forged in hell: the gripping true story of the special forces heroes who broke the nazi stranglehold

With riveting combat writing and masterful research, award-winning historian and #1 internationally bestselling author Damien Lewis delivers the remarkable true story of Britain’s infamous Special Air Service (SAS) forces, their legendary commander, and the impossibly daring, historic mission to liberate Europe via the largest invasion fleet ever assembled.

By the author of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare - now a major motion picture.

July 1943: The largest invasion fleet ever assembled sailed for fortress Europe, aiming to bulldoze its way onto Nazi shores. At its vanguard went a few hundred elite forces soldiers. The Royal Navy warship carrying them--a former passenger ferry transformed for battle--bore the iconic winged dagger emblem carved on its prow, plus the motto ’Who Dares Wins, ’ painstakingly fashioned with the most rudimentary tools by Sergeant William ’Bill’ Deakins, the foremost explosives expert on board and a Royal Engineer by trade.

Led by the SAS commander Blair ’Paddy’ Mayne, these war-bitten, piratical raiders were tasked with the impossible--to be the first among the fleet--the very tip of the spear--to bludgeon their way through the most heavily defended enemy shoreline, enabling the ensuing forces to follow on. If they succeeded, it would mark the turning point in the war. If they failed, the consequences were unthinkable. Against all odds, outnumbered some fifty-to-one, and facing a ferocious series of cliffside defenses, they would have to dare all as never before. So begins the true story of the SAS’s incredible mission, an endeavor replete with surprise, shock, action, heroism, and glory, not to mention treachery, dismay--and the longstanding personal aftershocks of brutal and bloody years spent at war.

Damien Lewis is an award-winning historian, war reporter, and bestselling author. He spent over two decades reporting from war, disaster, and conflict zones around the world, winning numerous awards. He has written more than twenty books, including The Ministry for Ungentlemanly Warfare, Agent Josephine, Churchill’s Band of Brothers, SAS Ghost Patrol, and The Nazi Hunters. His work has been published in over forty languages, and many of his books have been made, or are being developed, as feature films, TV series, or as plays for the stage. Lewis is a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Visit him online at DamienLewis.com.