Storm Front and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Sorry, this item is not available in
Image not available for
Colour:
Image not available

 
Start reading Storm Front on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Storm Front [Hardcover]

Rowland White
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition £4.74  
Hardcover --  
Paperback £5.59  
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Special Offer until June 30, 2013: Receive an additional £5 promotional Gift Certificate, when you trade-in at least £10 worth of books. Learn more.

Book Description

9 Jun 2011

In early 1970, the Commanding Officer of 22 SAS flew into the strategically critical Sultanate of Oman on a covert intelligence mission. A Communist rebellion in the South threatened not only the stability of the Arabian Peninsula but more importantly the vital oil routes through the Persian Gulf. Within six months, the Regiment arrived in theatre to lead a fierce, secret war against the rebels.

While from a remote RAF airbase in the desert, an elite band of British pilots, flying difficult, dangerous missions in Strikemaster jets and Vietnam-era Huey helicopters, were scrambled alongside them.

For the British soldiers and airmen, it was to be no easy victory. The enemy were well supplied with weaponry and training from China and the Soviet Union, and despite confronting the largest assault force ever deployed by the SAS, many months later the rebels were still fighting back.

And at dawn on July 19th, 1972, a force of nearly 300 heavily armed, well-trained guerillas attacked the little fishing port of Mirbat without warning.Between them and glory stood a team of just nine SAS men.And the skill of the British fighter pilots.The scene was set for an epic encounter; a modern day Rorke's Drift.Their heroism would become SAS legend.

Drawing on extensive interviews with participants from the SAS, the RAF and the Sultan's Armed Forces, most of whom have never spoken about their involvement before, as well as previously classified documents from both the UK and Oman, STORM FRONT weaves an unputdownable tale of intrigue, action, daring and astonishing bravery in the face of overwhelming odds.



Product details

  • Hardcover: 448 pages
  • Publisher: Bantam Press (9 Jun 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0593064348
  • ISBN-13: 978-0593064344
  • Product Dimensions: 16.5 x 24.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 228,569 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

Product Description

Review

"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

"I loved Storm Front. A period of history--and more particularly a single shining moment--that has been obscured by myth and legend. Here is the truth of it all at last in all its spine-tingling, spine-straightening glory"--Neil Oliver

"Exceptionally, writers appear, like Antony Beevor in Stalingrad and his other books, who manage to convey the picture of a campaign as a whole with the real drama experienced by the individual soldiers. Rowland White is such an author who combines the ability of a thriller writer with the historian’s well researched accuracy."--The Centurion

"This gripping, page-turner of a book switches from action on the ground to that in the air more vividly than any I have read. It comes highly recommended."--Aeroplane Magazine

Book Description

The thrilling new military history title from the bestselling author of Vulcan 607 and Phoenix Squadron

Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?


Customer Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A cracking read 8 Jun 2011
Format:Hardcover
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.
... Read more ›
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Laba should have got the VC! 8 Aug 2011
Format:Hardcover
I appreciate that the work of the SAS means that the covert nature of what they do generates less in the way of medals than `normal soldiers', but, The Battle of Mirbat and the war in Oman is no longer a secret. It has been written about before but not in such well researched detail ... Now it is firmly in the public domain, surely Laba can have his VC now!

This book really puts you there: In the BATT house, next to the .50 Browning, the GPMG firing to your right and with a relentless line of adoo attacking from the front. You can imagine the 25 pounder, manned by Laba blasting off rounds. Then the book takes you to the artillery gun pit, the cockpits of the Strikemaster jets as if you were there yourself. It really is brilliant.

The build up in the book to the decisive Battle of Mirbat consists of intricate detail on the war in Oman and the background to its origins. Also included, are the backgrounds of the key players at the Battle of Mirbat, soldiers and pilots as well as all the key decision makers. This makes you feel as if you have almost `got to know' the men involved in the drama. By the time you get to The Battle, you also have a really good idea of the whole tactical and political situation.

