23 Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve)

The unit was founded during 1959,[4] as an additional regiment of the Territorial Army of the United Kingdom,[5] and was created from the former Reserve Reconnaissance Unit ('RRU'), this unit having originated from an organisation known as Military Intelligence 9.[6][7] The initial headquarters location was London, the headquarters were moved during 1959, to Thorpe Street, Birmingham, during 1966, to Kingstanding, Birmingham, within a Territorial Army centre.[8]

23 SAS was formed as a result of a direct military requirement of 1 (BR) Corps: because of the RRU's impressive performance during its annual exercise in 1957, when it tested their new techniques in battlefield surveillance and nuclear targeting, 1 (BR) Corps requested the unit to be included in its order of battle. The RRU evolved to become 23 SAS. The role of the SAS in the defence of West Germany was kept top secret but by the 1960s, the KGB and East German intelligence were well aware of what was being planned and even tried, unsuccessfully, to penetrate the unit. When the main line of defence moved from the Rhine eastwards in the late 1950s, NORTHAG identified the obvious shortcomings of employing two reserve units for these tasks. In theory, 21 and 23 SAS would have been mobilized and deployed to 1 (BR) Corps within 48 hours of an alert.[9] The regiment's first commander was Lt Col H S Gillies;[6] Anthony Hunter-Choat OBE was the commanding officer of the regiment from 1977 to 1983.[10]

During mid-October 2001, members of 21 SAS and 23 SAS were deployed to Afghanistan as reinforcements of two squadrons of 22 SAS, for Operation Determine, during the 2001 coalition invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime and destroy and dismantle al-Qaeda in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Following the invasion, members of the 23 remained in the country to provide close protection to individuals of the Secret Intelligence Service.[11][12][13]

During June 2008, three soldiers from 23 were killed by the explosion of a landmine their vehicle had triggered, while they were within Helmand province.[14][15] The reservists were involved in the training the Afghan National Police, there were also elements of the Regiment performing operational duties in Iraq during this period. [16][17][18][19]

An inquest into the deaths of three reservists during a test march in 2013, heard that: 6 months' preparation is needed before undertaking "Test Week"; it is possible for "direct civilian entry" students to attempt to join one of two SAS Reserve regiments; and approximately 10% of candidates who took part in the march had had no previous military experience before opting to attempt to join the regiment. An Army review found that though reservists from 23 SAS had well-defined jobs during the Cold War, since then "the requirement for them appears to be less clear and more difficult to articulate" and that reservists "were not trained and conditioned to the right level; neither did they have the experience to face the rigours of the test march".[20]

The two reserve regiments, 21 SAS and 23 SAS are under the operational command of the Director Special Forces, as an integrated part of United Kingdom Special Forces.[21]

On 1 September 2014, 21 and 23 SAS were moved from United Kingdom Special Forces and placed under the command of 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade.[22][23] The units then left that brigade before the end of 2019.[24]

• 21 & 23 SAS British Army Website
• article published by Telegraph Media Group Limited
• photograph of grave of H.S. Gillies - posted on Scottish War Graves by kenmorrison 30.10.2009
• Pratt Doug - Photograph catalogued HU 111247 (others shown) published by the Imperial War Museum [Retrieved 2015-10-30]
• Z. Chamberlain - Article: SAS medic published by Birmingham Mail 10 November 2013 (please see also: α & β Part-time SAS man dies in action)
• Thorpe Street, Birmingham - (Nicholas McMurphy, Birmingham Mail) 29 August 2016