Damien Lewis - Zero Six Bravo: 60 Special Forces. 100,000 Enemy. The Explosive True Story

ZERO SIX BRAVO

Also by Damien Lewis:

Operation Certain Death

Bloody Heroes

Apache Dawn

Cobra 405

Fire Strike 7/9 (with Paul Bommer Grahame)

Sergeant Rex (With Mike Dowling)

Its All About Treo (with Dave Heyhoe)

60 Special Forces. 100,000 Enemy.
The Explosive True Story.

DAMIEN LEWIS

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by

Quercus
55 Baker Street
7th Floor, South Block
W1U 8EW

Copyright 2013 Damien Lewis

The moral right of Damien Lewis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this book. If any have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make restitution at the earliest opportunity.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

HB ISBN 978 1 78206 080 2
TPB ISBN 978 1 78206 081 9
Ebook ISBN 978 1 78206 082 6

Maps 2013 William Donohoe

You can find this and many other great books at:
www.quercusbooks.co.uk

For

Roger Hammond

Semper fidelis

A brother and a true friend
Gone but not forgotten

For reasons of operational security I have changed the names of the men who appear in this book, and for similar reasons I have, where necessary, appropriately disguised certain operational details and elements.

Rarely are two soldiers recollections of a mission such as the one related in these pages the same, and individual written records compiled after the event also tend to differ. I have spoken to many different sources from all ranks, and I have done my best to paint a true picture of what took place during the mission. British publishers practice a voluntary code of conduct with relation to books about British military operations. Under this, such books are submitted to the MOD for checking on Operational Security (OPSEC) and Personal Security (PERSEC) grounds. Changes required by the MOD on OPSEC and PERSEC grounds, and agreed as justified under such grounds by the author and publisher, were made to this book. At no stage did the author seek the MODs official approval for this book, nor did author or publishers desire or request such, and author and publisher sought no verification from MOD of the factual accuracy or otherwise of events portrayed herein.

This book is an impartial, independent and unbiased rendering of the events as they took place in Iraq in 2003. Factual accuracy of the events portrayed remains the responsibility of the author solely, and the author takes full responsibility for any errors that may inadvertently have been made. Any such mistakes are entirely of the authors own making and he will be happy to correct them in future editions.

Over the past decade I have written several books about contemporary British and allied Special Forces missions, featuring operations by the SAS and the SBS. The manuscripts for those books were submitted to the Ministry of Defence before publication, for clearance for OPSEC and PERSEC reasons. Those books have been well received by key individuals within the military, and they portrayed British forces operating in a professional and dedicated manner.

The servicemen portrayed here displayed the ultimate professionalism and can-do attitude of our elite military and Special Forces operators, putting their own personal danger second to the success of the mission they had been tasked to undertake. At the time the mission portrayed in these pages took place, those who participated in it were largely denigrated in the worlds media a condemnation fuelled in part by the capture of some of the Squadrons vehicles, which the Iraqi regime paraded before the worlds press. These men deserve a far better, more balanced portrayal of what took place, and my purpose in writing this book is largely to set the record straight.

The operation was extremely high-risk. Rather than being the failure that was portrayed at the time, this elite unit performed to the maximum of its ability and training, both on the ground and in supporting roles. Operating far behind enemy lines against a force by which they were vastly outnumbered and outgunned, they brought every man out alive. This book, written with the benefit of hindsight, should go some way towards setting the record straight to the benefit of all those involved. The SBS motto is By Strength and by Guile; that of the SAS, Who Dares Wins. This mission demonstrated how, in seemingly impossible and unwinnable situations, these mottoes were put into effect.

Thanks to the following: my literary agent Annabel Merullo and her assistant Laura Williams; my film agent Luke Speed, and associates; all those individuals who helped with the research and writing of this story; photographer Andy Chittock, for some of the fantastic images; Philip Campion, for casting an appraising eye over the drafts. Special thanks to Richard Milner, David North, Josh Ireland, Patrick Carpenter, Caroline Proud, Dave Murphy, Ron Beard and all at my publisher, Quercus, for recognizing from the get-go what an extraordinary story this is, and why it had to be told. Special thanks also to my very good friend Mike Mawhinney for all the help, and to Lt Col Crispin Lockhart, of the MOD, for his efforts to clear this book for publication.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Invictus William Ernest Henley

Steve Grayling was crouched in a hidden position, the ink-black desert night deathly quiet all around him. Or at least it had been until the last few minutes of his sentry duty, which was scheduled to last from 0400 hours until first light. But then the first of the animals had appeared.

In the open, empty quiet of the Iraqi desert his senses had been heightened, his hearing tuned in to the utter absence of life. The slightest noise would signify movement, which meant something living was out there, which in turn might signal danger. But the bone-dry rock and sand had offered little to remind him that he was still on earth and not on some barren, lifeless moonscape.