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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Special & elite forces
Twice a year, 150 anxious recruits gather at SAS headquarters in
the UK, their minds focused on one objective: to become SAS
soldiers in one of the world's most elite regiments. Yet between
arriving and receiving the famous winged dagger badge, stands
nearly four months of the toughest military selection process in
the world. Could you rise to this exceptional challenge of mind and
body? How to Pass the SAS and Special Forces Selection Course shows
you how. Beginning with essential preparation, the book covers
fitness training, navigation skills and the four-week selection
course itself. Find out how to keep the instructors happy, how to
deal with exhaustion during Test Week, and how to survive disaster
strike on bleak mountains. But having been selected, there's still
training. Learn how the recruits acquire the skills of an SAS
soldier, from hostage rescue to handling foreign weapons, from
parachute training to surviving jungle courses, from escape and
evasion to resistance and interrogation. Illustrated with
black-and-white photographs and instructive artworks and including
first-hand accounts, How to Pass the SAS and Special Forces
Selection Course is an exhaustive, lively guide to the process of
becoming one of the world's best soldiers.
Little is more dangerous to U.S. forces fighting insurgents in hot
spots around the world than improvised explosive devices. It's the
weapon of choice for under-funded forces aimed to attack American
soldiers with low risk to themselves. This official U.S. manual is
the complete guide to using and dismantling boobytraps.
Here you can learn how to assemble, use, detect, and remove
boobytraps and demolition items in almost any situation. With
intricate and detailed diagrams, you'll discover how army troops
can disguise boobytraps in household items such as irons, teapots,
and televisions; in structures such as window frames, stairways,
and wooden beams; and in outdoor areas, in bushes and underground.
Find out how boobytraps work, why they are used in the army, and
the tactics behind their set-up. Learn the mechanics of the various
types of firing devices, detonators, fuses, cords, adapters,
blasting caps, and lighters. Also included are detailed
instructions for detecting and removing boobytraps. "The U.S. Army
Guide to Boobytraps" explains the responsibilities and safety
issues that should be thoroughly understood by anyone using any
weapon. Any military enthusiast will appreciate the level of detail
this field manual offers.
From Army Rangers to Green Berets to the U.S. Navy SEAL team that
killed Osama bin Laden, this book explains what makes Special
Forces "special," covering the rich and varied history of elite
formations in American military history and describing their
recruitment, intense training, and equipment in depth. Most
civilians have only a vague idea of what the U.S. Special Forces
are all about-who they are, how they differ from our "normal"
military forces, what they've accomplished throughout our history,
and how they operate today. Fighting Elites: A History of U.S.
Special Forces examines the rich and varied history of U.S. Special
Forces, identifies their contributions to specific conflicts from
colonial times forward, and highlights their present operational
excellence. In this first-ever reference guide to U.S. Special
Forces, military historian John C. Fredriksen provides a carefully
balanced presentation, describing all units in their own detailed
section that discusses their origins, recruitment, training,
tactics, and equipment, and defining military engagements, if
known. The text also contains 20 biographical entries of noted
personalities associated with special purpose activities. Initial
chapters provide an overview of all American special purpose units
A bibliography points to additional reading and sources of
information 50 illustrations of famous leaders, uniforms, and
troops in the field A highly detailed chronology of all known
special forces activities
In July 1940, a desperately weakened Britain licks her wounds after
the humiliating retreat from Dunkirk. How can the fight be taken to
the enemy? New Prime Minister Winston Churchill orders the creation
of the Special Operations Executive, to 'set Europe ablaze' through
subversion and sabotage. But this most secret of agencies must be
kept secure. Guardians of Churchill's Secret Army tells the mostly
unknown human stories of the men who were brought into SOE,
straight from Intelligence Corps training, to do just that. They
were junior in rank, but far from ordinary people. They were
Australian, Anglo-French, Canadian, Scandinavian, East European and
British. They had been schoolteachers, journalists, artists, ship
brokers, racehorse trainers and international businessmen. Each
spoke several languages. These men stood alongside courageous
agents in training: encouraged them, assessed their character, and
tried to teach them the caution and suspicion that might just keep
them alive, deep in enemy territory. But they did much more. Many
became agents themselves and displayed great bravery. All played a
crucial role in the global effort to undermine the enemy. We find
them not only in the Baker Street Headquarters of SOE, but also in
night parachute drops, in paramilitary training in the remotest
depths of Scotland and in undercover agent training in isolated
English country houses. We follow them to occupied France, to
Malaya and Thailand under threat of Japanese invasion, to Italy and
Germany as they play their part in the collapse of the Axis
regimes. As we do so, we find a world of heroism and commitment so
different from our own experience that it is scarcely believable.
