Across an Angry Sea

Author: Cedric Delves
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 1787381811
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

Book Description
In early summer 1982--winter in the South Atlantic--Argentina's military junta invades the Falklands. Within days, a British Royal Navy Task Force is assembled and dispatched. This is the story of D Squadron, 22 SAS, commanded by Cedric Delves. The relentless tempo of events defies belief. Raging seas, inhospitable glaciers, hurricane-force winds, helicopter crashes, raids behind enemy lines--the Squadron prevailed against them all, but the cost was high. Eight died and more were wounded or captured. Holding fast to their humanity, D Squadron's fighters were there at the start and end of the Falklands War, the first to raise a Union Jack over Government House in Stanley. Across an Angry Sea is a chronicle of daring, skill and steadfastness among a tight-knit band of brothers; of going awry, learning fast, fighting hard, and winning through.

Across an Angry Sea

Author: Cedric Delves
Publisher: Hurst & Company
ISBN: 1787381129
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 381

SAS South Georgia Boating Club

Author: Tony Shaw
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399087770
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
Many aspire to serve with the Special Air Service, arguably the world’s most prestigious regiment, but few achieve their aim. In this inspiring memoir the author describes how he left school without any qualifications and embarked on a 30 year career much of it spent in Hereford, including four years in ‘The Regiment’. Against the odds he rose through the ranks before being commissioned and eventually retiring as a Major. Initially attached to 22 SAS as a signaller, he volunteered for and passed ‘Selection’, the most gruelling and demanding of tests. He was posted to D Squadron Boat Troop with whom he saw active service in the Falklands War, Northern Ireland and the UK counter-terrorist team. Thanks to the diary he kept during the Falklands War, the reader is treated to a gripping first-hand account of the intense action that he and his colleagues experienced, including recces, diversionary attacks, raids and ambushes both on South Georgia and the Falklands Islands. Later he commanded the Royal Signals troop supporting D Squadron, 22 SAS before commissioning and later on pursuing a second career as a security consultant in various Middle Eastern hotspots. It is a privilege to read this commendably modest account of one man’s unique career which provides a fascinating insight into elite special forces soldiering.

Exocet Falklands

Author: Ewen Southby-Tailyour
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473835135
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Book Description
“A fascinating account of three SAS missions to counter the Exocet missile . . . from ill-thought out ideas to near suicidal one-way trips onto enemy soil.”—Soldier Magazine This is a revelatory account of three un-tabulated special forces operations, PLUM DUFF, MIKADO and KETTLEDRUM, that were tasked to destroy Argentina’s Exocet missiles during the 1982 Falkland’s campaign. Interviews with the SAS officer commanding Operation PLUM DUFF, members of the reconnaissance patrol for Operation MIKADO, plus the navigator of the helicopter that flew eight troopers into Tierra del Fuego, has allowed the author to describe the tortuous events that led, instead, to a significant survival story. The RAF pilots ordered to conduct an “assault-landing” of two Hercules onto Rio Grande air base during Operation MIKADO have spoken of the extraordinary procedures they developed: so have the commander of the SBS and the captain of the British submarine involved in Operation KETTLEDRUM. The Super Étendard pilots who sank HMS Sheffield and MV Atlantic Conveyor and then “attacked” HMS Invincible, plus a key member of the Argentine special forces and the brigadier defending Rio Grande, add credence, depth and gravitas to the saga: as does an equally revealing interview with the SIS (MI6) officer who led the world-wide search for Exocets on the black market. Disturbing over-confidence by commanders at home was finely counter-balanced by stirring accounts of inspiring physical and moral courage across the South Atlantic. Exocet Falklands is a ground-breaking work of investigative military history from which many salutary lessons can be learned. “Between politics, diplomacy and barbouzeries, this well-documented work will lead you in the arcane of what should have changed the course of this war.”—Air Fan

SAS: Sea King Down

Author: Mark Aston
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 1405942622
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Book Description
The thrilling, edge-of-your-seat true story of one soldier's Special Forces operations in the Falklands War 'BRILLIANT. A ROLLERCOASTER OF BLISTERING ACTION, SURVIVAL AND BEHIND-THE-LINES DARING' DAMIEN LEWIS ________ THE BIGGEST SINGLE LOSS OF LIFE FOR THE SAS SINCE WORLD WAR TWO . . . 1982, the British task force sails to liberate the Falkland Islands. Aboard: SAS D Squadron, determined to make their mark. No one more so than Mark 'Splash' Aston. But they have barely seen action when their Sea King helicopter crashes in freezing South Atlantic waters, killing 22 of Mark's comrades. The last out of the sinking wreck, he suffers a broken neck. But defying medical evacuation orders, Mark sneaks off ship, re-joins his SAS comrades to land on a mountain near Port Stanley - to defend it against days of attacks by Argentine special forces . . . SAS Sea King Down is a pulse-pounding account of D-Squadron's tragic loss and subsequent heroic stand in one of the most hostile places on Earth. A story told by a man who barely survived to tell it. ________ 'A gripping untold story of heroism, hardship and sacrifice within the SAS' BEAR GRYLLS 'Gripping, fast moving and completely authentic. A brilliant piece of work. Better than Bravo Two Zero' - Mike Rose, former Commanding Officer of the SAS

