More than half a century after his death, Lt Col. Robert Blair Mayne is still regarded as one of the greatest soldiers in the history of military special operations. He was the most decorated British soldier of World War II, receiving four DSOs, the Croix de Guerre, and the Légion d'honneur, and he pioneered tactics used today by the SAS and other special operations units worldwide. tells the remarkable life story of "Colonel Paddy," whose exceptional physical strength and uniquely swift reflexes made him a fearsome opponent. But his unorthodox rules of war and his resentment of authority would deny him the ultimate accolade of the Victoria Cross. Mayne also had a conflicted personal life, dominated by his mother. He never married and several of his contemporaries felt that his resentment of gays in the military reflected his concerns about his own sexuality. Mayne was undoubtedly a complex character and here the authors have presented a rounded and perceptive portrait of the man. Drawing on personal letters and family papers, declassified SAS files and records, together with the Official SAS Diary compiled in wartime and eyewitness accounts from many who served with him, the picture emerges of a soldier who, although a flawed hero, was unquestionably one of the most distinctive combatants of the campaigns in the Western Desert and Europe.