The remarkable story of how fresh SAS recruits helped lay the foundation for the liberation of France in the last chapter of the Second World War.

On 16 June 1944, 58 men from 1 SAS parachuted into occupied France. Landing hundreds of miles behind German lines, their mission was to disrupt the supply chains of weapons and troops to the front in Normandy – but these were not battle-hardened special forces soldiers. In fact, they had been recruited just a few months earlier.

In The Last Recruits, Andrew Chatterton traces the remarkable stories of four men who had been trained to counter a possible Nazi invasion of Britain, but found themselves recruited for the SAS and deployed far beyond enemy lines. These were the men of the Auxiliary Units, who, despite their lack of battle experience, were ruthless and highly-trained guerrilla soldiers. Well-practised in covert operations in case Britain was ever occupied by Axis forces, their skills made them ideal SAS recruits.

Andrew Chatterton brings to life this dramatic final chapter of the Second World War, using newly uncovered accounts to explore a brutal period which not all would survive.