The Origins of World War II’s Legendary Commando Fighting Force.

From celebrated writer and former Royal Marine comes the untold story of Churchill’s elite death academy, Invairlort, birthplace of the Special Forces training programme that prepares SAS fighting squadrons around the world to this day.
With exclusive access to the archives of the Royal Marines Historical Society, Halls takes readers inside the walls of one of the most secretive training camps in Britain.

In the summer of 1940, Britain was under siege. Poland, Belgium, Holland, Norway and France had already fallen, and the British army had been routed on the continent, leading to the chaotic evacuation at Dunkirk.

In the rubble of the Allies’ crumbled defence, Inverailort House was established as a new symbol of defiance. Signed off by Churchill himself, this austere building became an academy for the brightest and best of the Allied volunteers, where they were transformed from ordinary foot soldiers into a new breed of warrior – the commando.

The list of instructors, advisors, and trainees that passed through Inverailort included some of the greatest fighting men of World War II: Lord Lovat, “Mad Mike” Calvert, Freddy Spencer Chapman, Tommy Macpherson, Fairbairn and Sykes, and both David and Bill Stirling, who would go on to form the SAS.

Churchill’s Killing House tells the untold human story of those who created a new type of solider. Their ingenuity, fortitude, and single-minded determination not to surrender forged new techniques in battle that would ultimately lead the way to Allied victory over fascism.

The new book will be published ion 7 May.

A book tour and signing events will be taking place over the next few months into the summer. More details will be published here.