Soldier U Bandit Country

July 1989, South Armagh: the cheering mobs stood over the body of a British soldier. He was the ninth to have been killed by the so-called Border Fox, an IRA sniper whose activities had helped to make this area of the United Kingdom the most feared killing ground in Western Europe. The British government was determined to break the tightly-knit South Armagh Brigade of the IRA before more lives were lost. This task would demand unique skills skills possessed only by the men of the Special Air Service. The SAS men of Ulster Troop are the best in the world at surveillance, unsurpassed in counter-insurgency techniques. And now, once again, they were going to have to prove it. Soldier U SAS: Bandit Country tells the story of their hunt for the Border Fox and the terrorists of South Armagh a murderous, little-publicised war in which every encounter, whether in or out of uniform, was potentially a battle to the death.

In July 1989, a cheering mob stands over the body of a British soldier, the ninth to have been killed by the so-called Border Fox, an IRA sniper. The Government is determined to break the IRA's South Armagh Brigade, and calls on the surveillance and counter-insurgency techniques of the SAS.

Ultimate soldier. Ultimate mission. But will the SAS be able to find an IRA sniper, before he finds them...?

A NEW EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED BOOKS ON THE TROUBLES Branded as 'Bandit Country' by the British government, South Armagh was the heartland of the Provisional IRA. It was the rebel Irish stronghold where Thomas 'Slab' Murphy reigned supreme, bomb attacks on England were planned and the SAS tracked the IRA snipers who hunted British soldiers. In this acclaimed and remarkable book – originally published in 1999 – Toby Harnden, winner of the Orwell Prize, brings to bear his skills as a fearless journalist, inspired investigator and gifted historian, threatened with imprisonment for protecting his sources in Northern Ireland but undeterred. He draws on secret documents and unsparing interviews with key protagonists on both sides to produce perhaps the most compelling and essential account of the IRA and the Troubles.

By early 1944 the tide of the war was flowing steadily against the Germans, but to the Western Allies the need for a speedy victory was becoming more apparent with each new Russian advance and each new hint of the horror at work in the camps of occupied Europe. The SAS, born in North Africa as a strategic raiding force behind enemy lines, was well suited to performing a similar role in the different terrain of the Italian mountains and French forests. Here, after making common cause with the local partisans, they could cut the road and rail likes which served the front line German armies. Hitler knew as much, and was determined that the SAS should pay a terrible price for their efforts. In October 1942 he had issued the infamous Commando Order, which decreed that the raiders captured behind enemy lines, whether in or out of uniform, would be summarily executed. Denied the safety net usually provided by the rules of war, the SAS embarked on each new mission knowing that it would end in either success or death. Soldier Z SAS: For King and Country tells the riveting story of the undertaking and execution of these death-defying operations and of how, later, in the final days of war and the opening weeks of peace, the survivors at last began to seek out the murderers of their comrades and bring them to justice.

In the North African desert in 1941 the war is being won by the brilliant German commander General Rommel, and the British are in retreat on all fronts. A young British army lieutenant, David Stirling, believes that the only way to reverse this situation is to attack the enemy behind their own lines, using small groups of men who can insert by land, sea or air as required. The first of these men are dropped by parachute to attack enemy airfields in the Gazala area, but the raid is a disaster, with many lives lost. The following year, the survivors of that operation, now working hand in hand with the Long Range Desert Group, mount a series of spectacular, successful raids in heavily armed jeeps against airfields in the Benghazi region, destroying nearly a hundred enemy aircraft, leaving the German army reeling, and reversing the course of the war. In September 1942, having proved their worth, that group of bold, resourceful men is formed into a new British army regiment to be used for special and especially dangerous operations behind enemy lines. They are listed officially as the 1st Special air Service Regiment the SAS! Soldier G SAS: The Desert Raiders is the colourful story of the birth of the most renowned regiment in the history of the British Army forged with fire and steel in the vast, sun-scorched plains of the North African desert, pitting themselves against the might of the formerly invincible German Army, and gaining a reputation that would make them a legend in their own time.

In June 1966, after completing final training for Vietnam on Exercise Traiim Nau in the jungles and swamps of New Guinea, 3 Squadron SAS (Australian Special Air Service) embarked by boat and plane from Australia to set up a Forward Operating Base in Phuoc Tuy province, a swampy hell of jungle and paddy-fields forty-five miles east of Saigon. The Viet Cong main forces units had a series of bases in the jungle, and the political cadres controlled most of the villages. Arriving in Phoc Tuy province, the Australians found they had to build their camp in the middle of wet season, which had turned the ground into a mud-bath. They were also compelled to build in the heart of an enemy-dominated region while living under ponchos and being constantly sniped at. The Aussies were still working under these appalling conditions when three members of the legendary 22 SAS arrived secretly from Bradbury Lines, Hereford, to give assistance in what was to be a major assault against the Viet Cong. These three were Sergeant Jimmy 'Jimbo' Ashman, who had been with the Regiment since its foundation in North Africa in 1941; Sergeant Richard 'Dead-eye Dick' Parker, who had previously fought with the SAS in Malaya, Borneo and Aden; and Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick 'Paddy' Callaghan, who had been pulled out of administration specially for this secret mission. The presence of the British SAS among the proud Australians, initially a source of resentment and conflict, eventually led to mutual respect. Working side by side, Brits and Aussies forged themselves into a potent fighting machine which was tasked with the fearsome job of rooting the Viet Cong out of the labyrinth tunnel system where they lived and died. It was a journey into hell, from which some would never return.

In 1993, as civil war continued to rage in Bosnia, a strange story began to emerge. In the isolated mountain town of Zavik, a small army of Serbs, Muslims and Croats had been formed under the command of a renegade Briton by the name of Reeve. Originally organised to defend the town against the tides of war and 'ethnic cleansing', this force had subsequently started mounting raids further afield in search of food, fuel and medical supplies. All sides in the war were enraged by the exploits and the very existence of this maverick army; even the UN mediators recognised the need for its suppression. But there were only two people Reeve would be likely to listen to: his ex-wife, and an ex-comrade in the SAS. The latter was willing to take a team of SAS men into Zavik; the former had first to be found she was either trapped in Sarajevo or imprisoned in a Serbian concentration camp. Rescuing her would be only the beginning. The SAS team would then have to traverse the mountainous war zone and force their way into the besieged town. This would be difficult enough. Fighting their way out of the war-ravaged territory with a convoy of the sick, the old and the very young would be next to impossible.