Thread: Attack State Red

New book coming out beginning of September called Attack State Red written by Colonel Richard Kemp and Chris Hughes. Tells the story of the Royal Anglians tour of Afghanistan in 2007.

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.

Have just looked at the website http://www.attackstatered.com and Facebook site http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gi...2986&ref=share If what they say is true it looks like a pretty good book but its not out yet. Like the sound of this stuff from Facebook:

Most people wonder what it is like in battle and how they themselves would perform. Many books claim to give the reader a whiff of combat. Attack State Red really does. Seen through the eyes of the ordinary soldier, this book shows the danger, the fear, the exhilaration, the heat, the dust, the confusion, the exhaustion and of course the ever-present humour of infantry warfare.

It places the reader firmly into the boots of the British fighting man. For the first time ever you will understand what it is like to confront an enemy in impossible battle conditions, slogging for mile after mile through rugged Afghan desert and jungle-like ‘Green Zone’, in scorching heat and carrying up to 90 pounds of equipment. Nervously wondering when the first shot will be fired at you. Hoping it won’t come. Knowing it will.

Supported by air strikes, artillery, mortars, Scimitars, tracked troop carriers and Javelin missiles; often resupplied by heavy parachute drop; the platoons sniped, blasted, machine-gunned, grenaded and bayoneted their way across the desert and through the jungle-like Green Zone.

The remarkably strong bond between all ranks is summed up by Private Kenny Meighan, a young soldier who had the most dangerous job in the world, point man in Helmand: ‘I went to Afghanistan with seven mates and came back with seven brothers.’

I've got this reserved in the local library to read and if it as good as it sounds, I will be buying it aswell. It's about the only book I have known Suffolk Libraries to order in advance!!

Mate of mine does vetting for military books in mod. Its the first book in a year and half that he's said he couldn't put down. So I'm preordering mine now.

If he's wrong I'll have to poke his eyes out.

I served on this tour with the Royal Anglians, if this book is half as good as our tour was then it will be an outstanding book!

As an ex-Anglian I look forwards to this immensely.

There was another 'author named Liz' at Minden Day on Wednesay, whose book is due out. Unless she was a researcher getting any useful up-to-date info.

If so, look for the Vikings got talent photos.

Its getting serialised in the Mirror next week, Monday to Wednesday.

Attack State Red Mirror serialisation links.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-21619889/

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-21622247/

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-sto...5875-21624600/

SNIP
May 2007 saw the Anglians suffer the highest number of British military casualties in any single month since the end of World War II.
SNIP

Pretty serious, given that the Glosters lost 622 men KIA, WIA and MIA between April 22-25, 1951.

Couldn't be bothered to wait for the library to get it in. Bought it yesterday and have got it sitting on my desk ready for reading when I have finished the book I am on at the moment.
Looks like a damn fine read.

Bought Attack State Red this weekend from WH Smiths and I read it in three days. It's the best war book Ive ever read. Admittedly I'm biased cos I was out there on the tour but all I will say is you must read it.

Got this link from the Facebook group, Attack State Red, just now. Its a review in the Sunday Express today. http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...ll-of-Helmland

ATTACK STATE RED, BOOK REVIEW
COURAGE IN THE HELL OF HELMLAND
By Richard Jackson
THE first page of this extraordinary book hits you like a Taliban ambush. We are with Sergeant Larry Holmes of First Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment, in the killing grounds of Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, and he’s in mortal danger. Holmes is separated from his platoon, lying face down on open ground with bullets whipping past him, rocket-propelled grenades exploding overhead and mortar shells spraying red hot shrapnel past him.
He thinks of his wife and children and how he might never see them again. Yet the tough professional infantryman is not quite resigned to death yet. He radios his commander, tells him he is pinned down and that he needs support.
As his comrades pour down covering fire on the Taliban, Holmes edges back towards safety, finally diving over a wall as an enemy bullet smacks into his backpack. He is greeted by the rest of the platoon, who have taken cover there, and collapses into nervous, near-hysterical laughter as he realises how lucky he has been. The battle is not over yet, though. An enemy radio signal is intercepted. The Taliban commander chillingly orders his men: “Stop firing. I want them alive.�
Holmes turns to his men, all of them young and some not long out of basic training. They can hardly believe the next words they hear: “Fix bayonets!�
It sounds like the stuff of comic-book fiction but it is a true account, drawn from more than 300 interviews with serving soldiers, of how British troops took the fight to the Taliban in the Sangin Valley in spring 2007.
The authors, Colonel Richard Kemp, the most senior officer to write about the conflict, and journalist Chris Hughes, tell the story of the Royal Anglian Battle Group’s heroic actions almost entirely through the eyes of the fighting men.
In six months of ferocious combat, the battle group turned the tide of the war in Afghanistan and forced the Taliban on to the back foot. Ever since, the enemy have been wary of confronting our troops head-on and have relied instead far more on roadside bombs and the tactics of terror.
The Royal Anglians fought more than 350 close-quarter battles, with every soldier involved in at least 40 serious engagements. They fired more than one million bullets and threw 500 hand grenades in the process.
Nine of our men were killed and 57 wounded in action. A conservative estimate puts Taliban deaths at more than 1,000.
This inspiring book, like the characters in it, is full of hope, courage and optimism. It is also a much-needed antidote to the scenes being played out week after week on our television screens of flag-draped coffins arriving at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.
On page after page it illustrates the brotherhood of soldiers and their devotion to friends, comrades and the regiment. They perform unbelievable, spontaneous acts of bravery, not for Queen and not for country, but for their mates and the regiment.
Colonel Kemp pays tribute to these young heroes. The story of their Helmand tour, he says, is the story of modern British youth. “Despite their frequent dismissal as ‘the Playstation generation’, the conflict in Afghanistan proved once again that the innate spirit and moral fibre of our young people has remained undiminished down the centuries.�
Or, to put it in Sgt Holmes’s words: “I thought, ‘What’s it going to take to break these blokes?’ You smash them all day and night and they keep going. Give them a cigarette and a brew and they’ll be off again.�
Attack State Red
Col Richard Kemp and Chris Hughes
Michael Joseph, £17.99

