SAS/SBS Help needed

[rumacara]

Hello all

Can someone point me good uniform sorces on the web for SAS/SBS in the mediterranean?
I already done some web search and i have just a few BW photos and 1 or 2 paintings but nothing else.

Thanks all

[Poiter50]

Osprey has a couple of really good books on LRDG Patrolmen and one other that I cant recall the title.

[zemjw]

The Imperial War Museum is worth checking.

LRDG returns 151 results, so hopefully there's something of use

Searching for SAS returns just under 2000, so that should keep you clicking for a while 

[flags_of_war]

Some great pics.

[rumacara]

Many thanks for the answers to all.

Flags of war - I have those pictures wich i also thought they would be a good sorce of the equipment used.

Zemjw - i have lots of information for the LRDG but would they have the same look in the mediterranean as in the desert (appart of the arab items et all of course)?

Poiter50 - I have the LRDG ospreys as well as the SAS one. Indeed they are good sorces.

So for the mediterranean should i use a mix of uniforms both desert types and europe types (mixed together) ?

[flags_of_war]

Id say you couldn't go wrong with that. If i was doing the project id use the Artizan figures from their Commandos - North Africa & the Med range.

http://www.artizandesigns.com/list.php?man=15&cat=101&sub=110&page=1

Id mix some of the non back pack packs in from the North West Europe (Normandy, etc) range.
http://www.artizandesigns.com/list.php?man=15&cat=101&sub=112&page=1

Some of the S.A.S. & L.R.D.G. without the head scarves are perfect too.
http://www.artizandesigns.com/list.php?man=15&cat=101&sub=111&page=1

The only prob i see is that shorts don't seem to be worn in the Med. I wouldn't let that bother me though for gaming.

Cadd's Commandos are also perfect.
http://www.artizandesigns.com/prod.php?prod=1601
http://www.artizandesigns.com/prod.php?prod=1603
http://www.artizandesigns.com/prod.php?prod=1617

[zemjw]

I believe the SAS wore standard paratrooper smocks in Western Europe. I'm not sure what they wore in the med, but given the mix of regiments they came from, you'd probably be okay mixing and matching different styles.

Dragon do some 1:35 SAS figures - both Western Europe and desert vehicle crews, so they could give some ideas. A search for images also turned up a bunch of stuff on pinterest - not a site I normally look at, but that may change...

Looking at the wikipedia  page for the lrdg, it says "In May 1943 the LRDG was sent to Lebanon to retrain in mountain warfare.[73] However, following the Italian armistice in 1943, they were sent to Leros, one of the Dodecanese islands, to serve as normal infantry." which would suggest more standard kit.

[rumacara]

Flags of war - yup, those are my ideas too. I also have a foundry pack of chindits (dont be surprised) that will do too specially for SBS (picture above).
Indeed, shorts where used in the mediterranean. Simply they where not so pratical for mountain terrain so they are not so common in pictures.

Zemjw - so far i havent found any evidence on the use of smocks in the mediterranean.
Thanks for the tip on the Dragon boxes. I forgot those and they are a good painting source.
I´m Reading a book about the LRDG and one of the chapters is about Leros wich i will read with much interest.
Pinterest is becoming a good source of information regarding painting ideas for several periods.

[flags_of_war]

Yeah they foundry guys will look the part mate. I look forward to seeing the project grow

[malto cortese]

Here are some images from Operation Tombola, a mission carried out in Italy by 2nd SAS together with a group of Italian partisans in the last few months of the war. SAS was very active in the Apennines behind the Gothic line and there are some wonderful books about its exploits, as well as a blog run by an Italian journalist, Matteo Incerti (not me!) who has written a lot about them  https://ilbraccialedisterline.wordpress.com/, and even an episode of The Secret war, "The SAS Italian Job"

Here is 2nd SAS with the 105 howitzer parachuted in the last weeks of the operation, "molto stanco" (very tired, for being hauled up and down the hills to fire upon the retreating Germans)



4 members of operation Tombola (3 are identified as Harvey, Manners and McConnelly)



some of the same with an Italian "staffetta", one of the brave Italian partisans who acted as couriers behind the German line



David Kirkpatrick, the piper who accompanied 2nd SAS in the attack against the HQ of the German LI Corps. He was requested by Major Roy Farran, who led the attack, to bolster the morale of his men and the partisans. His sons always perform at the ceremony which takes place in the Italian village to commemorate the daring operation!



another group image

[Truscott Trotter]

SNIP

Cadd's Commandos are also perfect.
http://www.artizandesigns.com/prod.php?prod=1601
http://www.artizandesigns.com/prod.php?prod=1603
http://www.artizandesigns.com/prod.php?prod=1617

Had not see Cadds Commandos before - they look just the thing to add a bit of character to my Para and Commando force

[Eclaireur]

rumacara,
it all depends what type of ops you're planning to game. Some of those small scale raiding ops in the Greek Islands resulted in some very dashing rig + kit.
But I read "SAS Man in the Making" by Peter Davis a couple of months back - it's a newish book which is largely about ops in Sicily and Italy by the Special Raiding Squadron.
The guys in the pictures are often in 8th Army type garb, including shorts in the summer ones. Like the Op Tombola pics posted above they appear largely uniform, clean shaven and possessed of standard kit. Berets are often a mixture of SAS buff and airborne maroon - apparently depending on who'd been properly badged before Op Husky. They also, from the descriptions of the ops given, appear to have acted as a squadron sized force rather than in small patrols. 
It depends on your taste in figures - but you could just as easily base them on the Perry 8th Army types, with some of their SAS castings thrown in. You'd just need a way to give them all berets...
EC 

[Truscott Trotter]

You could always do these chaps instead?
http://www.popski.org/thepopskistory

[foxweasel]

You can get away with just about any kit that was British, even unofficial stuff like civilian jumpers, sandals etc. Here's a couple of the Foundry ones I've painted up for the Med.