The commands, units and leaders of the General SS are finally
compiled into a single detailed reference book for both the
historian and SS memorabilia collector. This complete volume begins
with an explanation of the twelve administrative and command main
offices involving the SS to include the development, components and
functions of each, as well as their respective office chiefs. The
following section explores the most powerful posts in the SS, the
Higher SS and Police Leaders, along with the subordinate SS and
Police Leaders found in occupied territories - both the commands
and the individual holder of these posts are examined in depth. The
SS Main Districts are covered next including all their various
subordinate components, title changes, development, commanders and
chiefs of staff. The more than forty SS Districts follow, detailed
in a similar format. Examining the more than one-hundred and
twenty-five SS Foot Regiments in the General SS, the names and
ranks of the hundreds of commaners, as well as details of unit
location changes, popular and honor titles as well as other data
for each are within a separate chapter. Finally, the elite SS
Riding Districts and Regiments are covered similarly. Career
biographies are included for more than two hundred senior SS
commanders, many of whom served portions of their career in the
Waffen-SS, Polizei, SD and other facets of Himmler's commands. The
biographical data for individuals alone adds vast detail to this
fascinating topic. Along with more than 120 rare photos of SS
senior ranking officers and seven maps, a detailed index allows
referencing of individual commands or personalities. Mark Yerger is
also the author of Riding East, The SS Cavalry Brigade in Poland
and Russia 1939-1942; Images of the Waffen-SS, Chronicle of
Germany's Elite Troops; and a biography of SS-Strumbannfuhrer Ernst
August Krag (all three titles are available from Schiffer
Publishing Ltd.).
Admiral William H. McRaven is a part of American military history,
having been involved in some of the most famous missions in recent
memory, including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of
Captain Richard Phillips, and the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.Sea
Stories begins in 1960 at the American Officers' Club in France,
where Allied officers and their wives gathered to have drinks and
tell stories about their adventures during World War II -- the
place where a young Bill McRaven learned the value of a good story.
Sea Stories is an unforgettable look back on one man's incredible
life, from childhood days sneaking into high-security military
sites to a day job of hunting terrorists and rescuing
hostages.Action-packed, inspiring, and full of thrilling stories
from life in the special operations world, Sea Stories is a
remarkable memoir from one of America's most accomplished leaders.
The US Army's Special Operations Aviation Regiment fields the best
helicopter pilots in the world. Alan Mack was one of these intrepid
Night Stalkers, proving his mettle through the rigors of training,
endless deployments, and decades of war, during which he hunted
Osama bin Laden, rescued American warriors from the jaws of death,
was shot up, shot down, and only survived due to his indomitable
will and the grace of God. -Steven Hartov, New York Times
Bestselling co-author of IN THE COMPANY OF HEROES and THE NIGHT
STALKERS Alan Mack has achieved something quite extraordinary: an
enthralling combat memoir that provides at the same time a
compelling commentary on two decades of war. Perhaps most
importantly, it is a searingly honest human story of the personal
cost endured by the families of those who serve, and an inspiring
tale of resilience. In short -- Mack has produced a triumph of
story-telling. -Andy Milburn, author of WHEN THE TEMPEST GATHERS
Alan Mack is the real deal, part of an elite band of ultimate
aviators. Throughout all the setbacks - getting shot down, losing
comrades, and tragedy on the home front - he endures. He is the
living embodiment of his unit's motto: "Night Stalkers Don't Quit!"
