... and yet, many have. Usually due to complacency, under-performing, taking the customer for granted ... and (or) otherwise generally taking the ****!
Meanwhile, I have finished "Paddy Mayne" by Hamish Ross (2004) ... in which I learned a few details about Mayne that I had not known before (or had maybe forgotten).
Another 9/10; and useful to contrast with (and cross-refer to) Virginia Cowles' "The Phantom Major" which (probably because it was first published in 1958) omits - or glosses over - some of the later "perceived wisdom" about David Stirling and the early days of the SAS. Enjoyable, but only 7/10 I'm afraid.
Of the (many) books covering those times, I would also recommend "One of the Originals" by Johnny Cooper (published in 1991). Although he ended up as a Lt.Col., back in the days in question (escapades in the Western Desert), Cooper was of non-commissioned rank and so relates the stories about Stirling and Mayne (and Lewes
et al) from that perspective. 9/10 for that one.
