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ISBN 9780593064344
Bantam Press
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"A well-kept secret beyond Stirling Lines, The
Battle of Mirbat has been the stuff of Regimental
legend for as long as I can remember. Quite simply,
it was the SAS's answer to Rorke's Drift.
Catapulting us from the cockpits of heavily armed,
low-level attack jets to the beating heart of elite
Special Forces soldiers under siege, STORM FRONT
tells this epic story as only the author of VULCAN
607 can. It's as vivid and compelling as the best
adventure thriller, and a fitting tribute to a small
band of men who became heroes."--
Andy McNab
"Gripping, revealing and extraordinarily
well-researched, STORM FRONT is a riveting new
account of a little known, but crucial war.
Combining page-turning military action in the air
and on the ground with a clear-sighted understanding
of the big picture it brings to life the campaign in
Oman more vividly than any other book I've read."--
Sir Ranulph Fiennes
"The best account I’ve ever read of this legendary
battle. Takes you right to the heart of the
action."--
Sgt Dan Mills, author of Sniper
One
"This is a rare insight into the battle that defined
the modern SAS. Storm Front is the best book you
will read this year."--
Tim Collins
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Review - Peter Thompson on Amazon
Two years after the appearance of Phoenix Squadron,
Rowland White author of Vulcan 607 returns to the
bookshop shelve with his new work Storm Front
Set during the early years of the 1970's the author
takes us through the formation of the gulf state of Oman
by coup d'etat, in which Her Majesties Government
complicit and indeed assisted if only by turning the
occasional blind eye, through to the fierce fighting
between the men of the Special Air Service and the
insurgent forces or Adoo, and includes the operation of
Strikemaster jets flown by Royal Air Force pilots that
were not officially in theatre. The story develops and
reaches its climax with a graphic description of the
battle for the BATT house, near the tiny fishing village
of Mirbat, where 9 SAS men fought for their lives under
overwhelming odds against several hundred Adoo
insurgents. Their bravery under fire is aided by the RAF
pilots and their Sultan of Oman's Air Force
Strikemasters performing some of the RAF's first Close
Air Support missions, firing 7.62mm gun pods and Rockets
into the advancing terrorists to slow there advance.
The author has, as is his usual style, relied on
detailed research and first hand interviews of those
that were there to ensure that the chronology of the
event as written is correct and that the full intimate
detail of the story is gained. The book also contains
names that in 1972 would have meant nothing to the man
on the street but would later become household names. In
early career form we meet with the likes of Sir Peter de
la Billiere, later to command British forces during the
first Gulf War against Iraq, Lofty Wiseman SAS
Quartermaster and survival expert, Sir Jock Stirrup, a
Flight Lieutenant with the Sultan Of Oman's Air force
who would later be Chief of the Defence Staff, and at
Mirbat itself, SAS Trooper Pete Winner who would later
take part in the relief of the Iranian Embassy siege at
Princes Gate in London.
For the aviation or military history aficionado Storm
Front, while a veritable boys own story of daring do, is
a superb work that highlights the trouble the Arab
peninsula has been subjected to long before peoples
interest increased with Desert Storm in the early 1990's
and more recent operations further east in Afghanistan.
Indeed it could be said that what is seen in Storm Front
on the front of Arab armed insurgency is possibly the
genesis of later, larger terrorist action to come. I can
only highly recommend this book. |
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Daily
Telegraph 13th June 2011
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