ella1122

Logistician, WWII history and Tudor England enthusiast

[ella1122 @daniellemeier26]

Beautiful site, dedicated to OP Loyton.

https://t.co/76Hk4PSuH1

[ella1122 @daniellemeier26]

@PhoneyMajor That sounds a really interesting talk. Is this subject, French SAS, scheduled for talks elsewhere, that one could attend, like MM Park near Strassbourg, or elsewhere other than Paris?

[ella1122 @daniellemeier26]

@LeBrunJames81 Plaque commemorating Maurice in Meurthe et Moselle, France, where he was killed.

[ella1122 @daniellemeier26]

@fcwm_amcg @173rdAbnBde @JunoBeachCentre Maurice, tombé le 17 sept 44, commémore dans le village ou il à été parachuté et tué.

[ella1122 @daniellemeier26]

@LeBrunJames81 Maurice was killed on 17 sept 44. The date is wrong on his gravestone.
Commemorational plaque in Igney where he was KIA.

[Gavin Mortimer @PhoneyMajor]

¼
January 31, 1941
If the Luftwaffe had chanced upon 3 troopships in the Firth of Clyde we'd never have heard of the SAS or SBS.
On board the Glengyle & Glenroy were the cream of Britain’s commandos, such as Paddy Mayne, George Jellicoe, Bill Fraser (pi) & Roger Courtney.
Plus...

[Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian @DrHelenFry]

Rudi Friedlaender, a German Jew, fought for Britain in WW2.

He participated in 'Operation Spider', a raid on a small island off Algeria, and landed on Lampedusa, near the Malta/Tunisia coast, to destroy wireless stations.

This is his remarkable wartime story:
(🧵)

[Gavin Mortimer @PhoneyMajor]

10/10
In the book, Phantom Major, David Stirling claimed he was captured in Tunisia on Jan 24 1943 as he headed north "to consult my brother, Bill, who had recently arrived on the 1st Army front, with the 2nd SAS Regt”.
Not true. Bill was still in the UK, as his SOE file proves.

[Gavin Mortimer @PhoneyMajor]

6/6
Len Owens sent this clipping to his fiancée in 1946, expressing his satisfaction that the Nazis responsible for the murder of his friend & 28 other SAS/Phantom soldiers during Operation Loyton had been sentenced to death.
Schneider was hanged in January 1947.

[Philippe Get @PhilippeGet]

https://t.co/OcpnXoo50L

[Gavin Mortimer @PhoneyMajor]

1/4
Dec 30 1941.
Remembering on this day Jock Lewes (rIght), one of the founding SAS members.
He was killed returning from a raid on Nofilia airfield in Libya.
Lewes's greatest contribution to the SAS was his invention of his eponymous bomb.
It was rudimentary but very effective.

[Gavin Mortimer @PhoneyMajor]

1/2
Ever heard of the Belgian village of Poix-Saint-Hubert in the Ardennes?
No, nor had I until I interviewed an SAS veteran.
He was a member of a 4-man patrol that raided the sleeping German garrison in Poix at Christmas, 1944.

I've turned his anecdote into a short video.

[Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian @DrHelenFry]

Denise Bloch, an SOE agent born into a Jewish family, supported SOE and French Resistance operatives before joining their ranks.

In 1944, she was captured, sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp, and later executed.

Let us honour her memory.

[Gavin Mortimer @PhoneyMajor]

1/6
The most enigmatic soldier to have served in the SAS?

Probably this man – the half-US, half-French Captain Raymond Lee, 3rd left with 2SAS.
Thief, gangster, liar, deserter & war hero.
To Roy Farran (rgt) he was 'a bastard'.
On Oct 3 1944 Lee was arrested by police in London

[ella1122 @daniellemeier26]

OP Loyton commemorations 2026

[Gavin Mortimer @PhoneyMajor]

1/5
One of the more flamboyant 2SAS figures was Christopher Sykes (r)
Confidant of Evelyn Waugh & a respected biographer pre-war.
Also courageous. Sykes parachuted into Occupied France on the ill-fated Loyton Op.
Reading Sykes yesterday I came across a passage that gave me hope:

[ella1122 @daniellemeier26]

@DrHelenFry Thank you, I have been researching OP Loyton for a number of years, complex and still not all unravelled. Rudi was remarkably brave, seen his background.

[Dr Helen Fry | WWII Historian @DrHelenFry]

From Munich scholar to SAS hero, Rudi Friedländer’s life was courageous—he parachuted deep into Nazi territory, won the Distinguished Conduct Medal & partook in "Operation Loyton".

But, he made the ultimate sacrifice.

This is the tragic story of a WW2 hero:
(🧵)

[ella1122 @daniellemeier26]

@PhoneyMajor Brilliant read.

[ella1122 @daniellemeier26]

@pscallow @DrHelenFry Not a history lesson..., just fiction, I don't like the the way the men are portrait, so unnecessary. Especially Mayne. A lot of people take this series as the definite history of the SAS, what a sacrilege.