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Books > Fiction > True stories > War / combat / elite forces
What happens when a regular person accidentally finds themselves
lost in the middle of a war? In 1991, BBC journalist Chris Woolf
travelled to Afghanistan. The government in Kabul was fighting for
survival, after the withdrawal of the Soviet Union. The parallels
to today are extraordinary. Woolf was visiting a colleague to see
if he'd like the life of a foreign correspondent. They hitched a
ride with an aid convoy and bumbled straight into the war. They
kept going, despite the horror and terror. There was no choice.
Amid the darkness, Woolf discovered the generosity and hospitality
of ordinary Afghans. They became the first journalists to pass
through the battle lines to meet with legendary warlord Ahmed Shah
Massoud, and carried home a vital message for the peace process.
They met with Soviet POW/MIAs and recorded messages for loved ones.
Unlike a conventional war story, Woolf shares an intimate portrait
of first encounters with death and real fear. He explores the
lingering effects of trauma, and explains how he put his experience
to good use. The author introduces readers to just enough of
Afghanistan's history, geography, culture and politics for readers
to understand what's going on around him. What people are saying:
"Bumbling Through the Hindu Kush is at once gripping, informative,
suspenseful, and at times it reads like a thriller." - Qais Akbar
Omar, author of "A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story."
"Chris Woolf has written a truly personal tale that is both
gripping and historically significant for the war between the
Soviet-backed government and Mujahidin in Afghanistan. His mix of
personal, cultural, and wartime reflections make this a story well
worth the time of Afghanistan aficionados and casual readers
alike." - Dr Jonathan Schroden, former strategic adviser to the US
military's Central Command, and to the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan "Combat can feel like the
ant on an elephant's tail: overwhelmed and along for the ride.
Chris Woolf's memoir of his ten days in late 1991 "bumbling" into
the war in Afghanistan is just such an up-and-down tale, with the
momentary highs and gut-crushing lows common to combat. When the
teenage goat herder fires his AK-47 in the first few pages - you'll
know how that ant feels, just holding on, exhilarated, terrified,
never really knowing what comes next." - Lt-Col ML Cavanaugh, US
Army; Senior Fellow, Modern War Institute at West Point; lead
writer and co-editor, "Strategy Strikes Back: How Star Wars
Explains Modern Military Conflict." The perfect Christmas gift for
all those who like military history and think they understand war.
The author believes in giving back, so a portion of the proceeds is
donated towards helping Afghan kids with disabilities
(enabledchildren.org), and towards clearing landmines in
Afghanistan and around the world (HALOTrust.org).
The Sunday Times No.1 bestseller. 'Sixty special forces against
100,000 - a feat of British arms to take the breath away' Frederick
Forsyth. They were branded as cowards and accused of being the
British Special Forces Squadron that ran away from the Iraqis. But
nothing could be further from the truth. Ten years on, the story of
these sixty men can finally be told. In March 2003 M Squadron - an
SBS unit with SAS embeds - was sent 1,000 kilometres behind enemy
lines on a true mission impossible, to take the surrender of the
100,000-strong Iraqi Army 5th Corps. From the very start their
tasking earned the nickname 'Operation No Return'. Caught in a
ferocious ambush by thousands of die-hard fanatics from Saddam
Hussein's Fedayeen, plus the awesome firepower of the 5th Corps'
heavy armour, and with eight of their vehicles bogged in Iraqi
swamps, M Squadron launched a desperate bid to escape, inflicting
massive damage on their enemies. Running low on fuel and
ammunition, outnumbered, outmanoeuvred and outgunned, the elite
operators destroyed sensitive kit and prepared for death or capture
as the Iraqis closed their deadly trap. Zero Six Bravo recounts in
vivid and compelling detail the most desperate battle fought by
British and allied Special Forces trapped behind enemy lines since
World War Two. It is a classic account of elite soldiering that
ranks with Bravo Two Zero and the very greatest Special Forces
missions of our time.
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Tyra
(Paperback)
Elizabeth Ellen Ostring
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R1,052
R847
Discovery Miles 8 470
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Tyra
(Hardcover)
Elizabeth Ellen Ostring
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R1,408
R1,114
Discovery Miles 11 140
Save R294 (21%)
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Deng Adut was six years old when war came to his village in South
Sudan. Taken from his mother, he was conscripted into the Sudan
People's Liberation Army. He was taught to use an AK-47 then sent
into battle. Shot in the back, dealing with illness and the
relentless brutality of war, Deng's future was bleak. A child
soldier must kill or be killed. But, after five years, he was
rescued by his brother John and smuggled into a Kenyan refugee
camp. With the support of the UN and help from an Australian
couple, Deng and John became the third Sudanese family resettled in
Australia. Despite physical injuries and ongoing mental trauma,
Deng seized the chance he'd been given. Deng taught himself to read
and, in 2005, he enrolled in a Bachelor of Laws at Western Sydney
University. Songs of a War Boy is the inspirational story of a
young man who has overcome unthinkable adversity to become a
lawyer, refugee advocate and NSW Australian of the Year. Deng's
memoir is an important reminder of the power of compassion and the
benefit to us all when we open our doors and our hearts to those
fleeing war, persecution and pain.
