3 Para [Import] [Hardcover]

Patrick Bishop (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2007

Synopsis Afghanistan, Summer 2006. This is war. Afghanistan in the summer of 2006. In blazing heat in remote outposts the 3 Para battlegroup is pitted against a stubborn enemy who keep on coming. Until now, the full story of what happened there has not been told. This is it. In April 2006, the elite 3 Para battlegroup was despatched to Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. They were tasked with providing security to reconstruction efforts, a deployment it was hoped would pass off without a shot being fired. In fact, over the six months they were there, the 3 Para battle group saw near continuous combat -- one gruelling battle after another -- in what would become one of the most extraordinary campaigns ever fought by British troops. Around parched, dusty outposts reliant on a limited number of helicopters for food and ammunition resupply, troops were subjected to relentless Taliban attacks, as well as energy-sapping 50 degree heat and spartan conditions. At the end of the tour, the Taliban offensive aimed at driving the British and Afghan Government troops out of Helmand had been tactically defeated.But 3 Para paid a high price: fourteen soldiers and one interpreter were killed, and 46

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited (2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007257783
• ISBN-13: 978-0007257782
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,909,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is something about 3 Para., December 14, 2007

By 

Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

It was April 2006 and 3rd Battalion the Parachute Regiment (3 Para) Battle Group were deployed to Helmand Province in Afghanistan for a 6 month tour of duty. What they were expecting to encounter and what they found on arrival were entirely different things. The pre-deployment intelligence suggested the tour was likely to pass without a shot being fired whilst they concentrated on a task which required then to provide security for a reconstruction programme.

Six months later, the Battle Group returned home having fought one continuous battle after another during which they defeated the Taliban within Helmand Province. That military success did not, however, come without a price. 18 Officers and men died during the tour after another two had lost their lives in preliminary operations.

It is many years since I served with 3 Para and I well remember the stories of both Sergeant Willetts who saved many lives in Northern Ireland for which he was awarded a posthumous GC in the 1970s and, in 1982, Sergeant Ian McKay who was awarded the last VC of the 20th Century. Now, in just 6 months in 2006, 3 Para had added yet another VC and another GC in addition to many other honours and awards to their illustrious Battalion and Regimental history.

Written by a professional foreign correspondent who was given access to all the information and personal stories required to create this significant, and important, work of literature about a series of modern military actions, Patrick Bishop has done an excellent job in providing an informative and readable account of exactly what happened.

This is what our forces are doing in Afghanistan. Doubtless, in many ways, it will be similar to what our forces are doing in Iraq. It is, therefore, a book which should be read by everyone with an interest in the world at war - today.

As a postscript (and not part of the book itself), readers will be interested to know that the Commanding Officer of 3 Para Battle Group - Lt. Colonel Stuart Tootal DSO OBE (the DSO being awarded for his outstanding service in Afghanistan) resigned in November 2007 after attacking the Ministry of Defence over "poor pay for soldiers, lack of equipment, the standard of army housing and poor medical treatment afforded to his injured soldiers."

Unlike their comrades from the USA, when the modern British Army has finished with it's soldiers - they really are finished with them.

NM
British Army major (Retired)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well worth getting and reading, April 17, 2009

By 

The Dodger (Oceania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 3 Para (Paperback)

I've heard a fair bit about Afghanistan and wasn't sure how this book was written. A journalist, he wasn't there but written in an 'after action' style. Bishop has access to the blokes who were and lets them do their bit. Its not glamourous, its not a movie, its dirty, hot and dangerous work. The Paras got the short end of the stick, politics plays its part and the Paras have to save others faces at a cost to themselves.

Get the book, read it for yourself, Well Done 3 Para, and they've deployed again, hopefully the pollies will let them do the job they are trained for and not boxed in those platoon houses day after day!!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timely well worth the time, January 15, 2008

By 

Syd Sutherland (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

I won't repeat what the other reveiwers have said. They give an accurate account of the book. I believe this book is important because it gives a ground level view of whats happening in Afganistan. As a Canadian and former soldier I support our troops and the troops of our Allies. The officers and men of 3 Para are outstanding individuals. I beleive what they and the other Allied troops (that pull their weight) are doing is important but after reading this book.....well....now I have questions. Not about the mission but its execution. How long does it take to hook up a washing machine? Read the book to find out. Its shameful.