Books by Mark Urban

''Gripping and authoritative'' Andy McNab''Superb accounts of the battles and a deep understanding of personalities'' Patrick Bishop, The TelegraphA GRIPPING, AUTHORISED HISTORY OF THE DARING ''RED DEVILS'' TOLD THROUGH THE FATES OF SIX HEROES . . . In Britain they were known as The Parachute Regiment, but their German enemies christened them The Red Devils. Circus performers, solicitors, gravediggers, family men. . . they were ordinary people who became wartime heroes.Showing what it took to succeed in this new regiment, Urban vividly brings to life six men and their experiences across D-Day, Arnhem and WW2 - from the recently-widowed Geoffrey Pine-Coffin, who had to leave his young son to head to the front, to Mike Lewis, whose photographs became iconic images of war.Using deep archival research, British and German sources, and new material from the men''s families, Red Devils paints a true and moving picture of the heart of war.PUBLISHED ON THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR FIRST CAMPAIGN: OPERATION TORCH IN NORTH AFRICA

From the evacuation of France in 1940 to the final dash to Hamburg in 1945, the 5th Royal Tank Regiment were on the front line throughout the Second World War. Theirs was a war that saw them serve in Africa as part of the Desert Rats, before returning to Europe for the Normandy landings. Wherever they went, the notoriety of the 'Filthy Fifth' grew - they revelled in their reputation for fighting by their own rules.The Tank War explains how Britain, having lost its advantage in tank warfare by 1939, regained ground through shifts in tactics and leadership methods, as well as the daring and bravery of the crews themselves. Overturning the received wisdom of much Second World War history, Mark Urban shows how the tank regiments' advances were the equal of the feats of the German Panzer divisions.Drawing on a wealth of new material, from interviews with surviving soldiers to rarely seen archive material, this is an unflinchingly honest, unsentimental and often brutal account of the 5th RTR's wartime experiences. Capturing the characters in the crews and exploring the strategy behind their success, The Tank War is not just the story of an battle hardened unit, but something more extraordinary: the triumph of ordinary men, against long odds, in the darkest of times.

When British and American forces invaded Iraq in April 2003, their intelligence operations got to work looking for the WMD their governments had promised us were there. They quickly realised no such weapons existed. Instead they become faced with an ever-increasing spiral of extremism and violence that was almost impossible to understand, let alone contain.This book tells the story of what happened next, one of the most dramatic and sustained operations in our recent military history. Up against the wall, under the aegis of the joint forces commanded by Major General McChrystal, our men moved into action using the wide variety of aircraft and weaponry at their disposal. Combining intelligence with brute force, the SAS went on the attack, night after night targeting Al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups with an intensity never before practiced by the service, destroying the terrorist threat and saving lives.

Tells the story of ten exceptional generals who left their mark on Britain, the British Empire, and the world. Some - including the Duke of Wellington, Lord Kitchener and Bernard Montgomery - are names etched in the national mythology.

This description of the military struggle for Afghanistan concerns the objectives, operations, tactics and effectiveness of the forces involved in that struggle. The aim is to describe the war as objectively and in as much detail as possible.

The SAS describes its attitude to the use of lethal force as 'Big boys' games, big boys' rules'. Anyone caught with a gun or bomb can expect to be shot. In Big Boys' Rules: The SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA Mark Urban meticulously explores the security forces' covert operations in Northern Ireland: from the mid-1970s, when they were stepped up, to the Loughall ambush in 1987, in which eight IRA Provisionals were killed. While charting the successes and failures of special operations during the troubles, Urban reveals the unenviable dilemmas faced by intelligence chiefs engaged in a daily struggle against one of the world's most sophisticated terrorist organisations.'This is a book that needed to be written and which fulfils the essentials of any Ulster story; it expands understanding beyond fragmented jingoism and newspaper headlines.' John Stalker, Sunday Times

As part of the Light Division created to act as the advance guard of Wellington's army, the 95th Rifles are the first into battle and the last out. Fighting and thieving their way across Europe, they are clearly no ordinary troops. The 95th are in fact the first British soldiers to take aim at their targets, to take cover when being shot at, to move tactically by fire and manoeuvre. And by the end of the six-year campaign they have not only proved themselves the toughest fighters in the army, they have also - at huge personal cost - created the modern notion of the infantryman.In an exhilarating work of narrative military history, Mark Urban traces the story of the 95th Rifles, the toughest and deadliest sharpshooters of Wellington's Army.'If you like Sharpe, then this book is a must, your Christmas present solved.' Bernard Cornwell, Daily Mail'Urban writes history the way it should be written, alive and exciting.' Andy McNab