Author: Damien Lewis Published: 2004 Pages: 658 In 1999 the British SAS pulled off what many consider to be their greatest mission of all time. A group of rebels in the West African country of Sierra Leone had taken 11 British soldiers hostage. The British soldiers had been on peacekeeping operations. The rebels were a famously brutal group – called The West Side Boys - known for amputating the limbs of civilians for fun and forcing children to become rebel fighters. Over the proceeding 17-day ordeal, the British hostages – two of whom were just 17 years old – were subjected to a living nightmare in the rebels’ jungle base. This became an archetypal story of Africa’s heart of darkness. As the British military tried to negotiate, the rebels’ horrific excesses culminated in children’s heads being paraded on poles before the hostages. Finally, the British SAS and SBS were called in to mount a rescue operation. A combined force of some 75 SAS and SBS soldiers were sent in to assault a heavily defended rebel base occupied by 1,000 enemy. This is a story of how they flew into target in a lightning assault, and succeeded in their mission against all odds. The story is a modern day tale of hostages and heroes, an epic of soul-shattering confrontations. Officially called Operation Barras, but known to the men on the ground as Operation Certain Death, it was a joint operation between the Paras, the SBS, the Navy and the RAF, but spearheaded by the SAS. Because of the traditional secrecy surrounding Special Forces operations this story has never before been told, but it is one the men themselves wanted telling. This book is that story in their own words. It is the single most daring Special Forces rescue mission since World War Two.
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