I expected a lot from this book as I really enjoyed Rowland White's previous books. Also, having read other accounts of The Battle of Mirbat, this book had a lot to live up to and it did! I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

For those involved who are still alive, I know you have heard this before but I'll say it again ... Well done! You make me proud to be British, and proud that we have such brilliant and brave soldiers serving in the British Army from Fiji. To the author, thank you for writing the book. I look forward to your next ...
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Since the end of World War II and the coming of "peace", there has only been one year in the 20th century where no British serviceman was killed in action - 1968. The British had abandoned much of their Middle East responsibilities, in particular leaving Aden and abandoning Yemen to decades of communist-backed drudgery, deterioration and latterly savagery. Next door in Oman, the situation looked to be similarly grim. This is where Storm Front starts off, chronicling the removal of Oman's Sultan Said bin Taimur and replacement with his son Qaboos bin Said. Qaboos wanted to drag Oman out of its increasingly desperate slide into the past but he was up against the same sort of communist-backed guerilla warfare that had led the British to abandon Aden.

Britain had no appetite - or money - to fight a war for Oman, but the Sultanate was of truly stategic importance so, as on so many other occasions, the British did what they did best - muddled through. With grudging dribbles of funding and minimal manpower and support, the British propped up the Sultanate of Oman's Armed Forces against a rising tide of rebellion from Dhofar. Storm Front concentrates on the SAS troopers sent in to support civil development, and the RAF officers on detachment flying Strikemasters, Hueys and Skyvans for the SAF. As you can expect by now from Rowland White the book rattles along at quite a pace, taking in incidents of horrific savagery but also plenty of humour and the occasional truly bizarre incident (exploding camels, anybody?). The background to the conflict is explained very well, so that by the time you get to the climactic battle for Mirbat that so few people have ever heard of you feel you know every character involved and exactly the sort of hopeless situation they are facing.
... Read more ›
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Modern History in Astounding Detail.
How much do you know about Oman and the roles of the SAF and SAS in the modernisation of the country? Read more
Published 22 days ago by Andrew Whitfield
3.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as 607
Got this after I read his book Vulcan 607. Not as good but I liked it. Took me ages to read it as the pace didn't grip me. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mr. G. Thompson
3.0 out of 5 stars Storm front....
A good read but slowly paced. If you want a good paced book that tells the same story then go and buy Operation Storm
Published 2 months ago by SpecialEB
5.0 out of 5 stars Classic book about the war in Dhofar
From the mid-sixties to the mid seventies a war was fought in Dhofar, in the southeast of the Sultanate of Oman. Read more
Published 2 months ago by D. VAN DER BAAN
5.0 out of 5 stars Continued absorbing books by White
Rowland White comtinues his absorbing read following Phoenix Squadron and Vulcan 607. Heres looking to the boys from Bahrain being the subject of a future tome..
Published 3 months ago by Bioshok71
5.0 out of 5 stars storm front
An excellent well written account of the SAS in Oman and the bravery of a few against the odds. Having been to Mirbat and seen the battlefield it was great to get a balanced well... Read more
Published 4 months ago by fitdoc
5.0 out of 5 stars More than just your average SAS book
In the past I've read about the SAS's involvement in Oman and particularly the Battle of Mirbat through Ken Connor's Ghost Force and Peter Ratcliffe's Eye of the Storm. Read more
Published 4 months ago by John Beeden
5.0 out of 5 stars It takes me back in time!
An excellent and superbly researched account of the bravery of the SAS, and the bravery of the pilots, either seconded or contracted to the SOAF, who saved the BATT (SAS) force at... Read more
Published 4 months ago by David
4.0 out of 5 stars A great story rarely told
I had no idea that we had been militarily active in Oman until I read this book. One can see quite clearly that the UK Government of the time was keen to deny all involvement and... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Budcus
5.0 out of 5 stars awesome
bloody great read. really enjoyed this, like other books in its class only better. nice to see a new perspective
Published 5 months ago by jamie
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
Looking forward to this. 0 29 May 2011
See all discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 

Search Customer Discussions
   


Listmania!


Look for similar items by category


Feedback