SAS Bravo Three Zero: The Gripping True Story

Product Information

What is the explosive part of this story? The friction between the Des the patrol second in command and Jim the patrol commander is at times palpable, and under terrible weather and operational pressures is understandable. That the SAS, Britain's fighting elite, would do what appears to be an 'arms plot' move in the build up to a war; would equip patrols going into an active enemy environment so badly, and would give such poor weather, intelligence and signals briefs. It may be 30 years ago but there was plenty knowledge about the Iraqi armed forces from the Iran Iraq war; there were satellite intelligence and weather systems, and signals provision was hardly an unknown either. I would also say the book is not a positive advert for Land Rover, and probably should get a mention in the ARRSE thread 'Land Rover Horror Stories'. As a result of this I hope some officers careers went sideways rather than upward. The first public literary mention of the patrol was in Storm Command, [18] the autobiography of Lieutenant-General Peter de la Billière, who served as the commander of the British Forces during the Gulf War, although the patrol is only mentioned in passing. The book was released in 1992. Damien Lewis is a Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author whose books have been translated into 40 languages worldwide. For 20 years, Damien worked as a war and conflict reporter for the world’s major broadcasters. Several of his books are being made into feature films. SAS Bravo Three Zero continues Damien’s iconic elite forces series: Churchill’s Secret Warriors, The Nazi Hunters, Hunting The Nazi Bomb, SAS Ghost Patrol, SAS Italian Job, SAS Shadow Raiders, SAS Band of Brothers and SAS Great Escapes. a b c Taylor, Peter (10 February 2002). "BRAVO TWO ZERO A Question of Betrayal". BBC News . Retrieved 25 October 2011. There were three patrols that fateful January 1991 morning: Bravo One Zero, Bravo Two Zero and Bravo Three Zero. It was the opening hours of the Gulf War and the SAS were flown deep behind enemy lines to hunt down Saddam’s Scud missiles, the use of which threatened a Third World War.

Join Damien Lewis and Des Powell as they launch their new book, marking both the 80th anniversary of the SAS and the 30th anniversary of the Gulf War. This is not my ordinary type of read, however, I feel as though my reading experiences have been enriched for having read. This is not a book of self congratulatory glory written for the sake of it. It is an account of one one the pivotal moments in world history. Des Powell is clearly an extraordinary man as are those who he served with, he comes across in the book as a person of honour and integrity, There were three patrols that fateful January 1991 morning: Bravo One Zero, Bravo Two Zero and Bravo Three Zero. It was the opening hours of the Gulf War and the SAS were flown deep behind enemy lines to hunt down Saddam's Scud missiles, the use of which threatened a Third World War. One of those questions, and the next one I ask Des, is naming the most challenging moment his team experienced on the ground.How one SAS patrol launched a fusillade of 'kill-and-tell' books, then a fierce war of words". The Independent. 7 December 2000. Archived from the original on 4 July 2009 . Retrieved 25 October 2011.

The BBC produced a two-part adaptation of Mitchell's book, also titled Bravo Two Zero, in 1998. It starred Sean Bean as McNab and was directed by Tom Clegg. In addition to using all of Mitchell's characters' pseudonyms, the names of the three deceased patrol members, Phillips, Consiglio and Lane were also changed for the film. Peter Ratcliffe (The SAS's Regimental Sergeant Major at the time of the patrol) wrote Eye of the Storm ( ISBN 1930983018), which refers to the controversy surrounding the differing accounts of the patrol in some detail. The book was released in 2000. Colin Armstrong wrote The One That Got Away ( ISBN 0-09-946015-7) under the pseudonym Chris Ryan. It criticized Mitchell's leadership of the patrol and was particularly hostile in tone to the conduct of Phillips. Armstrong used the same pseudonyms as McNab for those who survived, but also referred to Phillips, Lane and Consiglio by their real names. Ratcliffe said of this move that it was "insensitive" for Mitchell and Armstrong "to hide behind pseudonyms when they named their dead colleagues in their books, in deliberate contravention of the Regiment's traditions." [6] :247 The book was released in 1995. The men ofBravo One Zerostepped off the chopper, took one look at the flat desert devoid of any cover and decided no way were they deploying into all of that. But Andy NcNab’s famedBravo Two Zeropatrol did deploy, with fatal results – all bar one being captured or killed. Mitchell was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions during the mission, [4] whilst Armstrong and two other patrol members (Steven Lane and Robert Consiglio), [5] were awarded the Military Medal.Bravo Two Zero was the call sign of an eight-man British Army Special Air Service (SAS) patrol, deployed into Iraq during the First Gulf War in January 1991. According to Chris Ryan's account, the patrol was given the task of gathering intelligence, finding a good lying-up position (LUP), setting up an observation post (OP), and monitoring enemy movements, especially Scud missile launchers [1] :15 on the Iraqi Main Supply Route (MSR) between Baghdad and North-Western Iraq; however, according to Andy McNab's account, the task was to find and destroy Iraqi Scud missile launchers along a 250km (160mi) stretch of the MSR. [2] :35

Michael Asher, a former soldier with the SAS, went to Iraq and traced in person the route of the patrol and interviewed local Iraqi witnesses to its actions; afterward, he alleged that much of Mitchell's Bravo Two Zero and Armstrong's The One That Got Away were fabrication. His findings were published in a British television documentary filmed by Channel 4 Television, and in a 2002 book entitled The Real Bravo Two Zero. Both Armstrong and Mitchell reacted angrily to the documentary and Asher's conclusions. [3]A guy named Paul Hughes introduced Damien and me. He was talking to me one day in his garden and he asked me, what have you been involved in? I only just managed to mention Bravo 30 and I didn’t even tell him the story. I just mentioned it. He got in touch with Damien and mentioned to Damien about me. And then one day Paul said we’re going to have a meeting with Damien Lewis, and I said, who is Damien Lewis? When we met it, Damien said that the story was interesting because he didn’t know that there were three patrols, Bravo One, Two and Three. Damien approached me and said that he’d like to write the story. Was I willing? And that is really how it came about.