Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22069 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Synopsis
For various political reasons, the story of the battlefields in Afghanistan has gone unreported - until now. From interviews with his numerous contacts among the coalition forces stationed in Afghanistan, Mike Ryan has done what journalists have so far been unable to do. "Battlefield Afghanistan" is the first thorough-going account of the war in the former Taliban state: not the politics behind the conflict, but the actual situation for the men on the ground. Far from simply 'keeping the peace', coalition forces in Afghanistan are currently involved in full-scale warfare with both al-Qaeda militants and the forces of the resurgent Taliban. "Battlefield Afghanistan" tells the real, inside story of the men under fire, based upon first-hand evidence from members of 3 Para, 16 AAB, the Royal Marines and the Special Forces community, together with the views and experiences of the US and French troops. As their accounts indicate, the hostilities faced have proved to be far greater than was anticipated, and the situation in Afghanistan far more serious than the politicians would like the public to realise.

These are full-scale battles, not experienced by British forces since Korea, not even in the Falklands.

Customer Reviews

not a history book
This book is very brief, and lacks a lot of depth. It reads more like a collection of magazine articles. It lacks references. It is full of praise for the troops, which is a good thing but that means it cannot be taken seriously as a history book.

I couldn't understand who Mike Ryan is, which made it hard to work out his relationship with the events. He claims at several points to have some sort of insider knowledge. Former soldier? Journalist? Staff at RMA Sandhurst? It doesn't say in the book.

There are even some typos and grammatical errors in this book!

Up Close And Personal
Mike Ryan's book covers operation in Afghanistan from the early days of the ejection of the Taliban up to publication date. It has a good basic coverage of the politics and the events but it is not aiming to be a military history of the campaign or a military analysis. Although the author has views (and in some cases strong views) about strategy this is really a book from the tactical level. There's lots of tales of brave actions (medals by the dozen) and tactical analyses of the war. Although there is a strong pro-Rugby-Playing-Nations bias Ryan does not neglect our other allies (including the much maligned Dutch). Since Ryan is an undisguised fan of the fighting man he also takes the chance to lobby for some better kit (and give Dr John Reid a kick as he passes).

The book needs a final re-edit and a bit more text (he said greedily), but what we have is very enjoyable. There are lots of photos for fans of exciting kit - including a shot of a Polish unit.

Dissapointing
Based on the synopsis and other reviews I was expecting detailed eye witness accounts of the fighting in Afghanistan. In reality the book is only 154 pages long with a lot of space taken up with black and white photographs.

A lot of space is taken up with setting the background to the conflict - not first hand accounts of the action itself as I expected. There was very little in this book that I did not already know, and very little detail of eye witness accounts.

I much preferred the book 'Not a good day to die' by Sean Naylor (a detailed account of operation Anaconda).