Sources relating to the UK Armed Forces (the British Army in particular) and the British involvement in the current Afghanistan conflict.
Books
NB: All links go to Amazon UK – the books can be bought anywhere but this was the easiest way I could come up with for providing the book summaries where possible. I am intending to review all these books but at the moment I’ve only managed to write up one. The links to the subsequent reviews will be posted as and when they happen.
Memoirs/Accounts of deployment in Afghanistan by Army Personnel and Journalists:
- Afghanistan: A Tour of Duty – Captain Alexander Allan
- With the Paras in Helmand: A Photographic Diary – Chris Allen
- No Worse Enemy – Ben Anderson
- An Ordinary Soldier – Doug Beattie MC
- Task Force Helmand – Doug Beattie MC
- Six Months Without Sundays: The Scots Guards in Afghanistan– Max Benitz
- Ground Truth: 3 Para Return to Afghanistan – Patrick Bishop
- Callsign Hades – Patrick Bury (read my review here)
- In Foreign Fields: Heroes of Iraqand Afghanistan– Dan Collins
- The Killing Zone – Lt Col Richard Dorney
- A Million Bullets: The Real Story of the British Army in Afghanistan – James Fergusson
- Fire Strike 7/9 – Paul ‘Bommer’ Grahame & Damien Lewis
- Frontline: A Soldier’s Story – Alex Green
- Operation Snakebite: The Explosive True Story of an Afghan – Stephen Grey
- Dead Men Risen – Tony Harnden
- It’s All About Treo: Life, Love and War with the World’s Bravest Dog – Dave Heyhoe
- The Junior Officer’s Reading Club: Killing Time and Fighting Wars – Patrick Hennessey
- Kandak – Patrick Hennessey
- Fighting Season – Graham Lee
- Apache Dawn – Damien Lewis
- Company Commander – Major Russell Lewis MC
- Apache – Ed Macy
- Hellfire – Ed Macy
- Men of Honour – Patrick Mercer (this is a novel but written with insider knowledge)
- Sniper One: The Blistering True Story of a British BattleGroup Under Siege – Sgt Dan Mills
- Wearing the Green Beret – Jake Olafsen
- Bomb Hunters: In Afghanistan with Britain’s Elite BombDisposal Unit – Sean Rayment
- Blogging from the Battlefield – Major Paul Smyth
- 3 Commando Brigade – Ewen Southby-Tailyour
- 3 Commando: Helmand Assault– Ewen Southby-Tailyour
- Danger Close – Colonel Stuart Tootal
- Point Man – Mark Townsend
- Helmand: The Diaries of Frontline Soldiers – Osprey Publishing
plus Enduring Freedom: An Afghan Anthology – Poetry collated by Ryan Gearing
Insights into the UK Armed Forces
- The Official ARRSE Guide to the British Army – Major Des Astor
- The Oxford History of the British Army – Chandler & Beckett
- Leading from the Front – General Sir Richard Dannatt
- The Armed Forces of the United Kingdom 2010-2011 – Charles Heyman
- The British Army: A Pocket Guide 2012-2013 – Charles Heyman
- Soldiers – Richard Holmes
- Amalgamations in the British Army 1660-2008 – Geoff Lumley
- Royal Marines Commandos – John Parker
- Inside the SAS – Craig Philip & Alex Taylor
Insights into the Afghanistan Conflict
- The Afghan Papers: Committing Britain to War in Helmand, 2005-06 – Ed. Michael Clarke
- Understanding War in Afghanistan – Joseph Collin
- War Against the Taliban – Sandy Gall
- Arms of Little Value: The Challenge of Insurgency and GlobalInstability in the Twenty-First Century – G.L. Lamborn
- 9/11 and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq – Lansford
- Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan – Frank Ledwidge
- Ghosts of Afghanistan: Hard Truths and Foreign Myths – Jonathan Steele
- Military Adaptation in Afghanistan – published by Stanford Security Studies
- Frontline Afghanistan: The Devil’s Playground – Mike Ryan
DVD’s/Film clips
- Our War – Life at War captured through the eyes of the soldiers (BBC)
- Commando – On the Front Line (ITV)
- Ross Kemp In Afghanistan (Sky)
- Ross Kemp Return to Afghanistan (Sky)
- Ross Kemp Back on the Frontline (Sky)
- Royal Marines Mission Afghanistan (A Chris Terrill Film)
Most Used Websites
- British Army Website
- ARRSE (ARmy Rumour SErvice)
- ARRSEPedia – the ARRSE wiki
- Wikipedia – especially War in Afghanistan (2001-Present), British Casualties in Afghanistan and Operation Herrick (this gives a good overview of what has been going on to base proper research on)
- British Government details of UK Operations in Afghanistan here
Kizzia Mildmay 