5th Special Air Service

5th Special Air Service
Crest and Cap Badge of the 5th Special Air Service
Active	February 1941 – 21 September 1945
Country	Belgian government in exile
Type	Special Forces
Size	One squadron (until early 1945) One regiment (from March 1945)
Part of	Free Belgian Forces (British Army)
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 the Leopold Order Fourragère of the French Croix de Guerre 1939-1945
Commanders
Notable commanders	Lieutenant Colonel Eddy Blondeel

The 5th Special Air Service or 5th SAS was an elite airborne unit during World War II, consisting entirely of Belgian volunteers. It saw action as part of the SAS Brigade in Normandy, Northern France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. Initially trained in sabotage and intelligence gathering, they converted to motorised reconnaissance on armoured jeeps. They were noted for being the first Allied unit to set foot onto Belgian soil and the first to cross the Siegfried line. This latter feat although was merely accomplished by accident.

A Belgian Independent Parachute Company was officially installed at Malvern Wells (Worcestershire) on 8 May 1942 by Henri Rolin, the then-Belgian undersecretary for defence. It comprised the following:

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

The unit was attached for 3 months to the 8th Parachute Battalion of the 6th Airborne Division in 1943, then spent a month intensive training in December 1943 at the 'Allied Training Centre' Inverlochy Castle (Fort William), and finally moved, in February 1944, to Loudon Castle Camp, near Galston (Ayrshire) to join the Special Air Service (S.A.S.) Brigade.