5th Special Air Service 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 . History . A Belgian Independent Parachute Company was officially installed at Malvern Wells ( Worcestershire ) on the 8th of May 1942 by Mr Henri Rolin , Belgian under - Secretary of Defence . It comprised the following : 1 . - A Company 2nd Battalion Belgian Fusiliers , a Battalion mainly made up of volunteers from South and North America assembled since January 1941 , who moved to Great Britain in June 1941 . " A " Company as a whole had volunteered in February 1942 to train on the lines of an Independent Parachute Company under Lt . Freddy Limbosch as Chief Instructor . 2 . - A platoon of the 1st Battalion Belgian Fusiliers with some qualified parachutists ( since January 1942 ) . 3 . - Volunteers from other units of the Belgian Forces who had escaped from occupied Belgium via France , Spain and Gibraltar . 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 . Like all military units and formations the men came from all walks of life and this was especially true with this particular unit . The volunteers included a former world cycling champion , lawyers , farmers , labourers , lumberjacks , a circus acrobat , a professional wrestler and even three bona fide barons . The commanding officer himself was both a qualified engineer and dentist . The men who volunteered came from all four corners of the world to carry on the fight against the Nazis . Not all of them could even speak the same language . Some spoke French , some spoke Dutch while others spoke only English . These differences of upbringing , class , lifestyle and even language might have seemed problematic but a real esprit de corps developed quickly within the unit . The role of the Belgian SAS parachutists during the Second World War was primarily sabotage , intelligence gathering and reconnaissance . The men saw their first action towards the end of July 1944 in France . During the Ardennes offensive in 1944 the unit was regrouped and equipped with armoured jeeps . As a reconnaissance squadron , they executed security and reconnaissance missions in order to support the 6th British Airborne Division . In 1945 they were used for counter - intelligence work which involved the location and arrest of top - ranking Nazis and war criminals . In the beginning of April 1945 the Belgian SAS Squadron consisted of three reconnaissance squads which were deployed in the north of Holland and in Germany . After the capitulation of the Germans on the 8th of May 1945 the Belgian SAS participated in ' Counter Intelligence ' missions in both Germany and Denmark . At the end of the war the Belgian SAS Regiment had much to be proud of . They had been the first Allied unit to set foot in Belgium and Germany and the only Belgian unit permanently on active deployment between July 1944 and May 1945 . They had also been responsible for the capture of Admiral Doenitz ' s government in Flensburg and the German Foreign minister Ribbentrop . Disbandment . On the 21st of September 1945 5th SAS was transferred from the British Army to the newly reformed Belgian Army . Renamed the " 1st Regiment of Parachutists " they served independently as a highly mobile airborne unit until 1952 when the regiment joined with the Commando Regiment to form a battalion of the Paracommando Regiment . From 1952 on the traditions of 5th SAS were continued by 1 PARA battalion of the Paracommando Regiment . In 2011 " 1 PARA " and its traditions was disbanded after 59 years of continuous service . In December 2010 the unit ' s banner , flag and insignia were taken over by the Special Forces Group .