"CQB - Close Quarter Battle" - Mike Curtis

[bassboyluke]

I know someone has said something about this book but I thought I would just put a new post so it easier for someone to find who is interested.

Quite a good book, I managed to read in 4 days which is fast for me so it did keep me entertained. There are a few bits where you forget who is who because Curtis tends to introduce lots of people at once. The descriptions of battles is top notch and only the inbetween bits I would have edited. It covers his involvement with 2 Para in the Falklands and his slecetion(twice!!!) to get into the SAS. He then goes onto describe his participation in the Gulf conflict (1991) and in Bosnia. The training and selection precedures are entertaining enough as so is the fighting as I have said, but this book does not go into a lot of the politics of the encountered conflicts, which I was kind of hoping for. It also shows the strains service life can have on your family life.

All-in-all, a decent enough read with terrific and humbling descriptions of war but maybe lacking intellectual interest to make my top ten.

[tyke172]

Disagree mate, i thought it was an amazing book. Honest, well-written. A quality read.

[Blue Streak]

I did read it along time ago but l thought it was a top read, up along side books such as Sabre Squadron and l think it is called killing zone which is very similar but the chaps service was about 10 years earlier. I would recommend it.

[anglo-saxon]

I knew "Fergie", mentioned in the book CQB , who was shot and killed in Bosnia. He was a tom in my bn when I was a lance jack. He was a great lad. Full of life and we had some great times together with our little crew. I was gutted when I read he'd been killed. Hadn't heard from him for years. Damned shame! I dug out some old pics of us from back then. We all looked so damned young.

C'est la guerre!

[anglo-saxon]

This is a decent read about SS Kopfenjaeger (Partizan-hunters) recruited in to the French Foreign Legion to fight in French Indo China:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASI ... 92-0866241

Read it many years ago. Still have a dogeared copy somewhere.

[Chrisno150]

Wicked Book!! Being a welsh lad this book has really inspired me. I dont live that far from Maerdy.


Words can hardly express how good the author's description of his unit's build up to the Falklands and engagement in battle is. The section describing the battle for Goose Green is utterly compelling and must rank as one of the best ever descriptions of a battle. It's a somewhat over used expression that "it feels like you are there " but in this case it's absolutely true down to the finest detail. The book peaks early but carries on at that peak all the way to the end. I can't recommend this book highly enough. For anyone thinking as I did that this book can't be much different from all the other SAS autobiographies and therefore isn't worth bothering with, I'd honestly say that if you don't read it you're missing a great book.

[Edwards159]

Totally Agree Chris! Brilliant book and No Bullshit. He must have been p*ssed off though when he left the Army. But it beg's the question what happend with his life after he finished in the Army

[Dolly Gray]

Anglo

Agree about the Devils Guard - I was only talking about it the other day and I must admit that seeing its price tab on Amazon means I wont be reading it again.

Forget all the reads like B2Z this takes wars to a whole new world and decribes life in the Legion after WW2 and into Indo China.

Imagine all the baddies from Adolfs lot joining up with all the rest of the baddies runnning from the Yanks and Brits, there is no meesing with these guys the biggest problem is that is based on fact.

Dolly

[Edwards159]

Devils Guard- £65 why is it so bloody expensive. sounds a good read but not for that price!

[Dolly Gray]

The one thing I rememeber about the Devils Guard was that if you did not want to get ambushed in indo china you just stuck all the women and kids from the nearest village onto your tanks of vehicles and move till you get to the next village then get a fresh lot, human rights never entered their heads it was all about winning.

D

[anglo-saxon]

The one thing I rememeber about the Devils Guard was that if you did not want to get ambushed in indo china you just stuck all the women and kids from the nearest village onto your tanks of vehicles and move till you get to the next village then get a fresh lot, human rights never entered their heads it was all about winning.

D

Their interrogation techniques were kind of interesting, too: A couple of yards of slow-burning fuse spiraled around the leg from the ankle to the nuts, with the ankle end lit and a det attached to the upper end. I guess they couldn't write fast enough, the "interviewee" was so excited!