SAS ITALIAN JOB: The Secret Mission

In the hard-fought winter of 1944, the Allies advanced northwards through Italy but halted on the fearsome mountainous defences of the Gothic Line. Two men were parachuted in in an effort to break the deadlock, their mission to penetrate deep into enemy territory and lay waste to the Germans' impregnable headquarters. At the 11th hour, mission commanders radioed for David 'The Mad Piper' Kilpatrick to be flown in, resplendent in his tartan kilt. They wanted this fearless war hero to lead the assault, piping Highland Laddie as he went, so leaving an indelible British signature to deter Nazi reprisals. Another man sent in was Michael 'Wild Man' Lees, veteran agent with the Special Operations Executive, Churchill's shadowy 'Ministry for Ungentlemanly Warfare'. Another was legendary SAS Commander Major Roy Farran. Their mission was to raise an impossible-seeming army from Italian partisans, escaped Russian POWs, French Foreign Legionnaires and even German deserters and kill the top Nazi generals. As the column of raiders formed up, there was shocking news. High Command radioed through an order to stand down, having assessed the chances of success as little more than zero. But in defiance of orders and come hell or high water, they were going in. If they succeeded, the Gothic Line would fall, so saving countless Allied lives. Relying on files declassified for the purposes of writing this book, authentic eyewitness testimony, and working with the families of key figures involved, Lewis reveals an untold epic of daring, ruthless rule breaking and shocking betrayal. 400 page paperback, 16 pages of photos.