MICHAEL ASHER

How the first ever SAS operation ended in disaster in the desertIn summer 1941 Erwin Rommel was Hitlers favourite general: he had driven the British out of Libya and stood poised to invade Egypt. He seemed unbeatable. So the British decided to have him killed. The British opened their counter-attack with a series of special forces raids, the first ever operation by the newly formed SAS. Rommel was one of the targets.Michael Asher reveals how poor planning and incompetence in high places led to disaster in the desert-- and how fantastic bravery and brilliant improvisation enabled a handful of men to escape. Classic real life adventure, written by best-selling desert expert and novelist Michael Asher.

En las campañas británicas en Sudán en los últimos años de la reina Victoria hay más dosis de aventura que en las mejores novelas del género: evocadoras imágenes de los cuadros rotos por los derviches, las ametralladoras Gatling disparando sin cesar y los feroces guerreros Fuzzy Wuzzi cargando sobre las tropas britanicas y egipcias, las cañoneras britanicas por el Nilo, el Cuerpo de Camelleros o la carga del 21º de Lanceros en Omdurman Heroes, personajes miticos: Gordon, Wolseley, Kitchener, Gladstone, Churchill, el Mahdi, el califa Abdallahi, y personajes tragicos como Hicks. Jartum arranca con la masacre de la columna de Hicks en Shaykan en 1883, y continua con la llegada a Jartum de Charles Gordon, un heroe nacional britanico, que enviado a Sudan para llevar a cabo la ocupacion del pais, decide resistir en la capital hasta su aniquilacion por las fuerzas del Mahdi, tan solo dos dias antes de la llegada de las fuerzas de socorro lideradas por Wolseley y que se han desplazado por el Nilo con vapores y cruzado los desiertos en camello. Y el circulo se cierra en 1898, cuando tras quince años de dominio islamico sobre Sudan (es el primer estado islamico integrista de la historia), el brillante general Kitchener derrota en Omdurman a los derviches del califa Abdallahi, tras un penoso avance por el arido desierto nubio. El autor, magnifico conocedor del desierto, reconstruye este clasico relato de la gran ultima aventura del Imperio britanico con un realismo dificilmente superable, a partir de textos de la epoca, de la investigacion sobre las personalidades de los protagonistas y de la visita a los lugares en los que se desarrollaron los acontecimientos. Por primera vez, se aborda el relato de las campañas que tuvieron lugar en el Nilo entre 1883 y 1898, no solo desde la perspectiva britanica, sino tambien desde la vision de las tribus que combatieron al imperio, de su cultura, su religion y sus lideres. Un

Another dramatic, contemporary novel from the author of Rare Earth. Morocco, 1943: 14 year old Billy Sterling regains consciousness to find himself alone in the desert. Beside him is the wreckage of a light aircraft and the corpse of the pilot. Terrified, Billy soon realises that he is utterly stranded, alone, in a vast and hostile wilderness. He does not see the human eyes, watching him from a distance. London, 1950: George Bridger Sterling is still experiencing profound anguish over the disappearance of his son, who hasn''t been seen for seven years. His terrible feeling of guilt allows him to persist in the belief that Billy is still alive. Then George is contacted by a mysterious stranger, who claims to be the co-pilot of the crashed plane, and has information that could lead to Billy -- for a price. Travelling to a vast, dangerous desert, accompanied only by a man he barely knows, let alone trusts, Sterling must retrace the vague footsteps left nearly a decade before. But why was the plane anywhere near the Western Sahara? And why are they not the only people interested in what was on board?The action is fast and furious, from the plane crash to tribal traditions, and the desert scenes are powerful and lyrical. Visually brilliant, with a wonderful range of characters from tribal warriors to double-agents, it will appeal to fans of Wilbur Smith and Andy McNab.

