Dead Men Risen - 9781621572718
Un libro in lingua di Toby Harnden edito da Perseus Distribution Services, 2014
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Dead Men Risen, winner of the 2012 Orwell Prize for Books, is an epic and visceral story of war. It is the tale of a beleaguered British battle group fighting desperately to prevent the Taliban seizing control of Afghanistan's Helmand province before the arrival of US Marines. Dead Men Risen examines the nature of true military leadership as three officers at different levels of command perish while leading their men from the front.
Underequipped and overstretched, guardsmen from the coal mining valleys and slate quarry villages of Wales found themselves in some of the most intense combat by British troops for more than a generation. They were confronted by a Taliban enemy they seldom saw, facing the constant threat of Improvised Explosive Devices and ambush. The action takes place in 2009 as General Stanley McChrystal, the new commander in Afghanistan, decides that the war is in danger of being lost. One British officer had worked with McChrystal in Iraq in multiple operations that decimated the al-Qaeda network.
Dead Men Risen recounts how British and American troops fought shoulder to shoulder in Afghanistan. At Patrol Base Jaker in Nawa, a few dozen British troops keep the Taliban at bay as they await a relief force of 1,500 US Marines. In another remote outpost on the edge of the badlands of Marjah, two US Marines equipped with a Toughbook laptop download information from an American drone and relay it to a British sniper who kills five insurgents from a distance of more than a mile. The snipers first kill was at a range of a remarkable 1,764 meters. Four of the kills happened within a minute. Another pair of snipers killed 75 insurgents in just 40 days, including an infamous "one shot, two kills" feat in which two Taliban were felled with a single bullet.
Commanding the Welsh Guards as they went into battle was Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, marked out for the highest ranks. He was a passionate believer in the war but was dismayed by political and military incompetence. In chilling detail, Toby Harnden reveals how and why Thorneloe - the first British battalion commander to die in action for 27 years -- was killed by an IED during Operation Panther's Claw.
Harnden, who had known Thorneloe since they met in Northern Ireland in 1996, was on the ground in Helmand with the Welsh Guards. He draws on a trove of military documents, including many by Thorneloe. Major Sean Birchall left behind an unvarnished account of the shortcomings of the Afghan forces that represent Nato's exit strategy. Lieutenant Mark Evison wrote a diary that raises questions from beyond the grave.
It was more than half a century since a British battalion had lost officers at these three key levels of leadership. By the time the fighting was over, almost no rank had been spared. A timeless account of men at war, Dead Men Risen conveys what it is like to be a soldier who has to kill, face paralysing fear and watch comrades perish in agony. Given unprecedented access to the British troops, Harnden conducted more than 300 interviews in Afghanistan, England and Wales.
The searing heat of the poppy fields and mud compounds of Helmand to the dreaded knock on the door back home, the reader is transported there. Harnden weaves the experiences of the guardsmen and their loved ones into an unsparing narrative that sits alongside a piercing analysis of military strategy. No other book about modern conflict succeeds on so many levels. Dead Men Risen is essential for anyone who wants to learn the reality of the war in Afghanistan.
Underequipped and overstretched, guardsmen from the coal mining valleys and slate quarry villages of Wales found themselves in some of the most intense combat by British troops for more than a generation. They were confronted by a Taliban enemy they seldom saw, facing the constant threat of Improvised Explosive Devices and ambush. The action takes place in 2009 as General Stanley McChrystal, the new commander in Afghanistan, decides that the war is in danger of being lost. One British officer had worked with McChrystal in Iraq in multiple operations that decimated the al-Qaeda network.
Dead Men Risen recounts how British and American troops fought shoulder to shoulder in Afghanistan. At Patrol Base Jaker in Nawa, a few dozen British troops keep the Taliban at bay as they await a relief force of 1,500 US Marines. In another remote outpost on the edge of the badlands of Marjah, two US Marines equipped with a Toughbook laptop download information from an American drone and relay it to a British sniper who kills five insurgents from a distance of more than a mile. The snipers first kill was at a range of a remarkable 1,764 meters. Four of the kills happened within a minute. Another pair of snipers killed 75 insurgents in just 40 days, including an infamous "one shot, two kills" feat in which two Taliban were felled with a single bullet.
Commanding the Welsh Guards as they went into battle was Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, marked out for the highest ranks. He was a passionate believer in the war but was dismayed by political and military incompetence. In chilling detail, Toby Harnden reveals how and why Thorneloe - the first British battalion commander to die in action for 27 years -- was killed by an IED during Operation Panther's Claw.
Harnden, who had known Thorneloe since they met in Northern Ireland in 1996, was on the ground in Helmand with the Welsh Guards. He draws on a trove of military documents, including many by Thorneloe. Major Sean Birchall left behind an unvarnished account of the shortcomings of the Afghan forces that represent Nato's exit strategy. Lieutenant Mark Evison wrote a diary that raises questions from beyond the grave.
It was more than half a century since a British battalion had lost officers at these three key levels of leadership. By the time the fighting was over, almost no rank had been spared. A timeless account of men at war, Dead Men Risen conveys what it is like to be a soldier who has to kill, face paralysing fear and watch comrades perish in agony. Given unprecedented access to the British troops, Harnden conducted more than 300 interviews in Afghanistan, England and Wales.
The searing heat of the poppy fields and mud compounds of Helmand to the dreaded knock on the door back home, the reader is transported there. Harnden weaves the experiences of the guardsmen and their loved ones into an unsparing narrative that sits alongside a piercing analysis of military strategy. No other book about modern conflict succeeds on so many levels. Dead Men Risen is essential for anyone who wants to learn the reality of the war in Afghanistan.
Informazioni bibliografiche
- Titolo del Libro in lingua: Dead Men Risen
- Sottotitolo: An Epic Story of War and Heroism in Afghanistan
- Lingua: English
- Autore: Toby Harnden
- Editore: Perseus Distribution Services
- Collana: (Hardcover)
- Data di Pubblicazione: 17 Novembre '14
- Genere: Lingua Inglese
- Argomenti : Afghan War, 2001- Regimental histories Great Britain Afghan War, 2001- Participation, British Afghan War, 2001- Campaigns
- Pagine: 503
- Dimensioni mm: 228 x 152 x 0
- EAN-13: 9781621572718