-Toby Harnden, author of FIRST CASUALTY A been-there, done-that
pilot in the world's most elite helicopter unit, Alan Mack delivers
a gritty, inside look at life as a Night Stalker - from intense
combat missions overseas to the tragic costs that lifestyle can
impose on a family. -Sean Naylor, author of New York Times
Bestseller RELENTLESS STRIKE Al Mack reminds us that the blank
check our service members sign to our country is drawn against
their families as well. The challenges can be heartbreaking. His
candid memoir speaks of courage and tragedy, both on the
battlefield and at home. - Taya Kyle, New York Times Bestselling
author of AMERICAN WIFE Razor 03, A Night Stalker's Wars, is an
eye-opening description of what goes on behind the scenes of
special operations from a pilot's perspective. Al Mack's
edge-of-the-seat stories provide a compelling rendition of what
it's like to ride to Hell and back in an MH-47 Chinook. An
incredible story hardly believable had I not witnessed it first
hand. -- Command Master Chief (SEAL) Britt K. Slabinski, United
States Navy (Ret) Medal of Honor Recipient
To understand wars and armed conflicts, we need to understand the
inner logic of military institutions and warrior culture. In Making
Warriors in a Global Era, Tone Danielsen employs ethnographic
methods to analyze and discuss current debates among both military
personnel and academics about the rise of the special operations
forces and their effects on how armed conflicts are handled and
wars are fought. Based on a decade of research and Danielsen's
unprecedented access inside a Norwegian Naval Special Operations
Commando, Danielsen describes the culture, experiences, and skill
sets of a special operations unit and explores the historical and
political implications these types of units have on modern warfare
and society as a whole.
A well-balanced and detailed look at the East German Ministry for
State Security, the secret police force more commonly known as the
Stasi. "This is an excellent book, full of careful, balanced
judgements and a wealth of concisely-communicated knowledge. It is
also well written. Indeed, it is the best book yet published on the
MfS."-German History The Stasi stood for Stalinist oppression and
all-encompassing surveillance. The "shield and sword of the party,"
it secured the rule of the Communist Party for more than forty
years, and by the 1980s it had become the largest secret-police
apparatus in the world, per capita. Jens Gieseke tells the story of
the Stasi, a feared secret-police force and a highly professional
intelligence service. He inquires into the mechanisms of
dictatorship and the day-to-day effects of surveillance and
suspicion. Masterful and thorough at once, he takes the reader
through this dark chapter of German postwar history, supplying key
information on perpetrators, informers, and victims. In an
assessment of post-communist memory politics, he critically
discusses the consequences of opening the files and the outcomes of
the Stasi debate in reunified Germany. A major guide for research
on communist secret-police forces, this book is considered the
standard reference work on the Stasi.
Karel Kuttelwascher may have had a German surname, but he was a
Czech who became the scourge of the Luftwaffe bombers operating
from France and the Low Countries in 1942. Flying with the RAF's
legendary No. 1 Squadron, his destruction of fifteen aircraft in
only three months earned him the DFC twice in a mere forty-two
days, and made him the RAF's top night intruder ace. After his
daring escape from German-occupied Czechoslovakia, he flew in the
ferocious Battle of France and participated in the final weeks of
the Battle of Britain as one of Churchill's 'Few'. During the early
circus operations, he clocked up his first three kills before
playing a part in the famous Channel Dash. However, it was in the
lauded but lonely night intruder role that his individualistic
skills came to the fore. Flying a long-range Hawker Hurricane IIC
armed with 20-mm cannon, the man the wartime media dubbed the
'Czech Night Hawk' unleashed a reign of terror that included
shooting down three Heinkel bombers in just four minutes.
It's 1942 and the Nazis are racing to build an atomic bomb. They
have the physicists, but they don't have enough 'heavy water' -
essential for their nuclear designs. For two years, the Nazis have
occupied Norway, and with it the Vemork hydroelectric plant, the
world's sole supplier of heavy water. Under threat of death, its
engineers push production into overtime. For the Allies, Vemork
must be destroyed. But how could they reach the plant, high in a
mountainous valley? The answer became the most dramatic commando
raid of the war: the British SOE brought together a brilliant
scientist and eleven refugee Norwegian commandos, who, with little
more than parachutes, skis and tommy guns, would destroy Hitler's
nuclear ambitions. Based on exhaustive research and
never-before-seen diaries and letters, The Winter Fortress is a
compulsively readable narrative about a group of young men who
survived the cold of a Norwegian winter and evaded the clutches of
the Gestapo, to save the world from destruction.
