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Ghost Patrol: A History of the Long Range Desert Group, 1940–1945
An accessible and entertaining new history of the Long Range Desert Group, forerunner of the SAS, famous for their exploits in the Desert War, and full of memorable characters and archetypal British heroes.
The origins of most of the west’s Special Forces can be traced back to the Long Range Desert Group which operated across the limitless expanses of the Libyan Desert, an area the size of India, during the whole of the Desert War from 1940 – 1943. After the defeat of the Axis in North Africa they adapted to serve in the Mediterranean, the Greek islands, Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece. They became the stuff of legend. The brainchild of Ralph Bagnold, a prewar desert explorer, featured, in fictional terms in The English Patient, who put all of his expertise into the creation of a new and, by the standards of the day, highly unorthodox unit. Conventional tactical thinking shunned the deep heart of the vast desert as it was thought to be a different planet, a harsh, inhospitable wilderness where British forces could not possibly survive even less operate effectively. Bagnold, Pat Clayton and Bill Kennedy Shaw created a whole new type of warfare.
Using specially adapted vehicles and the techniques they’d learned in the ‘30s, recruiting only men of the right temperament and high levels of fitness and endurance, the first patrols set out bristling with automatic weapons. The 30-cwt Chevy truck and the famous Jeep have become iconic, the LRDG, in a dark hour, was the force which took the fight to the enemy, roving over the deep desert – a small raider’s paradise, attacking enemy convoys and outposts, destroying aircraft and supplies, forcing the Axis to expend more and more resources protecting their vulnerable lines.
Their work was often dangerous, always taxing, exhausting and uncomfortable. They were a new breed of soldier. The Axis never managed to equip any similar unit, they never escaped their fear of the scorching wilderness. Once the desert war was won they transferred their skills to the Mediterranean sector, re-raining as mountain guerrillas, serving in the ill-fated Dodecanese campaign, then in strife torn Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece, fighting alongside the mercurial partisans at a time the Balkans were sliding towards communist domination or civil war.
In addition LRDG worked alongside the fledgling SAS and they established, beyond all doubt, the value of highly trained Special Forces, a legacy which resonates today.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Maps
Chronology
Dramatis Personae
Being Introductory
1 Legends of the ‘Blue’
2 Piracy on the High Desert, 1940
3 The Year of Dangerous Living, 1941
4 ‘The Libyan Taxi Company Limited’, 1941–1942
5 Sting of the Scorpion, 1942
6 Out of Africa, 1942–1943
7 The Wine-Dark Sea, 1943
8 Garlic-Reeking Bandits, 1944–1945
9 On the shores of the Adriatic, 1944–1945
10 Ghost Patrols, 1945–2015
Glossary
Appendices
Appendix 1: Weapons, Vehicles, Training & Equipment
Appendix 2: LRDG Commanders and Patrol Designations
Appendix 3: Patrol Commanders
Appendix 4: Daily LRDG Ration Scale
Appendix 5: LRDG Roll of Honour
Appendix 6: A View from the Other Side – Axis Units
Appendix 7: Ultra in the Desert War
Bibliography
Index
The origins of most of the west’s Special Forces can be traced back to the Long Range Desert Group which operated across the limitless expanses of the Libyan Desert, an area the size of India, during the whole of the Desert War from 1940 – 1943. After the defeat of the Axis in North Africa they adapted to serve in the Mediterranean, the Greek islands, Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece. They became the stuff of legend. The brainchild of Ralph Bagnold, a prewar desert explorer, featured, in fictional terms in The English Patient, who put all of his expertise into the creation of a new and, by the standards of the day, highly unorthodox unit. Conventional tactical thinking shunned the deep heart of the vast desert as it was thought to be a different planet, a harsh, inhospitable wilderness where British forces could not possibly survive even less operate effectively. Bagnold, Pat Clayton and Bill Kennedy Shaw created a whole new type of warfare.
Using specially adapted vehicles and the techniques they’d learned in the ‘30s, recruiting only men of the right temperament and high levels of fitness and endurance, the first patrols set out bristling with automatic weapons. The 30-cwt Chevy truck and the famous Jeep have become iconic, the LRDG, in a dark hour, was the force which took the fight to the enemy, roving over the deep desert – a small raider’s paradise, attacking enemy convoys and outposts, destroying aircraft and supplies, forcing the Axis to expend more and more resources protecting their vulnerable lines.
