The5th Special Air Service (5th SAS) was a Belgianspecial forces unit duringWorld War II, made up entirely of Belgian volunteers. It saw action as part of the BritishSAS Brigade inNormandy, NorthernFrance,Belgium, theNetherlands, andGermany. Initially trained in artillery observer,commando-style raids, CQB/CQC, gathering military intelligence, irregular warfare, long-range penetration, parachuting, and special reconnaissance, the unit converted to motorised reconnaissance on armoured jeeps. It was the first Allied unit to set foot onto Belgian soil, and the first to cross theSiegfried line, albeit accidentally.^[1][2]

5th Special Air Service
Crest and Cap Badge of the 5th Special Air Service
Active	February 1941 – 21 September 1945
Country	Belgium
Type	Special forces
Size	One squadron (until early 1945) One regiment (from March 1945)
Part of	Free Belgian Forces
Garrison/HQ	Malvern Wells Loudon Castle Camp Tervuren
Motto(s)	Who Dares Wins
March	Quick:Marche des Parachutistes Belges Slow:Lili Marlene
Battle honours	Normandy –Belgium –Ardennes –Emden –Oldenburg Fourragère of theLeopold Order Fourragère of theFrench Croix de Guerre 1939–1945
Commanders
Notable commanders	Lieutenant ColonelEddy Blondeel

A Belgian Independent Parachute Company was officially founded atMalvern Wells (Worcestershire) on 8 May 1942 byHenri 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 fromSouth and 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 occupiedBelgium via France, Spain andGibraltar.

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

The unit was attached for 3 months to the8th Parachute Battalion of the 6th Airborne Division in 1943, then spent a month in intensive training in December 1943 at the Allied Training Centre Inverlochy Castle (Fort William), and finally in February 1944, at Loudon Castle Camp, nearGalston (Ayrshire) joining the Special Air Service (S.A.S.) Brigade.^[3]

Like all military units and formations the men came from all walks of life. The volunteers included a former world cycling champion, lawyers, farmers, labourers, lumberjacks, a circus acrobat, a professional wrestler and threebarons. The commanding officer was a qualified engineer and dentist. The men who volunteered came from across the world to fightNazis. Not all of them could even speak the same language. Some spoke French, someDutch and others only English. These differences of upbringing, class, lifestyle and even language might have seemed problematic, butesprit de corps developed within the unit.

The role of the Belgian SAS parachutists during the Second World War was primarilysabotage,intelligence andreconnaissance. The men saw their first action towards the end of July 1944 in France. During theArdennes offensive the unit was regrouped and equipped with armoured jeeps. As a reconnaissance squadron, they executed security and reconnaissance missions in support of the 6th British Airborne Division. They did so during theBattle of Bure. In 1945 they were used for counter-intelligence work that involved the location and arrest of top-ranking Nazis andwar criminals.

In the beginning of April 1945 the Belgian SAS Squadron consisted of three reconnaissance squads that deployed in the north of the Netherlands and in Germany. After the capitulation of Nazi Germany on 8 May 1945 the Belgian SAS participated in 'Counter Intelligence' missions in Germany and Denmark.

At the end of the war the Belgian SAS Regiment was the first Allied unit to set foot in Belgium and Germany, and the only Belgian unit permanently on active deployment between July 1944 and May 1945. They took part in the capture ofAdmiral Doenitz and the government he now led inFlensburg, the German Foreign ministerRibbentrop, and other senior Nazis.^[4]

• Thecap badge is a downward pointing flaming sword worked in cloth of aCrusadershield.^[5] It was designed by Corporal Robert Tait,MM andBar, following the usual British Army practice of holding a competition to design thecap badge for a new unit. The competition was held after the close ofOperation Crusader. The motto isWho Dares, Wins. It was approved by the firstCommanding Officer David Stirling, with the proposed wording 'Descend to Defend' or 'Strike and Destroy' disallowed. The sword depicted is theSword of Damocles^[6]
• TheMaroon beret.
• The SAS patternparachute wings were designed by LieutenantJock Lewes and based on the basic British Army design approved in 1940, but modified to reflect the Middle East origins of the new unit by the substitution of the stylised sacredibis wings ofIsis of Egyptianiconography depicted in the décor ofShepheard's Hotel in Cairo.

On 21 September 1945 5th SAS was transferred from theBritish Army to the newly re-formedBelgian Army. Renamed the1st Regiment of Parachutists they served independently as a mobile airborne unit until 1952, when the regiment joined with theCommando Regiment to form a battalion of thePara-Commando Brigade. From 1952 on the traditions of 5th SAS were continued by1st Parachute Battalion (1 PARA) of the Para-Commando Brigade.^[7]

Amid defence cuts and reorganisation to the Belgian army, in 2011, 1 PARA was disbanded after 59 years of continuous service. In December 2010 the unit's banner, flag and insignia were officially handed over to the newly formedSpecial Forces Group (SFG).

The last veteran of 5th Special Air Service was Jaak Daemen fromLeopoldsburg, who died in August 2022, aged 97.^[8]

• Belgium in World War II
• German occupation of Belgium during World War II
• List of SAS operations