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Bloody Heroes Damien Lewis
By Anthony | February 11, 2009
Bloody Heroes by Damien Lewis is one of the best special forces books I have read in a very long time. The book is excellently written and follows the story of three missions carried out by the British SBS (Special Boat Service).
The first Mission is to assault an old container ship called the MV Nisha. Its post 911, The Nisha is approaching british waters and is bound for the Thames river in London. Intelligence has been recieved that the ship may be carrying an improvised chemical bomb and must be stopped at all costs. The SBS assault the ship in four ribs boats and by fast roping from two Chinook MH47 helicopters. Damien Lewis really captures the atmosphere of the mission in this book and I found it very hard to put the book down in the midst of the action. You can just imagine how terrified the people on the ship must have been as the huge black assault team wearing respirators and carrying deadly weapons assaulted the ship from every possible angle. Needless to say that the MV Nisha never reached its intended destination.
The book then moves on to a joint CIA, SEAL, SBS covert observation mission in afghanistan. Two SBS soldiers, one navy Seal and CIA Bob have to covertly observe a valley in afghanistan suspected to be “the mother of all terrorist training camps” I wont spoil the book for you and tell you the outcome of this mission, you will have to read it yourself.
Next the book moves onto the now famous battle for Qala-I-Janghi. This mission takes up a large amount of this book and is one of the best stories of special forces soldiers battling against overwhelming odds I have ever read. Take eight of our Special Forces soldiers and pit them against 600 of the worlds most hardened terrorists. The result is a siege lasting 8 days and inevitably many terrorist casualties. Its an absolute rivitting read and the author explains the scene very well. There are also parts of this operation written from the terrorists perspective of the seige which I thought was a nice touch by the author.
There are many news stories covering the famous battle, some of them state that the special forces used unnessesary force but after reading the accounts in this book I feel the soldiers where justified in the actions they took and should be awarded a medal for the bravery under terrifying odds.
The book is obviously well researched and the author really goes into great detail about many aspects of the three operations. Like I said Bloody Heroes is one of the best special forces books I have had the pleasure to read in a very long time and is worth every penny you spend to purchase it. Its certainly a book that I will read in the future and probably enjoy it even more.
Related News Stories
MV Nisha
Anti-terror squad searches ship - BBC News
Cargo ship searched for ‘terrorist material’ - UK Guardian
Battle of Qala-i-Jangi
Inside the Battle at Qala-I-Jangi - Time Magazine
UK forces help end fort uprising - BBC News report
British SBS commando to get ‘American VC’ UK Telegraph
SAS role in fort deaths questioned - UK Guardian
Related Movies
Qala-i-jangi Battle Documentary
Topics: Book Reviews |
4 Responses to “Bloody Heroes Damien Lewis”
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February 25th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Hey thats a great review you have wrote of a very good book. Ive read bloody heroes and i do agree with everything you have said. I did find the small sections that switch to the terrorist perspective a bit annoying at first but it does add a great deal to the book and its only small sections so it quickly gets back to the story. great review, great book.
March 9th, 2009 at 11:49 am
[...] Bloody Heroes Damien Lewis [...]
March 9th, 2009 at 11:49 am
[...] Bloody Heroes Damien Lewis [...]
August 14th, 2009 at 8:48 am
I have managed to read all the Damien Lewis books and this by far is the best one of his selection. The description of the events puts you there in the action with the SF guys on the ground and the camaradre between the SF and Afghans is something to be proud of. However the main point is the way the SF guys managed to hold the fort under such a potent force to such an extent with minimal fatalities and injuries is what amazes me; especially when the that missile is dropped danger close! Get it, read it, live it!