The Long Range Desert Group
This is a reprint of a book first published in 1945 by Kennedy Shaw, who had been the Intelligence Officer of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG). Pre-war he had explored the Libyan D and had esert by vehicle, camel and o
- Author
- W.B. Kennedy Shaw
- Publisher
- Frontline Books
- Price
- £25
- ISBN
- 978184832 8587
- Published
- 2016
The Long Range Desert Group by W. B. Kennedy Shaw
First published in 1945, this memoir by the LRDG’s intelligence officer remains a definitive account of the unit. Before the war, Kennedy Shaw explored the Libyan Desert alongside Ralph Bagnold, who later formed the group in 1940 and recruited him.
Initially an intelligence-gathering unit operating behind enemy lines, the LRDG soon became a “taxi service” for the fledgling SAS, delivering raiding parties to their targets and recovering them afterwards. When the SAS became independent, the LRDG adopted a more aggressive role while still collecting intelligence.
They raided supply routes and airfields, vanished into the desert, and reappeared hundreds of miles away. “Road watches” left men hidden beside key routes for days at a time, and the unit often recovered stray escapers and evaders. Although the LRDG later operated in Italy, the book concentrates on the desert war.
Written with honesty and without exaggeration, it remains essential reading for anyone interested in the campaign. Some names were changed to comply with wartime censorship.
ISBN 9781848328587. Frontline Books. £25