The Falklands War

Author: Martin Middlebrook
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1781597634
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 579

Book Description
A detailed history of the brief 1980s conflict between the UK and Argentina, from the author of The First Day on the Somme. With the surprise Argentine invasion of the remote Falkland Islands on April 2, 1982, the United Kingdom found itself at war. Due to the resolve of a determined Prime Minister and the resourcefulness of the Armed Forces, a task force, codenamed Operation Corporate, was quickly dispatched. Remarkably, just over two months later, the islands were liberated, and the invaders defeated. By any standards this was an outstanding feat of arms, cooperation made possible by political resolve, sound planning, strong leadership and the courage and determination of the British forces. Martin Middlebrook, the renowned military historian, has skillfully weaved the many strands of this extraordinary achievement into a fascinating, thorough and highly readable account. Thanks to his meticulous research he covers action at sea, on the land and in the air as well as providing the strategic overview. The author’s use of many first-hand accounts reveals what it was like to be part of this audacious military endeavor. The experiences of the Falkland Islanders during the Argentine occupation are also included. Thirty years on, Middlebrook’s The Falklands War is still an authoritative and thoroughly readable account of this historic enterprise. Originally published as Operation Corporate: The Story of the Falklands War, 1982. Praise for The Falklands War “The author’s descriptions of confrontations in the air, on the sea and on the various battlegrounds are superb, as are his explanations of the use of new weapons, such as the Sea Harrier and the Exocet missile.” —Publishers Weekly

Goose Green

Author: Nigel Ely
Publisher: John Blake
ISBN: 1789465605
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Book Description
*As featured in the landmark BBC2 documentary Our Falklands War: A Frontline Story* Published to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Falklands war 'There was a time when we did extraordinary things.' On 28 May 1982, 450 men of the 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment - 2 Para - went into action to retake the settlement of Goose Green on East Falkland, where more than 1,000 Argentine soldiers were holding 119 Falkland Islanders - men, women, children and one baby - in squalid conditions. Forty years on, Goose Green is still the biggest and bloodiest battle the British Army has fought in modern times. This book is the living narrative of the battle told by the very men who fought it; not just the soldiers of 2 Para, but also the SAS, the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy, and others, in more than a hundred exclusive and untold personal accounts. Some are extremely funny, some touching, and some heart-breaking. All were recorded face to face, the speakers' own words adding a gritty authenticity to each account and conveying the confusion and terror of battle, as well as the courage and selflessness of men in action. Goose Green is a book that goes beyond the official histories and the many memoirs to bring to life the first and, as it turned out, the decisive battle of this country's outstanding campaign to retake the Falkland Islands from a foreign invader. This is a true story of a great victory against all the odds, told by the men who fought it.

Firepower in Limited War

Author: Robert H. Scales, Jr.
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 9780788112287
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 346

Book Description

War Comes to Garmser

Author: Carter Malkasian
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019997375X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 349

Book Description
If you want to understand Afghanistan, writes Carter Malkasian, you need to understand what has happened on the ground, in the villages and countryside that were on the frontline. These small places are the heart of the war. Modeled on the classic Vietnam War book, War Comes to Long An, Malkasian's War Comes to Garmser promises to be a landmark account of the war in Afghanistan. The author, who spent nearly two years in Garmser, a community in war-torn Helmand province, tells the story of this one small place through the jihad, the rise and fall of Taliban regimes, and American and British surge. Based on his conversations with hundreds of Afghans, including government officials, tribal leaders, religious leaders, and over forty Taliban, and drawing on extensive primary source material, Malkasian takes readers into the world of the Afghans. Through their feuds, grievances, beliefs, and way of life, Malkasian shows how the people of Garmser have struggled for three decades through brutal wars and short-lived regimes. Beginning with the victorious but destabilizing jihad against the Soviets and the ensuing civil war, he explains how the Taliban movement formed; how, after being routed in 2001, they returned stronger than ever in 2006; and how Afghans, British, and Americans fought with them thereafter. Above all, he describes the lives of Afghans who endured and tried to build some kind of order out of war. While Americans and British came and went, Afghans carried on, year after year. Afghanistan started out as the good war, the war we fought for the right reasons. Now for many it seems a futile military endeavor, costly and unwinnable. War Comes to Garmser offers a fresh, original perspective on this war, one that will redefine how we look at Afghanistan and at modern war in general.

Argentine Fight for the Falklands

Author: Martin Middlebrook
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783032022
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 556

Book Description
An account by the only British historian to have been granted open access to the Argentines who planned and fought the Falklands War. Avoiding involvement in the issue of sovereignty and concentrating entirely upon the military story, this history is a unique and balanced look at the 1982 war for the islands that the UK called the Falklands and Argentina called the Malvinas, a ten-week conflict that killed nearly a thousand people. Among the men the author met were the captain of the ship that took the scrap-metal merchants to South Georgia; the admiral in charge of planning the Falklands invasion; the marine commander and other members of the invasion force; two brigadier-generals, five unit commanders, and many other men of the large army force sent to occupy and defend the islands; the officer in charge of the Argentine garrison at Goose Green; and, finally, the brigadier-general responsible for the defense of Port Stanley and soldiers of all ranks who fought the final battles.