SAS Rogue Heroes is a 2022 BBC drama action series, loosely based on the docu-drama book of the same name by Ben MacIntyre. The show centres on the creation of the Special Air Service by David Stirling (Connor Swindells), Lt. Jock Lewes (Alfie Allen), and Paddy Mayne (Jack O'Connell) during the North Africa campaign of the Second World War in 1941-2.
The following weapons were used in the television series SAS Rogue Heroes:
Lt. Paddy Mayne (Jack O'Connell) uses a Beretta M1934 (presumably pilfered from an Italian soldier that he had killed) to shoot holes into a bucket to shower himself.
A Walther P38 is seen with an Axis soldier in one scene. David Stirling (Connor Swindells) and his men also use them when posing as Nazi soldiers to infiltrate Benghazi.
Lt. Paddy Mayne (Jack O'Connell) has one of these revolvers, likely the .455 Webley variant manufactured for British troops during the First World War, although he refers to it as a "Colt .45". Capitaine Georges Bergé (Virgile Bramley) also has one, which Augustin Jordan (César Domboy) takes from his holster for a confrontation with Mayne in episode 5.
During the covert operation in Benghazi, Stirling and his men (dressed in Nazi uniform) have MP40s. The SAS men are also joined by Randolf Churchill (Ian Davies), son of UK prime minister Winston Churchill, who carries Stirling's MP40 during the ride into Benghazi.
One SAS soldier uses an MP38 appropriated from Axis forces. This episode was set in 1941, compared to episode 5 being set in 1942, so it appears the producers were showing how the weapons evolved through the campaign. Having said that, MP40s (as the name suggests) were already in the hands of soldiers by 1941.
Various SAS members, including Lewes, Stirling, Mayne, Sgt. Reg Seekings (Theo Barklam-Briggs), and Cpl. Mike Sadler (Tom Glynn-Carney), are seen with Thompson M1928A1 submachine guns.
The Lee-Enfield No.1 Mk III*, known as the "SMLE" (Short Magazine Lee-Enfield) by the British, is ubiquitous among Allied troops throughout the series. It is also used by Jock Lewes at the start of the first episode.
When Lt. Lewes' men raid an Italian artillery encampment at the beginning of the first episode, a British sergeant appropriates their Breda Modello 37 against them.
Along with the Bren guns, British forces also use the Lewis gun. This includes 2nd Lt. Bill Fraser (Stuart Campbell) in one scene. In episode 5, which is set later on in the campaign in 1942, two SAS Jeeps have Lewis guns without cooling jackets around the barrel. This fits in with the fact that aircraft Lewis guns, which were being replaced by more powerful machine guns, were being given to infantry troops and light vehicles. The aircraft versions lacked cooling jackets due to the air passing over the barrels. As it transpired, the cooling jacket proved unnecessary even for infantry use, especially as it made the gun heavier and thus harder to carry and operate.
Lt. Stirling clears a snooker room of its audience by frightening them off with a fake grenade that appears to have been adapted from a Mills Bomb, the standard-issue grenade of British forces during World War II.
Although Jock Lewes doesn't use a Bren gun in this series, a portrait of the real-life Lewes with a Bren gun was painted in 1940 by artist Rex Whistler (1905-1944).