Their work was often dangerous, always taxing, exhausting and uncomfortable. They were a new breed of soldier. The Axis never managed to equip any similar unit, they never escaped their fear of the scorching wilderness. Once the desert war was won they transferred their skills to the Mediterranean sector, re-raining as mountain guerrillas, serving in the ill-fated Dodecanese campaign, then in strife torn Albania, Yugoslavia and Greece, fighting alongside the mercurial partisans at a time the Balkans were sliding towards communist domination or civil war.
In addition LRDG worked alongside the fledgling SAS and they established, beyond all doubt, the value of highly trained Special Forces, a legacy which resonates today.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Maps
Chronology
Dramatis Personae
Being Introductory
1 Legends of the ‘Blue’
2 Piracy on the High Desert, 1940
3 The Year of Dangerous Living, 1941
4 ‘The Libyan Taxi Company Limited’, 1941–1942
5 Sting of the Scorpion, 1942
6 Out of Africa, 1942–1943
7 The Wine-Dark Sea, 1943
8 Garlic-Reeking Bandits, 1944–1945
9 On the shores of the Adriatic, 1944–1945
10 Ghost Patrols, 1945–2015
Glossary
Appendices
Appendix 1: Weapons, Vehicles, Training & Equipment
Appendix 2: LRDG Commanders and Patrol Designations
Appendix 3: Patrol Commanders
Appendix 4: Daily LRDG Ration Scale
Appendix 5: LRDG Roll of Honour
Appendix 6: A View from the Other Side – Axis Units
Appendix 7: Ultra in the Desert War
Bibliography
Index
232 pages, Paperback
First published December 19, 2015
About the author
John Sadler
110 books23 followersBorn in 1953, John Sadler has law degrees from Northumbria University and the University of Westminster. A part-time lecturer in military history at Sunderland University Centre for Lifelong Learning, he is currently studying toward a PhD in history and is soon to begin an Imperial War Museum Fellowship in Holocaust Studies. He is the author of over 20 books, including Scottish Battles, published by Birlinn in April 2010. He is married with two children and lives in Newcastle.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 26, 2019
Not a very exciting book about an exciting unit. The author has put together a rather dry read by taking from other earlier books (and has noted it all) and there is not a lot of new info in this book. Also suffers from that pain where the author has put all his research into the book, even when it has only the slightest connection to the story of the LRDG. Rather look for another book on the subject.
July 12, 2017
Excellent study of a little known or understood part of the Desert War and the British efforts to assist the resistance (eventually Tito) in Yugoslavia. Only deficiency is the one I usually cite for historical works--lack of enough maps! While this book had a few, they only showed a location of a few cities (towns, oases, etc) that are mentioned in the text.
But that said, it's a solid story, well-told!
But that said, it's a solid story, well-told!
December 11, 2025
DNF for the moment.
Reads like a dissertation. EXTREMELY well researched and documented but one really needs a war table of the area and all the pieces to move around like in the movies to keep the troop movements straight. I generally like books like this, but this one I just found confusing. I’ll most likely come back to it later and finish. But at the moment I just don’t have the bandwidth to devote to it.
Reads like a dissertation. EXTREMELY well researched and documented but one really needs a war table of the area and all the pieces to move around like in the movies to keep the troop movements straight. I generally like books like this, but this one I just found confusing. I’ll most likely come back to it later and finish. But at the moment I just don’t have the bandwidth to devote to it.
June 18, 2017
Excellent book about the LRDG during WW2 as well as its connection with modern Special Forces units.
January 17, 2016
A very readable history of the Long Range Desert Group in the Western Desert and then Greece, Italy and the Balkans in World War II. Formed by several explorers who'd been active in charting the Egyptian desert before WWII, the unit specialized in long self supported movements through the desert to outflank the Axis forces. Their main occupation was intelligence gathering, but they also conducted raids, ambushes, and provided transport for the Special Air Service and for allied agents being infiltrated behind enemy lines. A fascinating story about a remarkable and intrepid band of soldiers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews