List of SAS operations

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The following is a list of known Special Air Service (SAS) operations.

[edit] World War II Operations

  • Colossus February 1941 first airborne raid, raid on Tragino aqueduct in Italy by 'X' Troop, No. 1 Special Air Service Battalion origin of the term 'SAS' (but not the organisation).
  • Operation Squatter 16/17 November 1941 raid on forward Axis airfields in North Africa
  • Operation Green Room
  • Operation Bigamy September 1942, raid on the port of Benghazi Shown as Snowdrop in all publications which follow uncritically the initial editions of William Boyd Kennedy Shaw's book Long Range Desert Group which used this appelation for the first time as War Office security policy would not permit him to use real operational code names on first publication.
  • Operation Palmyra
  • Chestnut July 1943 raids supporting Sicily invasion.
  • Narcissus July 1943, capture of lighthouse in Sicily.
  • Begonia/Jonquil October 1943, rescue of POWs in Italy.
  • Candytuft October 1943 raid on railroad targets in Italy.
  • Maple Driftwood 1944, raid of railroad targets in Italy
  • Baobab January 1944, raid on rail targets serving Anzio, Italy
  • Operation Titanic IV June 6 1944
  • Nelson Planned June 1944, operation in the Orleans Gap.
  • Samwest 6th June 1944, 4th SAS Battalion dropped in CĂ´tes-du-Nord (Britanny)
  • Dingson 6th June 1944, 4th SAS Battalion (Free French) dropped to Morbihan (Britanny)
  • Cooney 8th June 1944, 18 teams of the 4th SAS Battalion (Free French) dropped to Britanny to break communications ways.
  • Houndsworth June 1944
  • Lost 1944
  • Swan 1944
  • Gain 1944 (Originally issued as *Cain but corrupted in transmission and the latter adopted)
  • Defoe July 1944, patrols in Normandy.
  • Dunhill 1944
  • Barker 1944 (Originally issued as *Barkers as it is named for a famous London department store, but subsequently truncated)*Derry 1944
  • Gaff July 1944, attempt to kill or capture Erwin Rommel.
  • Dunhill August 1944, raid in support of the breakout from the Normandy beachhead.
  • Loyton August 1944, operations near the Belfort Gap.
  • Haggard(Part of a series of randomly allocated cryptonyms derived from famous writers)
  • Moses (Part of a series of randomly allocated cryptonyms derived from the Bible)
  • Newton August 1944, attacks on German rear areas.
  • Noah August 1944, attack on retreating Germans in Belgium.
  • Canuck January 1945 operation in Northern Italy.
  • Cold Comfort (subsequently Zombie ) February 1945 failed SAS raid on railroad targets near Verona.
  • Brake(Part of a series of operations named after parts of aircraft)
  • Tombola March 1945, major operation around Bologna
  • Archway March 1945, reconnaissance in support of the crossing of the Rhine.
  • Amherst In the night of 7th April 1945, more than 700 Free French SAS of the 3rd and 4th SAS were dropped in Holland between Hoogeveen and Groningen.
  • Keystone April 1945, operation near Ijsselmeer.

[edit] Post-War Operations

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Operation Date Country Notes
Claret June 1964 Flag of Indonesia Indonesia series of high risk deniable cross-border patrols into Indonesia.
Nimrod April 1980 Flag of England England rescue of hostages in the Iranian embassy in London.
Folklore
Keyhole 1982 Flag of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands operations on South Georgia Island.
Pebble Island Raid 14-15 May 1982 Flag of Falkland Islands Falkland Islands attack on Argentinian-held airbase in the Falklands.
Flavius March 1988 Flag of Gibraltar Gibraltar killing of unarmed IRA bombers in Gibraltar.
Bravo One Zero January 1991 Flag of Iraq Iraq
Bravo Two Zero January 1991 Flag of Iraq Iraq
Bravo Three Zero January 1991 Flag of Iraq Iraq
Barras September 2000 Flag of Sierra Leone Sierra Leone rescue of 6 captured Royal Irish Rangers in Sierra Leone.
Trent November 2001 attack on an Al Qaeda opium plant[citation needed] and command centre.
Condor May 2002 Flag of Afghanistan Afghanistan