Après une jeunesse chaotique dans un régiment de parachutistes anglais puis des études littéraires à Leeds, Michael Asher décide de prendre un poste d''instituteur au Soudan. Fasciné par les nomades

Michael Asher''s investigation into the famous SAS operation, The Real Bravo Two Zero, became a bestseller, and his biography of Lawrence of Arabia was deemed "brilliant" by reviewers. Here, in a unique military memoir, he reveals his own background: how he joined the elite 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, and finally the SAS. Told he would fail the arduous training, he proved them all wrong. But after years of working with various branches of the military, and being stationed in Northern Ireland, Asher abandoned it all and departed for a new life in the Sudanese desert, where he has lived for years among the Bedouins.

A new departure for the author of Firebird and Eye of Ra, this novel is a dramatic, contemporary thriller: a David and Goliath story featuring western might against desert tribes, and the man who becomes their champion. The book opens in Sudan, with the discovery of a modern corpse in a remote archaelogical site, its heavy pack laden with samples of strange soils. Truman, the leader of the expedition, returns the pack in a container he was sending home -- to be forwarded to the dead man''s business address. So begins an extraordinary adventure. Truman -- a man with a mysterious past -- is persuaded to go back to Sudan and bribe a hostile tribe to allow mining of the incredibly valuable minerals now discovered on their land. But he and his backers are not the only people to be after the rare earth - Truman also encounters various elements of the SIS, renegade Russians and Serbians, all of whom are prepared to use far more violent methods to seize what they want. Rescued by the tribe themselves from a brutal attack, Truman - unsure who his greatest enemies are -- becomes fascinated by the tribe''s way of life, by the woman who is their prophetess and by his gradually returning memories of his previous life. Double-crossed by his backers, he finds his loyalties changing fast. The action is fast and furious, from helicopter crashes to desert storms, from camel charges to business skulduggery, and the desert scenes are powerful and lyrical, visually brilliant. There is a wonderful range of characters, wily Russians, tribal warriors, displaced SIS officers -- and the reader becomes immersed in Truman''s initiation into the ways of such a different society.

In the heat of battle you have two choices ... death or glory ... Libya 1942 - Rommels Africa Korps is sweeping across Northern Africa. The ragged Allied forces engage the enemy in brutal fire-fights on the scorched desert sands. Meanwhile, the Allied commander-in-chief sends a desperate coded message to the Prime Minister - the courier is First Officer Madeleine Rose, WRNS - codename Runefish. When Runefishs plane is shot down deep behind enemy lines - GHQ must send in the commandos to pull her out. It looks like no more than a deadly fools errand - and the man they choose is given one option: take the mission or face court martial. Battle-hardened Sgnt Tom Caine is a first class soldier who struggles with obeying orders. He must lead his small squad of specialist commandos into the hornets nest - on a bloody mission that could change the outcome of the war ...

The best life of Lawrence yet published - The Express Lawrence was a brilliant propagandist, rhetorician and manipulator, who deliberately turned his life into a conundrum. But who was the real man behind the masks? Lawrence began the GreatWar as a map-clerk and ended it as one of the greatest military heroes of the 20th century. He altered the face of the Middle East, helped to lead the Arabs to freedom and formulated modern guerilla warfare. Yet he refused any honours and spent therest of his life in near obscurity. Desert explorer and Arabist, Michael Asher, set out to solve this riddle and discovers a hero whose greatness owed as much to his weaknesses as to his strengths.

The true story of the most famous SAS operation in history.Bravo Two Zero was the code-name of the famous SAS operation: a classic story of bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. BRAVO TWO ZERO by patrol commander Andy McNab became an international bestseller, as did the book by Chris Ryan (THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY). Both men became millionaires. Three members of the patrol were killed. One, veteran sergeant Vince Phillips, was blamed in both books for a succession of mistakes. As Michael Asher reveals, the stories in BRAVO TWO ZERO and THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY grew considerably in the telling. Their heroic tales of taking out tanks with their rocket launchers, mowing down hundreds of Iraqi soldiers, the silent stabbing of the occasional sentry, were never mentioned at their post-war debriefings... In an investigation literally in the footsteps of the patrol, Michael Asher tells the true story.