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The Lincoln Brigade
(Paperback)
Pablo Dura; Illustrated by Carles Esquembre, Ester Salguero
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R579
R474
Discovery Miles 4 740
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The famous story of mass escape from a WWII German PoW camp that
inspired the classic film. One of the most famous true stories from
the last war, The GREAT ESCAPE tells how more than six hundred men
in a German prisoner-of-war camp worked together to achieve an
extraordinary break-out. Every night for a year they dug tunnels,
and those who weren't digging forged passports, drew maps, faked
weapons and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes to wear
once they had escaped. All of this was conducted under the very
noses of their prison guards. When the right night came, the actual
escape itself was timed to the split second - but of course, not
everything went according to plan...
1961. The height of the Cold War. Just hours before work begins on
the Berlin Wall, a KGB assassin and his young wife flee for the
West before the Iron Curtain comes down and traps them in the East
forever. This gripping story of real-life espionage and intrigue
began when the Soviets invented a special weapon that killed
without leaving a trace and put it in the hands of Bogdan
Stashinsky. It is a tale of exploding parcels, fake identities,
forbidden love and a man who knew the truth about the USSR's most
classified programme. By the time Stashinsky had his day in court,
the whole world was watching.
Mayday. Mayday. Mayday . . . Every member of the Goldfish Club has
been forced to broadcast these terrifying words from a stricken
aircraft, making them one of the most unusual fellowships in the
world. Formed during the Second World War to foster comradeship
among pilots who had been forced to bail out over water, the
Goldfish Club has taken on new airmen (and one woman) ever since
and there are hundreds of tales to be told. All are different. All
are utterly gripping. Award winning journalist and author Danny
Danziger has brought together some of the most powerful stories of
this extraordinary brotherhood. A few will leave you open-mouthed,
others may reduce you to tears, but all are a fascinating testament
to the resilience of the human spirit.
It was Christmas 1942 when eleven young women boarded the troopship
Strathaird and braved the attentions of U-Boats in the deep
Atlantic. Borrowing a cricketing phrase, they called themselves the
First Eleven. But they were not the first to arrive at the Special
Operations Executive's secret North African base near Algiers.
Code-named Massingham, it was formed by SOE to spearhead subversion
and sabotage in what Winston Churchill called 'the soft underbelly'
of Europe. Massingham was hidden away at the Club des Pins, a
former luxury resort nestling among pines next to a Mediterranean
beach. By the time SOE had got to work, there was little luxury
left. Setting the Med Ablaze tells the true stories of the men and
women of Churchill's secret base. Its life was short. Less than two
years after its formation, its job was done. But Massingham played
a key role in the Allied offensive in the Mediterranean islands,
Italy and France. If you enjoy historical nonfiction, this book is
for you.
It is the third of September 1939. It is just after half past
eleven in the morning. I am fifteen years and sixteen days old. The
radiogram at my home, the Woodman Hotel in Clent, has just been
switched off, the silence resonates around the room, and a deathly
hush has fallen. The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, has
declared that, despite the best efforts of the politicians of the
day to secure 'peace in our time', the inevitable has befallen us;
despite pledges to the contrary, Germany has invaded Poland, Hitler
has ignored requests to back down and so, therefore, 'Britain is
now at war with Germany'. Minutes after the broadcast ends, my
Father, Sidney Wheeler, goes quietly up to his room where he
methodically loads three bullets into his First World War revolver.
This is the true story of a fifteen-year-old girl's experience of
the Second World War, based around her parent's hotel in a sleepy
Worcestershire village. As war is declared, her father prepares
three bullets for the invasion. He will shoot the family and
himself when the Germans come. In their village, local Germans are
imprisoned (guilty or not). The blackout is immediate and has
tragic consequences. There is a court case over an alleged poker
game. An abortion nearly results in tragedy. Handsome young airmen
fly low over the hotel. Pamela has a premonition of death. The
business fails. An air raid very nearly kills them all. She is
called up first to factory work and then to the Land Army. She
marries by special licence. As the war comes to an end she is
living at home with her parents and a small baby, at which point
she is just twenty-one years of age. Amusing and entertaining,
surprising and often moving, Pamela's account vividly captures one
family's life on the home front in Worcestershire.
Dogfight tells the story of some of the most incredible air battles
of modern warfare. Alfred Price's action-packed accounts place you
in the cockpit, offering a rare insight into what it was like to
face the enemy thousands of feet above the frontline. From
operations over the fields of France during the First World War,
through to accounts of the indomitable spirit of the RAF during the
Battle of Britain, to the horrifying loss of life inflicted by
Hitler's Blitzkrieg offensive, when more than 300 aircraft fell in
air-to air combat during a single day of fighting; this book
details the battles and the men who fought in them. The jet age is
also heralded in by accounts of the air force's role in the Vietnam
War and the Falkland. The role of reconnaissance aircraft in modern
warfare is described alongside the precision of attacking pin-point
targets during the Gulf War in Iraq. This book not only uncovers
how the tactics of aerial warfare have changed through each major
conflict of modern times, but also the dramatic narrative allows
the reader to feel like they were there in the skies, flying
alongside these incredible pilots.
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