BEHIND 1944-45 ENEMY LINES INTERVIEW WITH 1 SAS VETERAN ALEC BORRIE
In 1944, the Western Allied invasion of Europe required more than the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy. To keep as many German troops away from the invasion zone, specially trained commandos were needed to cause maximum disruption behind enemy lines. Among these formidable soldiers were the men of Britain’s now famous Special Air Service.
Between June and September 1944, the 1st SAS Regiment carried out guerrilla operations against German forces while working alongside French Resistance fighters. Under direct orders from Winston Churchill, 1st SAS ambushed enemy convoys and conducted various acts of sabotage. However, these operations came at a heavy price, with captured commandos receiving no quarter from the Nazis.
Fighting among the SAS was a young Londoner: Trooper Alec Borrie. Now one of just two surviving WWII veterans of 1st SAS Regiment, Borrie was barely out of his teens when he was deployed to France. Now aged 97, he reveals how he survived ambushes, advanced through Western Europe into Germany and fought alongside 1st SAS’s famous commander – Paddy Mayne.
Scottish training
Born in Soho Square, London in 1924, Borrie was working for Vickers engineering firm when he volunteered for the British Army in 1942, “I was making bomb boxes and did exactly the same thing every day. I got very fed up but couldn’t leave to go somewhere else so the only alternative was to volunteer for the armed forces.”
Borrie initially joined the Gordon Highlanders but was transferred to the Highland Light Infantry and posted to northern Scotland. While he was stationed in the Orkney Islands, he volunteered for the Special Air Service almost by accident, “I joined the SAS in January 1944 because I wanted to get off the Orkney Islands! I know it
