Publisher's Synopsis
An Irish solicitor and international rugby player, Blair "Paddy" Mayne became one of the most outstanding soldiers and leaders of World War II. After seeing action in Syria with the Commandos, he joined the Special Air Service. The raids Mayne led in the Western Desert destroyed over 100 enemy aircraft on the ground. The success of these was down to Mayne's ability to read the situation, anticipate how the enemy would react, and then attack. Mayne was 27 when he won the DSO for the first time. He subsequently led the unit in Italy, France and Germany, winning a further bar to the DSO in each of these campaigns, as well as the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'Honneur. At the end of the war, after a short period with an Antarctic Survey, Mayne returned to the law. In 1955 he died in a car accident, aged 40. Soon after his death, misinformation about Mayne began to appear. He was portrayed variously as a classical tragic hero of drama, and a man of anger and aggression. Hamish Ross's work largely refutes these standard interpretations. With the support of the Mayne family and the SAS Regimental Association, he strips away the legend and leaves Mayne not diminished but enhanced.
