Damien Lewis's new bestseller tells the action-packed, riveting story of the band of mavericks and visionaries who made the SAS. Using hitherto untold stories and new archival sources, Damien Lewis follows one close-knit band of warriors from the SAS foundation through to the Italian landings - chronicling the extraordinary part they played as the tide of the Second World War truly turned in the Allies' favour. Summer, 1943: the largest invasion fleet ever assembled sailed for Europe, aiming to bulldoze its way onto shores. At its vanguard went a few hundred elite soldiers, their Royal Navy warship bearing the iconic motto 'Who Dares Wins'. The aim: Led by the legendary SAS commander Blair 'Paddy' Mayne, these war-bitten, piratical raiders were tasked to do the impossible - to bulldoze their way onto the most heavily defended shores - against all odds, outnumbered fifty-to-one. If they succeeded, it would mark the turning point in the war. If they failed, the consequences were unthinkable. Summer 1944: the SAS were charged with the most crucial D-Day missions, taking on the might of the Reich deep behind lines. Facing 's fearsome Panzer divisions with little more than raw courage and their nimble Willys jeeps, it would take maverick thinking and unconventional warfare to survive and overcome. Hunted at every turn, Blair 'Paddy' Mayne's SAS would face a bitter and bloody struggle to topple the . In the winter of 1941 an alien-seeming object was captured in a death-defying dash by an RAF reconnaissance pilot flying a lone unarmed Spitfire across the French coast. Balanced upon the cliffs near Le Havre was what appeared to be a giant convex dish, directed across the Channel at the war-torn British coastline. In the hard-fought winter of 1944 the Allies advanced northwards through Italy, but stalled on the fearsome mountainous defences of the Gothic Line. Two men were parachuted in, in an effort to break the deadlock. Their mission: to penetrate deep into territory and.