Behind The Lines with The SBS (Hardback)

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Taxi Driver Association newspaper

What, you say, another book on Special Forces! Well, this one is different. You all know about the SAS but maybe are less aware of the SBS; and those who are, may be more familiar with George Jellicoe, one of the unit’s most famous commanders.

Well, this book is by one of their ‘unsung’ heroes, Des Marshall, and his experience as the signaller (together with all other tasks!) of an SBS patrol of which he was a vital part.

So why now? Nick Marshall, Des’s son, was in the TA with an inherited interest in the military. So, when he got to grips with his father’s handwritten memoir of his war service, he knew that it must be shared. So, he and Des’s grandson set about typing his father’s fine copperplate script for submission to the publisher. Well, here it is! And frankly, it is beautifully written with detailed explanations of the many exploits they undertook always inside enemy territory with all the threats which that entails. This was all done after his father’s death in 1993, the manuscript having not been found until his widow moved to a care home in 2015; and as is often the case, the task of the next stage took these two men much time to prepare in the midst of the usual duties of busy family life.

One of the remarkable things about this book is the amazing and vivid recollection in such detail that the reader can feel as if they were there with him. This is the true history of Des’s time with L Sqn SBS in WW2 1943-5 told with humour and fascinating explanations.

So, SBS, Special Boat Squadron does not mean they spend their lives on boats, there’s a helluva lot of ‘tabbing’; and for the signaller, for Des was a signaller, that means he has to carry a great deal of extra kit. Whilst some stuff will be shared with the rest of the patrol, he carries the radio, hardly like a mobile phone! It’s heavy weighs over 8kgs, and no in-built battery, so you need those and a generator to recharge the batteries in the field, which might add another 7 or 8 kgs.

Being a signaller in an SF patrol is vital to their existence, for arranging resup, pick up and RV details or changes thereof, quite apart from changes or updates to plans. Messages have to be encoded and decoded, responsibility of the signaller, though others can help. If they lie up for long periods, they will need their generator, hand or foot powered – not the signaller’s task, but more weight for someone. So, Des was a critical part of his patrol which helps putting this excellent historical document in perspective.

To understand why this patrol’s achievements were important for the Allies, we should recall that whilst the main Allied forces were ‘clearing’ the way up through Italy in the central Mediterranean, there were still significant enemy presences in the eastern Med, and in particular the area around Greece and the Peloponnese, which comprises thousands (really!) of small islands, whose inhabitants were under the forced control of the Germans. This made incursions by Allied troops impractical on the scale being applied in Italy, so small groups had to use stealth (and very fit soldiers!) to attack the ‘invaders.

Whilst, the SAS were achieving successes on the mainland, the SBS was created and successfully employed to do the same on the myriad of small, mountainous islands of the Peloponnese and southern Greece. The local population (predominantly farmers) had been subjugated by the Germans.

The way Des tells his story, brings us close to understanding the terror to which the local population were subjected. One might wonder why a lot of little rocky and mountainous islands, with no real pecuniary value to an invader attracted the Axis forces other than to bar Allied access to Greece and the Aegean Sea; so that is why they did, and it became incumbent on the Allies to ‘invite’ the Peloponnese islands, and in due course, Greece, to join them.

This book is Des’s fascinating and true story of how one small patrol of the SBS made their important contribution to the Allies’ ultimate success in the eastern Med and Aegean.

Chris Buckman

As featured in

Mars & Minerva - The Journal of The Special Air Service

As featured in

Airborne Forces Association of WA journal - August 2025