HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
Inside Britain’s top-secret Special Forces unit whose killer spies mingle with public to carry out James Bond-style hits
The unit is so secretive the Government won't admit it exists
AN elite Special Forces branch made up of killer spies who carry out James Bond-style hits is one of the most secretive units in Britain.
The SAS E Squadron is known as The Increment and reportedly operates like something out of the popular novels by Ian Fleming featuring the suave British spy.
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Very little is known about the unit and the Government has refused to admit it even exists.
However, confirmation that The Increment does exist appeared in 2021 after bungling Army top brass leaked the personal details of more than 70 Special Forces troops.
Buried deep in a spreadsheet of 1,200 soldiers’ names, trades and military units was a single reference to “22 SAS E SQN”.
It was the first written proof that the unit exists.
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E Squadron is the fifth and newest limb of 22 SAS, the world’s most famous Special Forces regiment, whose motto is Who Dares Wins.
But its work is so secret that its troops are kept apart from the other four Sabre Squadrons, A, B, D and G, at their headquarters in Hereford.
As the unit is shrouded in secrecy its role is not clear although it reportedly designed to undertake sanctioned high value targeting and other perilous and elusive tasks.
Reports of a new elite branch of the SAS first emerged in the early 2010s.
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It was initially thought the group of SAS personnel was more informal and loosely organised and supported MI6 operations.
The Increment is believed to have been set up as part of the Revolutionary Warfare Wing (RWW).
SAS Hero Christian Craighead storming the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, to save hostages in 2019
It later took a more formal organisation and renamed E Squadron but is still known as The Increment.
While there is no way of getting official confirmation, it is believed The Increment is tasked with giving highly specialised secret military assistance, including threat monitoring, agent running and intelligence gathering.
E Squadron is thought to exclusively recruit highly experienced former Special Forces officers, drawn from the SAS, SBS and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment.
The unit is also expected to work alongside UKN, a highly specialised UK intelligence surveillance unit.
Although The Increment is technically a Special Forces unit within the SAS, it also takes on tasks directly from UK’s intelligence agencies, like MI6.
In that sense, it functions semi-autonomously from the other UK Special Forces.
The elite members are thought to wear plain clothes with access to all sorts of false documentation to help with their operations.
What's the origin of the SAS motto Who Dares Wins?
The combat slogan is normally credited to the founder of the SAS, Sir David Stirling.
The expression first appears in a medieval Arabic book of fairy tales called Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange.
However, the similar phrase "luck favours the daring" can be found attributed to the Ancient Greek soldier and historian Thucydides.
Who Dares Wins is emblazoned across the Special Air Service's crest which features a sword bearing angel wings.
The idea behind the motto is that if one has the courage and audacity to take risks, that person will succeed in life.
It can also be interpreted that courage itself is its own reward.
It is also non-gendered, with any of "he", "she", "one" or even "a person" easily placed before "Who" with the phrase still making perfect sense.
Reports have indicated E Squadron had a hand in the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime in Libya.
It’s believed The Increment played an active role in subversion efforts, including the secretive monitoring of Gaddafi’s inner circle.
Some analysis also suggest E Squadron was active in Afghanistan in the early years of the Afghan war.
It is also thought it carried out reconnaissance missions targeting war criminals in Bosnia.
SAS legend Andy McNab spent three years with the unit from 1991 to 1993, after his patrol in the first Gulf War which he wrote about in his book Bravo Two Zero.
He said the unit was “the closest to what James Bond does” of any British secret service. But almost 30 years after he left, he said his work was still too secret to reveal.
Andy told The Sun in 2021: “The standing joke was you had to be able to fit in at an embassy do or a whorehouse in Istanbul.”
Another former member, who asked not to be named, said: “We were moving in and out of countries on different passports. Always in civvies, overseas all the time. It was busy.
"It was the James Bond stuff — use your imagination.”
Its members are famed for not always looking like soldiers. Some speak foreign languages and can pass as foreign nationals.
The ex-member added: “You had to be able to blend in. People were picked for their ability to do undercover work.”
How the SAS was established
The Special Air Service (SAS) has its origins in the North African desert.
It was formed as L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade, in July 1941 to undertake small-scale raids behind enemy lines, according to the .
The new unit initially drew its men from No 7 and No 8 Commando.
Later, troops from No 62 Commando (aka the Small Scale Raiding Force) joined the unit.
In October 1942, the unit was renamed 1st Special Air Service.
The following April it was reorganised into the Special Raiding Squadron and undertook raids in Sicily and Italy alongside the 2nd Special Air Service, which came into existence in May 1943 in Algeria.
The brigade’s formations took part in many operations, frequently behind enemy lines, from D-Day (June 1944) until the German surrender in May 1945.
Following the war it was disbanded but re-formed in 1947.
This time it consisted of just one Territorial Army (TA) unit - 21st Battalion, Special Air Service Regiment (Artists Rifles).
In 1959, a third SAS unit was formed - again a TA force - known as 23rd SAS Regiment.
This was a re-naming of the Reserve Reconnaissance Unit, successors to MI9, whose members were experts in escape and evasion.
While some MI6 officers are firearms trained, it is never to the same level as their counterparts in E Squadron.
The former soldier said: “MI6 and MI5 are always distancing themselves from James Bond, saying they aren’t really like that. It’s true — spies aren’t like James Bond, they’re eggheads. Give them a gun, they wouldn’t know what to do with it.
“E Squadron solves that problem but they do a lot more as well.”
The places where they often have to work, using civilian cover identities, make it impossible to be armed. But just like Bond, the troops are all trained in deadly hand-to-hand combat.
The SBS provides specialist frogmen and mini-submersibles which can be used to insert teams undetected on foreign shores.
The SRR, whose soldiers specialise in plain-clothes surveillance operations around the world, provides a large number of women.
A source said: “Women are often the best at this sort of work. If a group of blokes turns up, it always looks suspicious.
“We haven’t had a female Bond in the films, but there are already lots in real life.”
A former E Squadron soldier said the unit was heavily involved in Iraq in the run-up to the 2003 invasion.
He said: “E Squadron are military people. They have rules of engagement.
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“Is it a licence to kill? It is certainly not carte blanche. But the nature of soldiering means it’s sometimes necessary to take life. Everyone is trained in deadly force.”
As with the unit itself, any concrete knowledge of the unit remains very much in the shadows.
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