Originally Posted by Manintheshadows

Got this link from the Facebook group, Attack State Red, just now. Its a review in the Sunday Express today. http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...ll-of-Helmland

ATTACK STATE RED, BOOK REVIEW
COURAGE IN THE HELL OF HELMLAND
By Richard Jackson
THE first page of this extraordinary book hits you like a Taliban ambush. We are with Sergeant Larry Holmes of First Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment, in the killing grounds of Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, and he’s in mortal danger. Holmes is separated from his platoon, lying face down on open ground with bullets whipping past him, rocket-propelled grenades exploding overhead and mortar shells spraying red hot shrapnel past him.
He thinks of his wife and children and how he might never see them again. Yet the tough professional infantryman is not quite resigned to death yet. He radios his commander, tells him he is pinned down and that he needs support.
As his comrades pour down covering fire on the Taliban, Holmes edges back towards safety, finally diving over a wall as an enemy bullet smacks into his backpack. He is greeted by the rest of the platoon, who have taken cover there, and collapses into nervous, near-hysterical laughter as he realises how lucky he has been. The battle is not over yet, though. An enemy radio signal is intercepted. The Taliban commander chillingly orders his men: “Stop firing. I want them alive.�
Holmes turns to his men, all of them young and some not long out of basic training. They can hardly believe the next words they hear: “Fix bayonets!�
It sounds like the stuff of comic-book fiction but it is a true account, drawn from more than 300 interviews with serving soldiers, of how British troops took the fight to the Taliban in the Sangin Valley in spring 2007.
The authors, Colonel Richard Kemp, the most senior officer to write about the conflict, and journalist Chris Hughes, tell the story of the Royal Anglian Battle Group’s heroic actions almost entirely through the eyes of the fighting men.
In six months of ferocious combat, the battle group turned the tide of the war in Afghanistan and forced the Taliban on to the back foot. Ever since, the enemy have been wary of confronting our troops head-on and have relied instead far more on roadside bombs and the tactics of terror.
The Royal Anglians fought more than 350 close-quarter battles, with every soldier involved in at least 40 serious engagements. They fired more than one million bullets and threw 500 hand grenades in the process.
Nine of our men were killed and 57 wounded in action. A conservative estimate puts Taliban deaths at more than 1,000.
This inspiring book, like the characters in it, is full of hope, courage and optimism. It is also a much-needed antidote to the scenes being played out week after week on our television screens of flag-draped coffins arriving at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.
On page after page it illustrates the brotherhood of soldiers and their devotion to friends, comrades and the regiment. They perform unbelievable, spontaneous acts of bravery, not for Queen and not for country, but for their mates and the regiment.
Colonel Kemp pays tribute to these young heroes. The story of their Helmand tour, he says, is the story of modern British youth. “Despite their frequent dismissal as ‘the Playstation generation’, the conflict in Afghanistan proved once again that the innate spirit and moral fibre of our young people has remained undiminished down the centuries.�
Or, to put it in Sgt Holmes’s words: “I thought, ‘What’s it going to take to break these blokes?’ You smash them all day and night and they keep going. Give them a cigarette and a brew and they’ll be off again.�
Attack State Red
Col Richard Kemp and Chris Hughes
Michael Joseph, £17.99

Sounds good.

Yeah and I've just seen a review in the Mail that says it's "certain to become a military clasic". Can't find it online. I feel sort of good that I knew about it a while back I agree this is going to be one of the msut haves!!