Showing titles in Special & Elite Forces

Brought to you by Penguin. THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER On April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens. A tense six-day...

January 1991. IRAQ. Eight members of the SAS regiment embark upon a top secret mission to infiltrate deep behind enemy lines. Under the command of Sergeant Andy McNab, they are to sever a vital underground communication link and to seek and destroy mobile Scud launchers. Their call sign: BRAVO...

The young Welshmen selected grew to become the closest of friends as they navigated their way through the difficult sniper cadre. After losing one of their own to the Taliban shortly after the course, Ted and the rest of the lads deployed to Helmand Province and the raging war for the second time. As the tour in Afghanistan came to an end, Ted began to feel the effects of what will later be diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder, and it quickly took over his life, sending him on a downward spiral.

Brought to you by Penguin. A frightened boy pursued by racist bullies who grew up to become a trailblazing soldier in the British Army and then the SAS, Melvyn Downes was one of the first British-born Black men to join the elite regiment. During his 24 years of service, he was involved in secret...

So secret was this mission, the SAS seizure of a train to raid deep into enemy territory to liberate a concentration camp, that it wasn't until 1968 - twenty-seven years after the formation of the SAS - that a short mention of it was made in the Rover and Wizard annual, under the headline 'Who Dares Wins'. No further published record exists. Best-selling author Damien Lewis has unearthed the full incredible story from long-hidden files and first hand-testimony, his latest elite forces narrative delivering a scintillating tale of bravery, daring and determination which simply beggars belief.

A thrilling Special Forces memoir - from Selection to the Falklands war, Northern Ireland, and beyond this is essential listening for anyone interested in the SAS. Many aspire to serve with the Special Air Service, arguably the world's most prestigious regiment, but few achieve their aim. In...

Archie Gibson's initiation into desert warfare almost proved to be his last. Barrelling through the sand dunes at the wheel of his truck, Gibson spied a searing flash of light up ahead, the signature of a feared German 88mm gun firing ... right at him. He leapt from his speeding vehicle just...

They were like a band of brothers... In 1983 Andy McNab was assigned to B Squadron, one of the four Sabre Squadrons of the SAS, and within it to Air Troop, otherwise known as SEVEN TROOP. This is Andy McNab's gripping account of the time he served in the company of a remarkable group of men -...

Brought to you by Penguin. THE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT BBC SERIES SAS: ROGUE HEROES, STARRING CONNOR SWINDELLS, JACK O'CONNELL, ALFIE ALLEN AND DOMINIC WEST 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...

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.

In the spirit of previous volumes, Damien Lewis reveals the untold stories of the war's most daring and audacious escapes as executed by the world's most famous fighting force, the SAS. Reaching back into the earliest origins of the SAS legend, and Operation Colossus, the volume opens with a...

Forged to fight guerrillas in the sweltering jungles of Malaya. Tasked with storming mountain strongholds in the desert. Trained to hunt down the world's most wanted terrorists. This is the extraordinary story of 22 SAS. The history of the modern SAS is one of the great successes of post-war...

Steve Brown joined the army in 1993 as a troubled teenager and left as a respected sergeant-major in 2020. After passing the gruelling Parachute Regiment recruit process and selection for the elite Pathfinder Platoon he travelled the world, deployed on multiple operations, and pushed himself beyond breaking point, both physically and mentally. His story provides a unique insight into Britain's elite airborne forces, including their training, ethos, and indomitable mindset.

Germany’s Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) is one of the most elite, secretive, and highly skilled special operations forces in the world—yet few outside military circles truly understand its origins, its purpose, or its extraordinary capabilities. This gripping and in-depth exploration pulls back the veil on the unit born out of a national crisis and forged in the fires of global conflict.

Following the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq in 2003, the SAS launched one of the most intense and secretive operations in its history: Task Force Black. BBC journalist Mark Urban uncovers the sensational story of this operation and the extraordinary men who carried it out.

‘Paddy’ Mayne was one of the most outstanding special forces leaders of the Second World War. Hamish Ross’s authoritative study follows Mayne from solicitor and a rugby international to troop commander in the Commandos and then the SAS, whose leader he later became and whose annals he graced, winning the DSO and three bars, the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d’Honneur.

In 2007, after almost 40 years of operations, the SAS ceased operations in Northern Ireland and ended the longest operational commitment in the unit's history. Starting in 1969, Mark Urban reveals the extraordinary history of the special forces' operations in Northern Ireland and the unenviable dilemmas faced by intelligence chiefs engaged in a daily struggle against one of the world's most sophisticated terrorist organisations.

Operation Certain Death chronicles the story of the single most daring Special Forces operation since World War Two - Operation Barras; the attempted rescue by the SAS of the British Forces who were being held captive by guerrilla gang the West Side Boys in the Sierra Leone jungle. Operation Barras, the rescue mission, was a combined force of 100 Paras, twelve members of the Special Boat Squadron, helicopters from the Navy and RAF and, spearheading the operation, 40-strong D squadron of the SAS. Against amazing odds the hostages were rescued - over 150 of the enemy were killed.

Peter Ratcliffe served in the SAS for 25 years. Blooded in Oman in the 1970s, he also saw action in Northern Ireland, in the Falklands War, and in the Gulf campaign. From his early days in the Paras to his time as Regimental Sergeant-Major in the Gulf, he has lived and fought by the motto 'who dares wins'. Eye of the Storm is his insider's account of that exceptional career.

St Nazaire, 1.22 a.m. 28th March 1942. HMS Cambeltown, supported by seventeen wooden motor launches, approached the German-held port intending to smash into the lock gates of the largest dock in the world; the Normandie Dock-Operation Chariot was in full swing. Against vicious Nazi gunfire, the commandos stormed the docks, and within half an hour, succeeded in their chief demolition objectives, but in the heat of battle, the Royal Navy had lost nearly all of its small vessels intended to carry them back to England.