Book Description

In May 1987, a successful SAS ambush resulted in the deaths of eight IRA terrorists in Loughgall. Aware that retaliation was certain, British intelligence went on the alert, and eventually established that the IRA had selected Gibraltar as being a 'soft' target and one identified with British imperialism. In November, the terrorism experts of Madrid's Servicios de Información informed British intelligence that two male members of the IRA had arrived in Southern Spain under false names. British intelligence assumed immediately that the two men were intending wither to murder some of the British residents on the Costa del Sol or to attack a British Army target on Gibraltar. The changing guard outside the Governor of Gibraltar's residence was judged to provide the most likely opportunity for such an attack. The most likely date was 8 March 1988, when the band parade ceremony of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment was due to take place. For the next few months, British and Spanish intelligence services kept the two men under surveillance, waiting for them to travel from Spain to Gibraltar. In February, MI5 reported that an Irishwoman travelling under a false identity had repeatedly visited the rock and attended the guard ceremony. Now that there appeared to be little doubt about the target, the British government decided to send a hit team to Gibraltar to prevent the planned bombing, if necessary by killing the terrorists. The only men even considered for this dangerous operation were the legendary Special Air Service the SAS! Soldier R SAS: Death on Gibraltar tells the story of what was to become the most controversial of all SAS campaigns: a deadly cat-and-mouse game that called into play all the expertise and tenacity at the SAS team's disposal.