Harry McCallion's Books

Undercover War

Britain's Special Forces and their secret battle against the IRA

By: Harry McCallion

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Undercover War

Britain's Special Forces and their secret battle against the IRA

By: Harry McCallion

When British troops first deployed to Northern Ireland in 1969, to halt the threat of a new rising force - the Provisional Irish Republican Army - they could not have known that the longest campaign in the British Army's history was beginning. While patrols, vehicle bombs and incendiary speeches are the defining memories of the Troubles, the real war was fought out of sight and out of mind. For thirty years, Britain's Special Forces waged a ferocious, secretive struggle against a ruthless and implacable enemy. Harry McCallion offers a unique insight into nearly every major military action and operation in the Province, having served seven tours with the Parachute Regiment, passed selection for 14 Intelligence Company, completed six years with the SAS anti-terrorism team, and joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary, receiving two commendations for bravery during his service. This book is his blistering account of the history of Britain's war against the IRA between 1970 and 1988 - the most murderous years of the conflict - drawn from his own operational experience and backed by first-hand accounts and unpublished documents. From new insights into high-profile killings and riveting accounts of enemy contact, to revelations about clandestine missions and strategies in combating a merciless enemy, Undercover War is the definitive inside story of the battle against the IRA, one of the most dangerous and effective terrorist organisations in recent history.

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Page Count

224

Publisher

John Blake

Published Date

ISBN 10

1789463343

ISBN 13

9781789463347

A History of Modern Mercenary Warfare

By: Harry McCallion

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A History of Modern Mercenary Warfare

By: Harry McCallion

Since before the time of Alexander the Great trained soldiers have sold their expertise on battlefield around the World, fighting and dying in other peoples wars for money, glory or the lust for violence and combat. In this book Harry McCallion explores the development of modern mercenary forces from the British SAS led deniable operation in Yemen in late 1960s, during which the Israelis were persuaded to arm the SAS led Yemeni tribesmen, through the bush wars in Africa, Britains ill fated intervention in the war in Afghanistan right up to todays War in Ukraine. Many of the modern day British mercenaries were known to the author personally. including such notably figures as the legendary SAS Fijian warriors Tak Takevesia who, although in his early sixties shot his way out of an ambush in Bagdad and Fred Big Fred Mrafano who devoted himself to the cause of the people of Serra Leone. SAS veteran .Bill Scully who received the Queen's Gallantry Medal single-handedly protected 1,300 civilians from rebel troops during the uprising in May 199 7after the Sierra Leone coup and American Vietnam veteran Major Mac Mackenzie, who although badly wounded in Vietnam, rose from trooper to command a Rhodesian SAS squadron and was one of the units most highly decorated soldiers. Also included are more notorious figures like Costas Georgiou also known by his alias Colonel Callan who served in the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment but was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to five years in prison for a post office robbery, later he proclaimed himself a Colonel and led a group of psychopathic mercenaries in the Angolan War of Independence, before being captured and executed by Angolan forces. The book explores the roles of modern day mercenaries, whos use has expanded precisely because they are mercenaries, fighting for money and not love of country, their deaths are not seen as a patriotic sacrifice, often they go unreported and in turn helps to conceal the true tragic human cost of waging a war. As one former private military contractor recently stated to Australian TV If you want to conquer in the 21st century you use mercenaries, special forces, things to keep war secret and nobodys better at secret wars than mercenaries.

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