List of SAS operations

The following is a list of known Special Air Service (SAS) operations.

World War II Operations

• Colossus February 1941 first airborne raid, raid on Tragino aqueduct in Italy by 'X' Troop, No. 1 Special Air Service Battalion origin of the term 'SAS' (but not the organisation).
• Operation Squatter 16/17 November 1941 raid on forward Axis airfields in North Africa
• Operation Green Room
• Operation Bigamy September 1942, raid on the port of Benghazi Shown as Snowdrop in all publications which follow uncritically the initial editions of William Boyd Kennedy Shaw's book Long Range Desert Group which used this appellation for the first time as War Office security policy would not permit him to use real operational code names on first publication.
• Operation Palmyra
• Chestnut July 1943 raids supporting Sicily invasion.
• Narcissus July 1943, capture of lighthouse in Sicily.
• Begonia/Jonquil October 1943, rescue of POWs in Italy.
• Candytuft October 1943 raid on railroad targets in Italy.
• Maple Driftwood 1944, raid of railroad targets in Italy
• Baobab January 1944, raid on rail targets serving Anzio, Italy
• Operation Titanic June 6 1944
• Nelson Planned June 1944, operation in the Orleans Gap.
• Samwest 6 June 1944, 4th SAS Battalion (Free French) dropped in Côtes-du-Nord (Brittany)
• Operation Grog /Grog 4 SAS in conjunction with Operations Dingson and Samwest June 5 1944
• Dingson 6 June 1944, 4th SAS Battalion (Free French) dropped to Morbihan (Brittany)
• Operation Bulbasket 2nd SAS failed operation 6th of June 1944
• Cooney 8 June 1944, 18 teams of the 4th SAS Battalion (58 Free French) dropped to Brittany to break communications ways.
• Houndsworth June 1944
• Lost 23 June - July 1944, British and Free French operation in Brittany
• Swan 1944
• Gain 1944 (Originally issued as *Cain but corrupted in transmission and the latter adopted)
• Defoe July 1944, patrols in Normandy.
• Barker 1944 (Originally issued as *Barkers as it is named for a famous London department store, but subsequently truncated)
• Derry 1944
• Gaff July 1944, attempt to kill or capture Erwin Rommel.
• Dunhill August 1944, raid in support of the breakout from the Normandy beachhead.
• Loyton August 1944, operations near the Belfort Gap.
• Haggard (Part of a series of randomly allocated cryptonyms derived from famous writers)
• Newton August 1944, attacks on German rear areas.
• Noah August 1944, attack on retreating Germans in Belgium.
• Canuck January 1945 operation in Northern Italy.
• Cold Comfort (subsequently Zombie ) February 1945 failed SAS raid on railroad targets near Verona.
• Brake (Part of a series of operations named after parts of aircraft)
• Tombola March 1945, major operation around Bologna
• Archway March 1945, reconnaissance in support of the crossing of the Rhine.
• Amherst In the night of 7 April 1945, more than 700 Free French SAS of the 3rd and 4th SAS were dropped in the Netherlands between Hoogeveen and Groningen.
• Keystone April 1945, operation near IJsselmeer.

Known Post-War Operations

Operation	Date	Country	Notes
Claret	June 1964	Indonesia	Series of high risk deniable cross-border patrols into Indonesia.
Operation Storm	1970 - 1977	Oman
Fire Magic	13 October 1977	Somalia	Highjack of Lufthansa Flight 181. Supplemented German GSG9 commando operation.
Nimrod	30 April - 5 May 1980	England	Rescue of hostages in the Iranian embassy siege in London.
Folklore
Keyhole	19 - 20 June 1982	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands	Operations on South Georgia Island.
Pebble Island Raid	14 - 15 May 1982	Falkland Islands	Attack on Argentinian-held airbase in the Falklands.
Flavius	6 March 1988	Gibraltar	Operation in Gibraltar against the IRA.
Granby	January 1991	Iraq	Included the well documented Bravo Two Zero patrol.
Barras	September 2000	Sierra Leone	Rescue of 6 captured Royal Irish Rangers in Sierra Leone.
Trent	November 2001		Attack on an Al Qaeda opium plant and command centre.
Condor	May 2002	Afghanistan
Marlborough	July 2005	Iraq
Moshtarak	March 2010	Afganistan	A part of a US led operation in Helmand Province, Operating with US Navy Seals striking against and capturing Taliban leaders.