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The Savage Wars of Peace
Cover Notes Since the Second World War the British Army has been engaged in armed conflicts around the globe every year except 1968. Some have been a full-scale military campaigns but most have been undeclared wars waged against terrorist organizations nations bent on overthrowing the state of armed insurgency. These are the Savage Wars of Peace, fought out in such widely differing theaters of war as Malay, Kenya, Cyprus, Brunei, Borneo, Aden, Oman and Northern Ireland. The Savage Wars of Peace is the fighting soldiers few of these campaigns as recounted in their own words to oral historian Charles Allen, chronicler of such classics as "Plain tales for the Raj " and "Tales From the South China seas". Drawing on the spoken recollections of over 70 Ministry figures of all ranks, Charles Allen has assembled a rich kaleidoscope of images of warfare as lived through by those who were at the sharp end. He is lets the soldiers and marines speak for themselves, which they do with extraordinary and sometimes very moving candor. These unique first hand accounts give a rare insight into the closed ranks of the British Army, it's hierarchies and its rituals, and bonds that unite fighting men. The Savage Wars of Peace is also history of post war counter insurgency, setting out the strategies and tactics developed by the British army of of 40 years. There are fascinating revelations of the way the reformed Special Air Service Regiment overcame its early mistakes to become the Army's elite anti terrorist force and, how the special qualities of the Gurkhas were applied in Malay and Borneo, how the top-secret Claret raids into Indonesia were conducted during the Borneo confrontation, how small bands of SAS fought what was almost a private war in the Dhofar in the 1970's, how Northern Ireland became a section commanders war . By turns horrifying and amusing, but always enthralling, The Savage
Wars of Peace is a remarkable testimony to the Britain's modern peacetime
army and the changes it is undergone since 1945.
Reviews Martin Spirit reated this book Good Great book, in fact the first one I bought to research BSW, I believe
it was a BBC Radio 4 series
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