SAS at Close Quarters

What is it like to operate in a four-man team for months at a time behind enemy lines, to infiltrate Argentinian defences on the Falklands, to "take out" an IRA active service unit in a gut-wrenching ambush on the streets of Gibraltar, and to storm a terrorist-held buildings, in the heart of London and free hostages? This book looks at what it means to take part in such action. Using first-hand accounts, this book examines every facet of the world's most highly trained and deadly special forces unit. Why, for example, do SAS soldiers use the Browning High Power handgun for hostage-rescue and anti-terrorist miss ions? Why, in the 1991 Gulf War, did SAS soldiers carry American rifles instead of British, and just why does the SAS reckon that the Heckler and Koch MP5 is the best submachine gun in the world? Speaking without reservation, SAS soldiers answer these questions and more. In addition, the reader gets a unique insight into the minds of the men who wear the winged dagger badge.The book includes the most notable actions the regiment has been involved in the last 30 years: the siege-busting operation at Princes Gate in May 1980; the Pebble Island raid, which led to the destruction of Argentinian aircraft in a daring night-time raid; the intelligence-gathering missions behind the lines on the Falklands; the spectacular Longhall ambush of May 1987, when the SAS eradicated eight members of the IRA in a "clean kill"; the controversial Gibraltar ambush of 1988, which led to the neutralization of an IRA active service unit; operations behind the lines in Kuwait and Iraq during the Gulf War; and the nature of the future actions the SAS and its soldiers will be involved in.