Anders Lassen and the attrition behind the raids

Major Anders Lassen was the only member of the wartime SAS to receive the Victoria Cross. His award sits within a wider account of attrition among maritime raiders: Appleyard and Lassen died, while David Stirling and Tug Wilson were captured. Deaths and captures could strip small formations of scarce experience even when individual operations succeeded. Hughes was too ill to join Wilson's final operation and believed his absence had cost his friend his life. He carried that guilt until he learned that Wilson was alive.