Book description
Green: Enter without explosives or firing unless enemy targets are
identified. Amber: Enter firing. No explosive entry. Red: Explosive
entry using a grenade or charge. Enter firing at will. What happened in
Helmand?s Sangin Valley in the spring of 2007 was nothing short of
extraordinary. After the last gasp defence of the platoon houses by the
Paras that preceded them in theatre, the soldiers of the Royal Anglian
Regiment arrived in Afghanistan charged with taking the battle to the
enemy. Despite brutal, debilitating conditions, the tour that followed
became a bloody lesson in how to conduct offensive infantry warfare.
Over a six-month tour of duty, the 'Vikings' battlegroup unleashed hell
in heavy, relentless fighting that saw teenage soldiers battle toe to
toe against hardcore Al Qaeda and Taliban warriors at unprecedented
levels of ferocity. The stories that emerged from the Sangin Valley,
defined by bravery, comradeship, endurance and, above all, aggression,
are remarkable So much so that Sandhurst manuals were re-written to
incorporate the lessons of the campaign. But the fight was far from
one-sided. May 2007 saw the Anglians suffer the highest number of
British military casualties in any single month since the end of World
War II. And those that did return home came back changed by the
intensity of the experience. In Attack State Red, Colonel Richard Kemp,
a former Commanding Office of 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment,
and Chris Hughes, the Daily Mirror Security Correspondent, tell the
story of the Royal Anglian's deployment for the first time. Combining
the strategic insight of 3 Para with the adrenaline charge of Sniper
One, they have produced the most dynamic, substantial and visceral
account of the war in Afghanistan that's ever been written.
