This remarkable story of Jim Almonds (Gentleman Jim) is set in
wartime England, the western desert, Italy and France and
recounts his formative role in the birth of the SAS. Against a dramatic
background of love, courage and high-risk adventure, it captures for the first
time the real spirit of the young soldiers in the newly emerging Special Air
Service.
Jim Almonds, a sergeant in the Guards Commandos, sailed for the
Middle East as part of ‘Layforce’ in January
1941 with David Stirling and others destined to become SAS ‘L’ Detachment
‘originals’. Following intensive training in the desert and action at Tobruk,
Sidi Haneish, Nofelia and Benghazi, Almonds was
captured and shipped to a POW camp in Italy, where he staged two escapes.
After thirty-two days on the run in enemy territory, he reached US forces at the
Benevento front
line. Later, he parachuted into occupied France where he
harried the Germans so effectively that he was awarded the Croix de
Guerre.
Written by Gentleman Jim’s daughter and based on Almond’s own
diaries, various primary sources and interviews with other ‘originals’, the
action throughout is vivid and immediate..