Photo history of the long-gun versions of Germany's Panzer IV
during WWII.
Iran is a country at war - in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. The founder
of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini, always told audiences
that the revolution was not about Iran, but the whole region. To
establish an arc of Shia influence across the Middle East, the
Islamic Republic created the Quds Force, the extraterritorial
branch of its Revolutionary Guards. Hundreds of thousands of Shia
youths were recruited, trained, armed, and organized in militia
groups across the region. The book tells the story of how the Quds
Force and its Shia militias fought on the three fronts to advance
the Islamic Republic's militant interpretation of Shia Islam and
create a contiguous land corridor linking Iran through Iraq to
Syria, Lebanon, and the Israeli northern fronts. The Iran-led
operations are creating enormous political and security challenges
for the Sunni Arabs and all regional powers, creating further
instabilities in an already turbulent Middle East, with specters of
direct military conflicts looming, pitting Iran against the Arab
states and Israel.
Presented here are the biographies of the 130 men of the
Fallschirmjager-Hitler's elite paratroopers, who won the Knight's
Cross and its higher grades. These men fought on nearly every front
during the Second World War, from their first action in Denmark in
April 1940, to their last major battle at Monte Cassino. A total of
twenty-four Knight's Crosses were awarded to Fallschirmjager troops
during the battles of Monte Cassino and in the airborne invasion of
Crete with the remainder awarded during the fighting in France,
Belgium, Holland, Italy, Russia, and at least one in North Africa.
These tough, elite soldiers parachuted behind enemy lines and were
one of the most successful units during the Second World War. The
book gives details of their promotions and other medals and
decorations and is well illustrated with over 200 photographs.
'Teutonic Titans: Hindenburg, Ludendorff, and the Kaiser's Military
Elite' covers the era 1847-1955-heavily illustrated with over 500
images of German Emperor Wilhelm II's First World War marshals and
generals, emphasizing their lives, careers, battles, and campaigns.
The book covers both Western and Eastern Fronts, as well as the
Balkans, Baltics, Middle, and Far East. It is also heavily detailed
with maps, cartoons, graphics, and photographs, plus descriptions
of strategies, tactics, weapons, statistics on all losses, and
results. Period cartoons add to the vast array of photographic
sources worldwide: United States National Archives and Library of
Congress, Washington and College Park, Maryland; Imperial War
Museum London: Bundesarchiv, Bonn, and also His Majesty's own
albums at Doorn House, Holland, many of them previously
unpublished. German Crown Prince Wilhelm and Bavarian Crown Prince
Rupprecht, all German Chiefs of General Staff and War Ministers are
detailed as well, plus all top Allied leaders and commanders:
Woodrow Wilson, John J. Pershing; David Lloyd George, King George
V, Sir Douglas Haig, and Sir John French among them; Tsar Nicholas
II, Grand Duke Michael, and more; Frenchmen Henri Petain, Joffre,
Foch, and Weygand; as well as those of Serbia, Italy, Greece,
Rumania, and Bulgaria.
The product of cruel parents in Rhyl, this born rebel’s escape
was a long time coming. But once it was engineered, the road that
opened up took him from North Wales to the high seas to Disney
World Florida (thrown out, naturally), to undercover work in
Northern Ireland and, ultimately, counter-insurgency in the likes
of Abu Dhabi, Uganda and Otterton, a previously peaceful village in
Devon! Brutally beaten as a child – and attempting suicide at the
age of twelve – he somehow retired as a multi-millionaire, but
not before carving an equally remarkable trail through locations as
diverse as deepest Dartmoor, Bogside, Kampala and the City of
London, in the company of a colourful cast of characters. Featuring
a lively array of mind-boggling adventures, the majority laced with
dark humour, Ultimate Survivor tells a story like no other. It is
an X-rated tale of warship sieges, sexual abuse, hair-raising IRA
ambushes, a death-defying run-in with notorious Sinn Fein
politician Martin McGuinness, military coups, encounters with
celebrity and a job as bodyguard to Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia.