The British campaign in the Sudan in Queen Victorias reign is an epic tale of adventure more thrilling than any fiction. The story begins with the massacre of the 11,000 strong Hicks Pasha column in 1883. Sent to evacuate the country, British hero General Gordon was surrounded and murdered in Khartoum by an army of dervishes led by the Mahdi. The relief mission arrived 2 days too late. The result was a national scandal that shocked the Queen and led to the fall of the British government. Twelve years later it was the brilliant Herbert Kitchener who struck back. Achieving the impossible he built a railway across the desert to transport his troops to the final devastating confrontation at Omdurman in 1898. Desert explorer and author Michael Asher has reconstructed this classic tale in vivid detail. Having covered every inch of the ground and examined all eyewitness reports, he brings to bear new evidence questioning several accepted aspects of the story. The result is an account that sheds new light on the most riveting tale of honour, courage, revenge and savagery of late Victorian times.

Desert explorer Michael Asher investigates the most disastrous exploration mission in the history of the SaharaIn December 1880 a French expedition attempted to map a route for a railway that would stretch from their colony in Algeria right across the Sahara desert to reach their territories in West Africa. Paris to Timbuctoo in Six Days was the slogan. It would do for the French colonies what the American railways were doing in the western states at the same time. No native opposition was expected. As one of the expeditions organizers said, A hundred uncivilized tribesmen armed with old-fashioned spears: what is that against the might of France?Four months later, a handful of emaciated survivors staggered into a remote outpost on the edge of the desert. Although armed with modern rifles, the column had been lured to destruction by the self-styled lords of the desert, the Tuareg. At this, the highpoint of European colonialism in Africa, this story of treachery, massacre, torture and even cannibalism made headlines around the world. Attacked by the Tuareg in their remote heartland, the survivors had been pursued for weeks on end, driven into the waterless desert to die. The desperate lengths they resorted to shocked Victorian sensibilities. They do not make easy reading now. This grisly story, told by our greatest living desert explorer reveals what happened when the conceit of western colonialism met the equally arrogant Tuareg, who had dominated this remote region, and anyone trying to cross it, for a thousand years.

From the bestselling author of The Real Bravo Two Zero comes the definitive history of the worlds most elite fighting force - the SASBreathtaking bravery, astonishing feats of endurance, raids and battles described with terrific immediacy and pace. Compelling and definitive . . . will surely not be betteredSunday TelegraphOn 4 May 1980, seven terrorists holding twenty-one people captive in the Iranian Embassy in Londons Princes Gate, executed their first hostage. They threatened to kill another hostage every thirty minutes until their demands were met. Minutes later, armed men in black overalls and balaclavas shimmied down the roof on ropes and burst in through windows and doors. In seconds all but one of the terrorists had been shot dead, the other captured.For most people, this was their first acquaintance with a unit that was soon to become the ideal of modern military excellence - the Special Air Service regiment. Few realized that the SAS had been in existence for almost forty years, playing a discreet, if not secret, role almost everywhere Britain had fought since World War II, and had been the prototype of all modern special forces units throughout the world.In The Regiment, Michael Asher - a former soldier in 23 SAS Regiment - examines the evolution of the special forces idea and investigates the real story behind the greatest military legend of the late twentieth century.Detailed, scathingly honest. Asher has brought the critical eye of the knowledgeable insider to his in-depth study of SAS operations and personalitiesHeraldPraise for Michael Asher: This is the most complete picture of the Sudanese campaigns that has yet been published . . . a vigorous and engrossing narrative Philip Ziegler, Daily TelegraphA staggering achievement. Asher has delivered a scintillating tale of a period of history that deserves to be rememberedGuardian