Stirling Series - Damien Lewis: SAS The Great Train Raid

In autumn 1943, as the Allies prepared to storm the southern shores of Europe, the SAS spearheaded the assault on Fascist Italy. Their mission: to clear the way for Allied forces landing at Taranto, a vital gateway to the Italian mainland. Simultaneously, a Yugoslav prisoner named Zeljko 'Zelcko' Ljubo escaped from Pisticci, a brutal internment camp established in 1939 by Mussolini’s regime. Known as Italy’s first concentration camp, Pisticci mirrored Nazi horrors, imprisoning Jews, resistance fighters, intellectuals and priests; anyone who dared defy Fascism Damien Lewis reveals The bravery of these men, often operating for months behind enemy lines, saved countless lives but at great cost. The raid on Pisticci was the Allies’ first encounter with a concentration camp, yet it remained a hidden chapter. Damien Lewis’s SAS The Great Train Raid brings this buried history back to light, a tale of unparalleled daring, and human compassion.