The Nazi Hunters Read Online Free PDF Page A

replaced the old-style, wide-rimmed British Army ‘tin hat’. And in each of their sets of webbing was stuffed the distinctive SAS beret, with the iconic winged-dagger cap badge affixed.
    Since the summer of 1944 the SAS had been supposedly ‘banned’ from wearing their distinctive sandy-coloured beret. With the Regiment’s return from North African and Mediterranean operations, it had been subsumed into regular British Airborne Forces. Many argued this was all part of an effort by the military establishment to exert some form of control over the freewheeling, largely self-directed force – one that had faced repeated accusations of being a ‘private army’.
    Whatever the truth of the matter, the men of the SAS had been ordered to adopt the bright-red Parachute Regiment beret. Unarguably distinctive and warlike, it was fine for front-line combat troops, but with its high visibility it was hardly suited to a covert force inserting far behind enemy lines. Many vowed to adopt the red beret only once their sandy ones had worn out – and they were proving remarkably hard-wearing. Others had opted for a peaked khaki mountain cap, which would prove a useful head covering for operations in the Vosges.
    Other recent kit changes had proved somewhat more popular. The SAS’s old faithful, the .45-calibre Thompson sub-machine guns – the so-called ‘tommy gun’ favoured by 1930s gangsters and 1940s elite operators alike – was still around, but mostly it had been replaced by the lighter-weight 9mm Sten gun, nicknamed the ‘baked bean can’.
    The trusty Lewes incendiary bomb had been superseded by the ‘Gammon bomb’. The Gammon consisted of a weight of plastic explosive (PE) housed in a canvas bag, connected to a fuse than would detonate upon impact and no matter the angle at which the makeshift grenade struck its target. The most common size employed a kilogram of PE, and whoever threw it had to keep his mouth open, to avoid blowing out his eardrums. The great advantage of the Gammon over the Lewes was that it could disable heavy vehicles, crucial when going up against the might of German armour.
    The talismanic Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife – with its 7-inch blade, heavy handle to give a firm grip in the wet, cross-guard to prevent hands slipping, plus two razor-sharp edges and a sharp, stiletto profile – was still standard SAS issue as the tool for silent killing. But as the war had progressed, most had learned just how hard it was to knife a man to death. Normally, it required two soldiers to do it properly – one to hold the victim, and the other to drive in the blade – and it was invariably a messy, somewhat hit-and-miss affair.
    Recently, a ‘Fighting Knife Mark II’ had been developed. Known affectionately as the ‘Smatchet’, it resembled a cross between a hatchet and a machete. A miniature version of the original Fairbairn-Sykes knife was also available. With a flat thumb and forefinger grip, and a 3-inch blade, it was designed to be hidden in the lapel of a jacket. There was also a robust flick knife on offer for the real aficionados.
    But, if close-up killing was required, experience had proved that it was generally easier to shoot an adversary in the head with a pistol. To that end, the excellent Browning 9mm ‘Hi-Power’ GP35 had replaced the heavy and cumbersome Colt .45. Likewise, the .303 Lee–Enfield rifle had been supplanted by the superlative American .30 calibre Winchester M1-A1 carbine, which was half the weight of the British rifle. Though not as accurate at long range, it had a semi-automatic rate of fire, and its ammunition weighed half that of the British .303 round, meaning far more could be carried.
    The folding-stock version of the M1 carbine was perfect for paratroopers. The M1 – designed by two junior machinists at the Winchester Repeating Arms Company during their spare time – was to become one of the most widely used weapons amongst Allied forces in the Second