You are unlikely to have read a memoir quite like this one. All
profits from the sale of this book will be donated to Military
Mental Health and Vulnerable Children
South African Special Forces, known as the 'Recces', are an elite
group of soldiers that few can aspire to join. Shrouded in secrecy
due to the covert nature of their work, the legendary Recces have
long fascinated, but little is known about how they operate. Now
one of this select band has written a tell-all book about the
extraordinary missions he embarked on and the nail-biting action he
experienced in the Border War. Shortly after passing the infamously
gruelling Special Forces selection course in the early 1980s, Koos
Stadler joined the so-called Small Teams group at 5 Reconnaissance
Regiment. This sub-unit was made up of two-man teams and was
responsible for numerous secret and highly dangerous missions deep
behind enemy lines. With only one other team member, Stadler was
sent to blow up railway lines and enemy fighter jets in the south
of Angola. As he crawled in and out of enemy-infested territory, he
stared death in the face many times. A gripping, first-hand account
that reveals the near superhuman physical and psychological powers
these Special Forces operators have to display.
From the legendary special operations sniper and New York Times
bestselling author of The Reaper comes a rare and powerful book on
the art of being a sniper. Way of the Reaper is a step- by-step
accounting of how a sniper works, through the lens of Irving's most
significant missions - none of which have been told before. Each
mission is an in-depth look at a new element of eliminating the
enemy, from intel to luck, recon to weaponry. Told in a thrilling
narrative, this is also a heart-pounding true story of some of The
Reaper's boldest missions including the longest shot of his career
on a human target of over half a mile. In Iraq and Afghanistan,
Nick Irving earned his nickname in blood, destroying the enemy with
his sniper rifle and in deadly firefights behind a .50 caliber
machine gun. He engaged a Taliban suicide bomber during a vicious
firefight, used nearly silent sub-sonic ammo, and was the target of
snipers himself. Way of the Reaper attempts to place the reader in
the heat of battle, experiencing the same dangers, horrors and acts
of courage Irving faced as an elite member of the 3rd Ranger
Battalion. Readers will experience the dangers that all snipers
must face, while learning what it takes to come an elite man
hunter. Like the Reaper himself, this explosive book blazes new
territory and takes no prisoners.
THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER THE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT BBC
SERIES SAS: ROGUE HEROES, STARRING CONNOR SWINDELLS, JACK
O'CONNELL, ALFIE ALLEN AND DOMINIC WEST From the secret SAS
archives and bestselling author Ben Macintyre: The first ever
authorized history of the SAS. 'A master at setting the pulse
racing' Daily Mail ________________ In the summer of 1941, at the
height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric
young officer, David Stirling, has a vision for a new kind of war:
attacking the enemy where they least expect it - from behind their
own lines. Despite the intense opposition of many in British High
Command, Winston Churchill personally gives Stirling permission to
recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he can
find. And so begins the most celebrated and mysterious military
organisation in the world: the SAS. With unprecedented access to
the SAS secret files, unseen footage and exclusive interviews with
its founder members, SAS: Rogue Heroes tells the remarkable story
behind an extraordinary fighting force, and the immense cost of
making it a reality. ________________ 'Thorough and highly
entertaining. It would be nigh on impossible to praise it too
highly' Daily Express 'Impeccably researched, superbly told - by
far the best book on the SAS in World War II' Antony Beevor 'Told
with deceptive brilliance . . . one the finest books of its kind'
Evening Standard
A riveting, action-filled account that sheds light on the realities of working in a war-torn country, this is the first book on the war in Iraq by a South African.
Johan Raath and a security team were escorting American engineers to a power plant south of Baghdad when they were ambushed. He had first arrived in Iraq only two weeks before. This was a small taste of what was to come over the next 13 years while he worked there as a private military contractor (PMC).
His mission? Not to wage war but to protect lives. Raath acted as a bodyguard for VIPs and, more often, engineers who were involved in construction projects to rebuild the country after the 2003 war. His physical and mental endurance was tested to the limit in his efforts to safeguard construction sites that were regularly subjected to mortar and suicide attacks. Key to his survival was his training as a Special Forces operator, or Recce.
Working in places called the Triangle of Death and driving on the ‘Hell Run’, Raath had numerous hair-raising experiences. As a trained combat medic he also helped to save people’s lives after two suicide bomb attacks on sites he then worked at.
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