BOOK THE PHANTOM MAJOR (DAVID STIRLINE & HIS DESERT COMMAND) (BOX44)

 COURTESY OF GIBSONS TACTICAL TAVERN                                                                       MILITARY SURPLUS LISTING INDIVIDUALLY PICTURED

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 58-6146

 COPYRIGHT 1958 BY CRAWLEY FEATURES

PUBLISHED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH HARPER AND BROS.  AUGUST 1966

*** ON A BLISTERING HOT MORNING IN JULY, 1941, A YOUNG MAN NAMED DAVID STIRLING TRICKED HIS WAY INTO MIDDLE EAST HEADQUARTERS IN CAIRO, EGYPT.  HE HAD A PLAN, AND THE ALLIES WHO WERE LOSING BADLY IN AFRICA WERE RELUCTANTLY FORCED TO LISTEN.  WHY NOT FORM SMALL "COMMANDO" GROUPS TO ATTACK GERMAN AIRFIELDS AND SUPPLY LINES? NO ARMY COULD PROTECT HUNDREDS OF MILES OF ROADS, AND AIRPLANES BLOWN UP OR BURNED ON THE GROUND WERE KNOCKED OUT OF THE WAR JUST AS EFFECTIVELY AS IF THEY HAD BEEN SHOT DOWN BY R.A.F. PILOTS. AND IT WAS A LOT CHEAPER, IN MATERIAL AND IN PRECIOUS HUMAN LIVES.  ROAMING THE DESERT, HUNDREDS OF MILES AHEAD OF THEIR OWN LINES AND SURROUNDED BY GERMANS, STIRLING'S MEN RACED THROUGH THE NIGHT IN THEIR HEAVILY ARMED JEEPS. BOMBING AND RAIDING THE BEWILDERED GERMANS.                 WHAT FOLLOWED IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS MAKES DAVID STIRLING'S RECORD AN ALMOST INCREDIBLE SAGA OF DARING AND AUDACITY.