Doug Beattie : Task Force Helmand: A Soldier's Story of Life, Death and Combat on the Afghan Front Line

Doug Beattie was due to retire from the British Army in 2007, until his CO made a desperate plea: stay on for just one more tour. In March 2008 he returned to Afghanistan. But if 2006 had been hellish, then 2008 was off the scale. For six months Beattie led Afghan and British troops into repeated, exhausting battles with the Taliban. He took part in 50 major contacts and describes in detail the action-packed reality of life and death on the frontline, bringing the chaos and ferocity of the war to lfe with the utmost honesty and humanity. Gripping and moving in equal measure, this searing and personal account from the author of An Ordinary Soldier is a war memoir of the highest possible calibre.