313g-Beret-Belgian-SAS-1-01

This is one of a small collection of SPECIAL FORCES Berets that I will be listing over the next week

VERY SMALL size MODERN & in unissued condition

The 5th Special Air Service (5th SAS) was an elite airborne unit during WW2. It consisted entirely of Belgian volunteers

It saw action as part of the SAS Brigade in Normandy, Northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands & Germany

Initially trained in sabotage & intelligence gathering, they converted to motorized reconnaissance on armored jeeps

They were the first Allied unit to set foot onto Belgian soil & the first to cross the Siegfried line, albeit accidentally

A Belgian Independent Parachute Company was officially founded at Malvern Wells (Worcestershire) on 8 May 1942 by Henri Rolin, the then-Belgian undersecretary for defense. It comprised the following:

A Company, 2nd Battalion Belgian Fusiliers, a Battalion mainly made up of Belgian volunteers from South & North America organised after January 1941, who moved to Great Britain in June 1941. A Company as a whole volunteered in February 1942 to train as an Independent Parachute Company under Lt. Freddy Limbosch as Chief Instructor. A platoon of the 1st Battalion Belgian Fusiliers with some qualified parachutists (since January 1942). Volunteers from other Belgian Forces units who had escaped occupied Belgium via France, Spain & Gibraltar.

The newly formed Company continued to train as an Independent Parachute Company, making extensive use of the schools & training facilities offered by the British (the first Parachutists wings worn by Belgians were earned at Ringway parachute school in early 1942).

The unit was attached for 3 months to the 8th Parachute Battalion of the 6th Airborne Division in 1943, then spent a month in intensive training in Dec 1943 at the Allied Training Centre Inverlochy Castle (Fort William), and finally in Feb 1944, at Loudon Castle Camp, near Galston (Ayrshire) joining the Special Air Service (S.A.S.) Brigade