Major General Anthony (Tony) Showan Jeapes, (born 6 March 1935) is a former

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer who commanded the 22 Special Air Service Regiment during the Dhofar Rebellion.

Early life and education

Born in

New Malden New Malden is a suburban area in southwest London, England. It is within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston upon Thames, Kingston, Norb ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, he was educated at Raynes Park Grammar School and the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

, where he did his first parachute course. In February 1955 he was commissioned into the

Dorset Regiment The Dorset Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958, being the List of British Army regiments (1881), county regiment of Dorset. Until 1951, it was formally called the Dorsetshire Regiment, although ...

as a second lieutenant.''

Who's Who A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...

2010'',

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, 2010,

SAS

In 1958 he joined the 22nd SAS Regiment in Malaya as a troop commander and in 1959 took part in the Jebel Akhdar campaign in Northern

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

,Harclerode (2002)Strawson (1985) for which he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

. Back in England, he ran selection for the SAS for a year and then went to

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...

, North Carolina in 1961 as an exchange officer with the US 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne). After a short period in the UK with the now amalgamated Devonshire and Dorsets, he was sent to India as part of a small SAS training team in 1963, and with another to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in 1964. He returned to attend the Army Staff College course at

Shrivenham Shrivenham is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Faringdon. The village is close to the county boundary with Wiltshire and about east-northeast of the centre of Swindon. The 201 ...

and

Camberley Camberley is a town in north-west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. It is in the Surrey Heath, Borough of Surrey Heath and is close to the county boundaries with Hampshire and Berkshire. Known originally as "Cambridge Tow ...

, following which he was posted to 39 Infantry Brigade in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

brigade major A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section direct ...

. In December 1968, Jeapes returned to 22 SAS as squadron commander, joining D Squadron in Malaya. After a training period in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, he took his squadron to Dhofar in 1970 as the first full squadron to support the Sultan's Armed Forces (SAF) in their war against Communist led rebels in Southern

.Asher (2008) The war was not going well for the SAF. He raised the first of six firqats, irregular units formed largely of ex-rebels, named the Firqat Salahadin, and recaptured the town of Sudh. He then raised more firqats and lead operations on to the Jebel Qara to prove the need to establish a firm position on the Jebel. The concept was accepted and the first permanent position was established by the SAS and SAF after the monsoon that year. Jeapes returned to the UK to attend the National Defence College, Latimer, and was then promoted lieutenant colonel to return to the Army Staff College as a member of the directing staff, where he led the Counter Revolutionary Warfare team. In 1972 he became the Commanding Officer of

22 SAS The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-ter ...

. He had an eventful tour of command. He led the counter-terrorism team in the

Balcombe Street Siege The Balcombe Street siege was an incident involving members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and London's Metropolitan Police lasting from 6 to 12 December 1975. The siege ended with the surrender of the four IRA members and the ...

Geraghty (2002) and he continued to take part in and oversee the Regiment's operations in the Dhofar War, being present at the final operation from Sarfait which saw the defeat of the rebels and brought about the end of the six-year war. Finally, he set up the Regiment's rapid deployment to the campaign in

and directed their methods of operating there. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the 1977 Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours. He was also seriously ill with

brucellosis Brucellosis is a zoonosis spread primarily via ingestion of raw milk, unpasteurized milk from infected animals. It is also known as undulant fever, Malta fever, and Mediterranean fever. The bacteria causing this disease, ''Brucella'', are small ...

contracted on the Jebel and was given three months' sick leave, during which he wrote the draft of his book ''SAS Operation Oman''.

Career after the SAS

Jeapes's next job was as a member of the British Military Advisory Team to

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, setting up the syllabus for and teaching at the state's first joint services staff college. At the end of this he was promoted full

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

and deputy commandant of the School of Infantry at

Warminster Warminster () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in south-west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of 18,173 in 2021. The name ''Warminster'' occurs first i ...

. He was promoted to

brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

immediately after. Following a short time at HQ UKLF, then at HQ CINCFLEET during the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

, he was appointed in 1982 to command the 5th Infantry Brigade, which he converted during his tour to the 5th Airborne Brigade. In 1985 Jeapes was promoted major general and appointed Commander Land Forces

.Urban (2001) His task was to direct the tactical deployment and command the day-to-day operations of all

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

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Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

, and of course Special Forces, against the terrorists in cooperation with the uniformed and special branch members of the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...

. It was a job in which he took great satisfaction and achieved a number of successes, for which he was made a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregi ...

. His final appointment, in 1987, was General Officer Commanding South West District, which included most of the Army's Arms Schools and the UK Mobile Force.

Works

Jeapes's account of the Dhofar Rebellion, ''SAS Operation Oman'', was written in 1977 but took three years to receive security clearance. It was eventually published in 1980 by William Kimber. Amended copies were published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

in 1996 as ''SAS Secret War'' and again by Greenhill Books with the same title in paperback in 2005. It is distributed in the US by Battery Press.

Personal life

He is married with a son and a daughter.

Notes

References

*Asher, Michael, ''The Regiment: The Real Story of the SAS'', Viking (2008) *Carver, Field Marshal Lord and Akehurst, John, ''We Won A War : The Campaign in Oman, 1965–1975'', Michael Russell (1982) *Geraghty, Tony, ''Who Dares Wins'', Little Brown (2002) *Harclerode, Peter, ''Fighting Dirty: The inside story of covert operations from Ho Chi Minh to Osama bin Laden'', Cassell (2002) *Jeapes, Tony, ''SAS Operation Oman'', William Kimber (1980) *Strawson, John, ''A History of the SAS Regiment'', Secker and Warburg (1985) *Urban, Mark, ''Big Boys' Rules: The SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA'', Faber and Faber (2001) *White, Rowland, ''Storm Front'', Bantam (2011) *Wilson, Dare, ''Tempting The Fates'', Pen & Sword (2006) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jeapes, Tony 1935 births British Army major generals Living people Special Air Service officers British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency British military personnel of the Dhofar War Companions of the Order of the Bath People from New Malden Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Dorset Regiment officers Devonshire and Dorset Regiment officers British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Military Cross Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames Military personnel from the London Borough of Merton People educated at Raynes Park County Grammar School