAS, but Bill has been described as the "real brains behind the operation".[1][2][3] He was, however, sacked from his command of 2SAS by Frederick "Boy" Browning two days before D-Day because they clashed over how best to deploy his unit, thereby ending his army career.[4]

Early life and education

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Stirling was born on 9 May 1911, the eldest son of Brigadier General Archibald Stirling of Keir, a Scottish laird and Margaret Fraser, daughter of Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat.[3][5] Among his siblings were David Stirling, commanding officer of the early SAS, and Peter, a diplomat.[6] He was educated at Ampleforth College, an all-boys independent Catholic boarding school in Yorkshire, where he "shone academically and on the sports field".[5][7] He went on to study at history at Trinity College, Cambridge.[3]

Military service

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Stirling achieved the rank of cadet serjeant in the Ampleforth College contingent of the Junior Division, Officers' Training Corps.[8] On 1 November 1929, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Lovat Scouts, Territorial Army.[8] On 29 January 1931, he transferred to the Scots Guards, British Army.[9] In both units he had served alongside his cousin Simon Fraser, Master of Lovat (later the 15th Lord Lovat).[1] He was promoted to lieutenant on 29 January 1934.[10] He transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 25 January 1936, with seniority in the rank of lieutenant from 29 January 1934.[11] He then resigned his commission on 25 January 1936,[12] to dedicate himself to the family estate.[6]

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Stirling was an early recruit into the Special Operations Executive (SOE), joining in March 1940.[5][13] In April 1940, he was part of a six-man sabotage team tasked with guerrilla warfare on mainland Europe, but the operation was aborted when their submarine hit a mine on the way to Norway.[14] Due to his experience of the inadvertencies of the training he and other SOE agents received,[14] the following month,[6] he suggested to the War Office that Britain needed a dedicated training centre for guerrilla warfare.[7] After receiving support from Winston Churchill, the War Office requisitioned Inverailort House in the Scottish Highlands and the Special Training Centre opened in June 1940.[7] Stirling was its chief instructor and among the hundred of men who came through its doors for training were his brother David and Paddy Mayne.[3][5][14]

In January 1941, alongside 3 troops of commandos, an SOE unit including Stirling embark from Scotland for the Middle East Theatre.[1]: 8  Alongside Peter Fleming, elder brother of the creator of James Bond, he was tasked with attempting to raise a battalion of anti-fascists from Italian prisoners of war in North Africa; they did not succeed.[6] Following this, he worked at the Cairo GHQ of Middle East Command as the personal assistant to Lieutenant General Arthur Smith.[1]: 8 [5][7] Despite a future tale of a his brother's skilful escapade to take his personal idea for the Special Air Service (SAS) into the office of General Neil Ritchie,[5] the concept was a joint idea between the brothers who were both in Cairo by then and it was Bill who presented the idea to the HQ.[7] L Detachment, Special Air Squadron was raised in August 1941.[1]: 8  The first raid for the SAS was scheduled for 16 November 1941.[1]: 8  However, Bill was called back to the UK on 3 November,[1]: 8  leaving his brother and their recruits to undertake their first, disastrous raid; of the 55 men who participated, only 21 returned alive to the rendezvous point and without firing a shot.[7][15] Bill disembarked in Britain in January 1943, and, having given an account of his time in North Africa to the SOE and the War officer, was given four months leave.[1]: 16  He spent this time on his family estate with his young family, while also raising money for the war effort through raffles and bake sales.[1]: 16 

In February 1942, the Small Scale Raiding Force is formed under the command of Gus March-Phillipps.[1]: 8  Following March-Phillipps' death on 12 September 1942 during the disastrous Operation Aquatint, leadership of the unit briefly fell to its second in command, Captain Geoffrey Appleyard. On 17 October 1942, Stirling was appointed its commanding officer and promoted to lieutenant colonel.[1]: 8 [14] His role was "not to lead in the field but to direct from the sidelines"; one he would also fulfill in his later command.[1]: 19  By the end of the year, he was preparing the unit, now known as No. 62 Commando, for deployment to North Africa.[1] His brother was captured on 24 January 1943 in Tunisia, and would spend the rest of the war as a POW;[1]: 8  Paddy Mayne then takes command of the SAS.[1]: 9  Stirling and the 62 Commando set sail from Glasgow to Algiers in February 1943.[1]: 9  Bill learnt of his brother's capture on arrival and then played a role in the re-organisation of the SAS.[6]

