Cobra 405

This is the extraordinary story of the SAS's most daring ever raid.

Damien Lewis is a journalist and documentary film maker and has spent twenty years reporting from conflict zones. He has worked for the Telegraph, the Guardian and the BBC. Slave and Operation Certain Death have both been Sunday Times bestsellers. He lives in London.

1976, THE GREATEST HEIST STORY NEVER TOLD. 
 
In a breathtaking act of daring, a band of armed men blast their way into the Imperial Bank of Beirut. Over the next 48 hours they load up three trucks with gold bullion, and disappear without a trace. 
 
But whilst the heist went like clockwork, the raiders are forced to hide the loot and make a quick getaway. Thirty years later, they are planning their return. 
 
The only problem is that a powerful and ruthless enemy – the deadly Black Assassins – is hell-bent on catching up with them and finding the gold first. 
 
It’s a race against time for the ultimate prize.

Operation Certain Death

The Sunday Times bestseller, telling the true inside story of the greatest SAS battle since the Second World War, a battle to defeat a bloodthirsty and violent gang in war-torn Sierra Leone.

What a story! As good as any thriller I have ever read. This is the lowdown.

A powerful docu-novel, which conveys the danger of the operation and the courage of those who went in to successfully rescue their colleagues.

As a purely military operation it knocks into a cocked hat the lifting of the Iranian embassy siege

Damien Lewis is a journalist and documentary film maker and has spent twenty years reporting from conflict zones. He has worked for the Telegraph, the Guardian and the BBC. Slave and Operation Certain Death have both been Sunday Times bestsellers. He lives in London.

This book chronicles the story of the single most daring Special Forces operation since World War Two - Operation Barras; the attempted rescue by the SAS of the British Forces who were being held captive by guerrilla gang the West Side Boys in the Sierra Leone jungle. The West Side Boys were a strange-looking bunch, wearing pink shades, shower caps, fluorescent wigs and voodoo charms they believed made them invulnerable to bullets - an impression re-enforced by ganja, heroine, crack cocaine and gallons of sweet palm wine. In 1999 a twelve man patrol of Royal Irish Rangers, who were training government troops in Sierra Leone, were captured and held hostage by the West Side Boys. They were held prisoner in a fortified jungle hideaway, with severed heads decorating the palisades, defended by some 400 heavily armed soldiers. Operation Barras, the rescue mission, was a combined force of 100 Paras, twelve members of the Special Boat Squadron, helicopters from the Navy and RAF and, spearheading the operation, 40-strong D squadron of the SAS. Against amazing odds the hostages were rescued - over 150 of the enemy were killed. Operation Certain Death is a thrilling true story of all out war. No hostages taken. Blood-letting on a vast scale inflicted on a very blood-thirsty enemy. A gripping piece of true military history, perfect for fans of action adventure stories and anyone interested in the top secret division of the British Army.

Desert Claw

A high-octane action thriller with a twist -- from the bestselling author of Operation Certain Death

Iraq: the present day. A country torn apart by war and anarchy. Thieves roam the streets. People are being killed in broad daylight. Security is non-existent. And now, terrorists have seized a Van Gogh painting worth £25 million from one of Saddam's palaces. They are offering it to the highest bidder. The painting's original owner, a Kuwaiti prince, from whom it was seized during Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in the First Gulf War, has asked for HMG's help in retrieving it. The British Government owes him a favour for backing them during the Iraq War, so they agree to help. 
 
But rather than agreeing to pay the terrorists' ransom -- which they fear will be pumped into funding terrorist operations across the world -- HMG decides to send in a team of hardened ex-Special Forces, led by ex-SAS hero Mick Kilbride and his sidekick 'East End' Eddie. Sent undercover in a deniable operation called Desert Claw, their brief is simple: retrieve the painting, and eliminate the terrorists at the earliest possible opportunity. The mission sounds simple enough. But as Mick and his team are drawn into a dark and violent world, things are not always as they seem. And in the final climactic scene, a horrible and shocking truth awaits for the men.

Fire Strike 7/9

Sergeant 'Bommer' Grahame is the deadliest man in Afghanistan

JTACs carry out the most extraordinary of missions where the battle is fiercest. Many a soldier owes their life to their skill and bravery, as this book so eloquently shows

One of the many unsung heroes from the battles of the Upper Gereshk Valley, Bommer Grahame was an outstanding JTAC, unflappable in a punch up, and it was a privilege to scrap alongside him and the lads from B Coy

Sergeant Paul 'Bommer' Grahame is a NCO with the Light Dragoons, an armoured assault regiment. After his 180 day tour of Afghanistan, Sergeant Grahame was commended with an operational award recognising his performance during the most intense battles of the Afghanistan deployment. He is currently on a two-year secondment to a training regiment, teaching his skills to other soldiers.

'Being a JTAC is the closest a soldier on the ground in the midst of battle can get to feeling like one of the gods - unleashing pure hellfire, death and destruction' - Duncan Falconer 
 
Meet Sergeant 'Bommer' Grahame, one of the deadliest soldiers on the battlefield. He's an elite army JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller- pronounced 'jay-tack') - a specially trained warrior responsible for directing Allied air power with high-tech precision. Commanding Apache gunships, A10 tank-busters, F15s and Harrier jets, he brings down devastating fire strikes against the attacking Taliban, often danger close to his own side. 
 
Due to his specialist role, Sergeant Grahame usually operates in the thick of the action, where it's at its most fearsome and deadly. Conjuring the seemingly impossible from apparently hopeless situations, soldiers in battle rely on the skill and bravery of their JTAC to enable them to win through in the heat of the danger zone. 
 
Fire Strike 7/9 tells the story of Bommer Grahame and his five-man Fire Support Team on their tour of Afghanistan. Patrolling deep into enemy territory, they were hunted and targeted by the Taliban, shot at, blown-up, mortared and hit by rockets on numerous occasions. Under these conditions Sergeant Grahame notched up 203 confirmed enemy kills, making him the difference between life and death both for his own troops and the Taliban.

Damien Lewis

"A must read for all Damien Lewis fans" Compass 
 
--------------------------------------------------------- 
 
The most explosive true war story of the 21st Century 
 
 It is the winter of 2001. A terror ship is bound for Britain carrying a horrifying weapon. The British military sends a crack unit of SAS and SBS to assault the vessel before she reaches London. 
 
So begins a true story of explosive action as this band of elite warriors pursues the merchants of death from the high seas to the harsh wildlands of Afghanistan. The hunt culminates in the single greatest battle of the Afghan war, the brutal and bloody siege of an ancient mud-walled fortress crammed full of hundreds of Al-Qaeda and Taliban. 
 
Fighting against impossible odds and bitter betrayal, our handful of crack fighters battle to rescue their fellow soldiers trapped by a murderous, fanatical enemy. 
 
--------------------------------------------------------- 
 
"The most dramatic story of a secret wartime mission you will ever read" News of the World 
 
 "The author has been given unprecedented access" Zoo 
 
 "Gripping" Eye Spy

Damien Lewis

Bloody Heroes

Select a format:

Retailers:

Summary

More books from this author