Kate
Raid - a sneak peek at our new series!
August 12, 2009 12:00 AM
In less than a month the first titles from our new Raid series will publish. Here is a sneak preview of what you will get in some of the launch titles.
Our third volume in the series is RAID 4 Who Dares Wins – The SAS and the Iranian Embassy Siege 1980. Much has been written about Operation Nimrod, the SAS assault on the Iranian Embassy in the heart of London to free the hostages held within, but we hope that our title offers that something extra. For a start we have some fantastic artwork by Howard Gerrard who has completed all the battlescene and cutaway artwork in the book.
Pete Winner, a former SAS trooper who took part in the raid, has helped us put together the book and one of the artwork plates shows Pete in action – clubbing a terrorist over the head with the butt of his rifle as he attempted to pass himself off as a released hostage. Pete had accurately spotted that the terrorist had concealed a hand grenade under his clothes but couldn’t open fire because of all the surrounding hostages. This is not the first time this scene has been depicted in artwork, but, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that he has been accurately portrayed, just as Pete recollected the dramatic events.
For our American readers we are also including a dramatic hostage rescue attempt – RAID 3 The Cabanatuan Prison Raid – The Philippines 1945. For those of you not familiar with the acclaimed volume Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides, this tells the story of the rescue of American POWs from a Japanese camp in the Philippines by the US Rangers.
Gordon Rottman, himself a US Special Forces veteran, not only recounts this dramatic tale but also pays long overdue credit to the Filipino guerrillas who assisted in the raid and who were crucial to the success of the operation.
COMMENTS
I think its cool that you have a SAS veteran of that operation help out with that book. I am looking forward to it.
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I’m very excited by the preview and of the future releases in the raid series. Hope this series matches up to all the other great Osprey series.
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Seems very, very interesting. I hope and think that RAID will have a great success. In any case, the aim of this new series, covering small scale actions, can give hundreds and hundreds of titles. Among these Kate, I would like to know if I have a chance to see in a near future a book on the german raid on Granville (1945) and another about operation Biting, the british raid on St Jouin de Bruneval (1942). Many thanks.
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Thank you to all of your for your comments.
It has been great working with Pete Winner to get the story of the Iranian Embassy Siege accurate. In April 2010 we will be publishing Pete's memoir which covers his 18 years in the Regiment including the events of 1980 and his participation in the Battle of Mirbat in 1972. It is also brought up to date with details of Pete's post-army life including his work as a bodyguard. But we'll bring you more info closer to the time!
With regards to the ideas for the series I'm pleased to say that we have taken on board some of the suggestions that came through earlier in the year and we will be releasing a Raid title on Bruneval 1942 in 2010. Stay posted for the full series listing for 2010. Thanks also for the new ideas as well - we will definitely bear them in mind for 2011!
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