In March 1943, Mayne's unit, the original SAS, is redesignated the Special Raiding Squadron (retaining that name for the rest of the year), with one of its squadron's becoming the Special Boat Squadron (SBS).[1]: 9  In May 1943, Stirling raised the 2nd Special Air Service (2SAS) from 62 Commando and almost 400 recruits from among the British forces in North Africa.[1]: 9 [6] 2SAS's first raid, "Operation Snapdragon", occurred at the end of the month, and involved recognisance of the Italian island Pantelleria.[1]: 9  1SAS and 2SAS operated separately, with the former focused on its new role as an amphibious raiding force, while Stirling's 2SAS focused on the regiment's original modus operandi focusing on small teams parachuting into enemy territory.[6] Initially based in Tunisia, he led the 2SAS during its operations in Sicily and during the Italian Campaign.[16] Stirling himself never went on an SAS raid.[5] In early 1944, 1SAS and 2SAS were recalled to the United Kingdom, from where they launched raids on Nazi-occupied Europe in the run up to the Allied invasion of Normandy.[6] Stirling argued with senior army officers including Frederick "Boy" Browning about how best to use the SAS during the up coming Allied invasion of Europe; Stirling wanted his troops dropped far behind the front to continue their disrupting tactics, while Browning wanted the SAS to join other airborne troops landing just behind the front line and to act as standard parachute infantry.[1]: 246 [2][6][17] On 4 June 1944, two days before D-day, Stirling was removed as commanding officer of 2SAS and replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Brian Franks;[1] he had won the argument as to how best to use the SAS but had been sacked in the process.[2]

As a member of the Regular Army Reserve of Officers, he was promoted from lieutenant (war substantive major) to be major on 1 January 1949.[18] Having reached the age limit, he relinquished his commission on 1 July 1961, and was granted the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel.[19]

Later life

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Keir House

Stirling had succeeded his father as laird of Keir upon his death in 1931. He could have lived a life of luxury, but as it states in his obituary in The Times; "Born to huge possessions he could have sat still and enjoyed good fortune but there was in his character a streak of the Scottish adventurer scorning ease and plenty".[16]

On 27 July 1945, Stirling was appointed a Forestry Commissioner by King George VI.[20] In addition to his estate in Scotland, he also farmed in Tanzania.[16] In 1975, he sold Kier House and 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) of land to Mahdi Al Tajir, the then United Arab Emirates Ambassador to the United Kingdom for £2 million (equivalent to £21.19 million in 2023).[21] The house had been in the Stirling family for 570 years but he "had not consulted his family before the sale was agreed".[21]

Personal life

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Stirling was married to Susan Rachel Bligh (1916–1983), daughter of Noel Bligh, son of the 8th Earl of Darnley; she was a model before they married.[22] They had four children together.[23] His eldest son, Archibald, was married to Diana Rigg.[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Mortimer, Gavin (2023). 2SAS: Bill Stirling and the forgotten special forces unit of World War II. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1472856739.
  2. ^ a b c Zulueta, Paul de (10 October 2023). "Bill Stirling – the brains behind the wartime SAS". The Spectator. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "David & William Stirling". Rough Bounds. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  4. ^ Zulueta, Paul de (13 October 2023). "Bill Stirling: a brilliant British airman". The Spectator World. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Baker, Simon (7 September 2022). "David Stirling: the Phoney Major: the life, times and truth about the founder of the SAS". Military History Matters. No. 130. Current Publishing. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gordon, Jonathan; Mortimer, Gavin (5 October 2023). "The other SAS: The forgotten Stirling brother whose vision formed the true legacy of the Special Air Service after WWII". All About History Magazine. Future Publishing. p. 54-57. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Mortimer, Gavin (29 May 2022). "Who dares (make it up) wins: Writer asks if SAS founder wrote his own legend". The Sunday Post. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  8. ^ a b "No. 33555". The London Gazette. 26 November 1929. p. 7661.
  9. ^ "No. 33860". The London Gazette. 2 September 1932. p. 5621.
  10. ^ "No. 34019". The London Gazette. 30 January 1934. p. 679.
  11. ^ "No. 34249". The London Gazette. 24 January 1936. p. 533.
  12. ^ "No. 34249". The London Gazette. 24 January 1936. p. 532.
  13. ^ "2SAS". The Guardian Bookshop. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
  14. ^ a b c d "Stirling and Stirling". All About History. Future Publishing. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  15. ^ Jolliffe, John (6 October 2016). "Derring-do in the desert". The Spectator. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  16. ^ a b c "Lieut-Col William Stirling". The Times. No. 61422. 5 January 1983. p. 12.
  17. ^ Fordy, Tom (2 January 2025). "SAS Rogue Heroes, series 2: What's fact, and what's fiction". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
  18. ^ "No. 39311". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 August 1951. p. 4376.
  19. ^ "No. 42400". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 June 1961. p. 4837.
  20. ^ "No. 37198". The London Gazette. 27 July 1945. p. 3883.
  21. ^ a b "The Stirling profile". The Telegraph. 3 January 2007. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  22. ^ "Susan Bligh 12025814". Mary Evans Picture Library. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  23. ^ "William Joseph Stirling and Susan Rachel Bligh". www-leeper.ch.cam.ac.uk. University of Cambridge. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  24. ^ "William Stirling Dead; Top British Commando". New York Times. 6 January 1983. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
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