3 Para

by Patrick Bishop

Afghanistan in the summer of 2006. In blazing heat in remote outposts the 3 Para battlegroup is pitted against a stubborn enemy who keep on coming. Until now, the full story of what happened there has not been told. This is it. In April 2006, the elite 3 Para battlegroup was despatched to Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. They were tasked with providing security to reconstruction efforts, a deployment it was hoped would pass off without a shot being fired. In fact, over the six months they were there, the 3 Para battle group saw near continuous combat - one gruelling battle after another - in what would become one of the most extraordinary campaigns ever fought by British troops. Around parched, dusty outposts reliant on a limited number of helicopters for food and ammunition resupply, troops were subjected to relentless Taliban attacks, as well as energy-sapping 50 degree heat and spartan conditions. At the end of the tour, the Taliban offensive aimed at driving the British and Afghan Government troops out of Helmand had been tactically defeated. But 3 Para paid a high fourteen soldiers and one interpreter were killed, and 46 wounded. '3 Para' will tell the stories of the men and women who took part in this extraordinary and largely unreported saga. Best-selling author Patrick Bishop has been given exclusive access to the soldiers whose tales of courage and endurance provide an unforgettable portrait of one of the world's finest and most fascinating fighting regiments, and a remarkable band of warriors. Their bravery was reflected in the array of gallantry medals that were bestowed on their return, including the Victoria Cross awarded to Corporal Bryan Budd and the George Cross won by Corporal Mark Wright, both of whom were killed winning their awards. 3 Para's saga of comradeship, courage and fortitude is set to become a classic.

Genres: Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Military History, History, War, Middle East

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Patrick Bishop was born in London in 1952 and went to Wimbledon College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Before joining the Telegraph he worked on the Evening Standard, the Observer and the Sunday Times and in television as a reporter on Channel Four News. He is the author with John Witherow of a history of the Falkands War based on their own experiences and with Eamon Mallie of The Provisional IRA which was praised as the first authoritative account of the modern IRA. He also wrote a memoir the first Gulf War, Famous Victory and a history of the Irish diaspora The Irish Empire, based on the TV series which he devised.

Reviews

[Rishi Prakash · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've heard a fair bit about Afghanistan and wasn't sure how this book was written. A journalist, he wasn't there but written in an 'after action' style. Bishop has access to the guys inside who were and lets them do their bit. Its not glamourous, its not a movie, its dirty, hot and dangerous work. The Paras got the short end of the stick, politics plays its part and the Paras have to save others faces at a cost to themselves.

Get the book, read it for yourself but it is for people who like real fight books as gets confusing with so many names!

[John Wynne]

Not bad but not a patch on A Million Bullets: The real story of the British Army in Afghanistan er]
James Fergusson...

[chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

they're very full of themselves.

[John Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good read about an army regiment working in extreme hazardous conditions really enjoyed it.

[Mark Baines · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can almost taste the grit. A gripping yet matter of fact telling of the experiences, hazards and hardships of 3 Para during their entry to and tour of Helmand province in 2006.
This is not a story about the glory of the 'Para's', it is a story of small groups of men exposing themselves to great danger to follow the (often flawed) directions of their political masters for a purposes not fully understood by many (including politicians who sent them).
The 'need' for a battle group to 'fix' its elements (as the book discusses) goes against military doctrine, but was necessary to satisfy the absentee afghan governor. This appears to have resulted in an overextension of British forces which restricted the ability to provide the improvements promised to the locals.
This book is not just about the Parachute Regiment, but also recognises the effort and cost to supporting specialists such as Sappers/Gunners/Loggies, subordinate units mentioned Gurkhas, Royal Irish, Household Cavalry, the Danish Army, as well as air both in resupply and case vac as well as close air fire support. Little is mentioned of the logistical effort to sustain the troops at these outposts; I suspect the reading of that effort could be equally impressive.
This is a record of war fighting and recognises the bravery of both those who died and survived, and alludes to the ongoing bravery of those injured and those caring for the injured.

[Elisif · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good military service book. It gave a good mid-level understanding of the situation in Helmand Province at the time, and an understanding on the ground at each outpost. It was missing some of the first person experiences that could have given it more impact, and a greater understanding of what it was really like to be in that situation. Also gave a mostly positive viewpoint of the military (well-deserved I’m sure) - rather than a more objective viewpoint. I think it would have been better to tell the story of a few key battles in more detail.

[R. M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book of it's kind that I've read, and it was much more descriptive than I'd expected. However, I was often quite confused by the amount of initialisations and jargon, but that's likely down to my own lack of knowledge. Someone with a more invested interest in the military would have a much easier time navigating than I did.

[This is V! · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true story of grit , determination and pride during war .

[Mark Stitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good overview of how mad the province was at that time. Really puts it into perspective.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK, it tended to drag on towards the end.

[MR ROBERT · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good story line but think more understanding if you have been a soldier

[Oliver Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad read. Despite mostly sticking to tactical considerations with a focus on the men on the ground, I found this book to be oddly impersonal.

I think this is likely to do with how he describes certain things. Take a death for instance. The death of a soldier is usually covered in this book as follows: we are given a description of who he was (hitherto usually quite absent so we rarely get to know him well) as well as quotes from a handful of the soldiers there, describing how long they knew him, how popular he was, and that the blokes took it really hard.

As a result, one rarely feels each death. It feels more as though Patrick Bishop is just listing an event with a staid formula, rather than describing the death of a very real human being, with all the emotions, reactions and implications that entail for all involved.

The fighting is told well enough, told in a matter of fact, occasionally repetitive way - I lost count of the amount of times this author described the beginning of an attack on a platoon house with "they [the Taliban] opened up with small arms, machine guns and RPGs" - take a few and add mortars and/or rockets depending on the situation.

Alas, it's more the events themselves rather than the author's telling of them that provide the majority of the colour and emotion that this book provides.

Despite it's faults however, it's good to have read a somewhat general history of the British in Helmand in 2006. This is some seriously interesting material; with their being so small a British footprint in Helmand at the time, one gets an almost Wild West feel to it.

I think an author would do well to collate all the sources and memoirs currently available of this time and make a detailed, testimony-heavy book on it.

Till that time however, it shall just be a plaything of my imagination - a wonderful book, just waiting to be made.

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was 3 Para by Patrick Bishop which is a very good book which I bought from a car boot sale. This book primarily looks at the war the 3rd Parachute Regiment fought in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. 3 Para hasn't got the length of history of some regiments but is regarded by its members as the toughest regiment anywhere. This regiment famously fought in the Falklands War especially the battles at Goose Green & Mount Longdon. They then had a quiet period apart from serving in Northern Ireland & undertaking an operation in Sierra Leone in Africa. They saw no action in Desert Storm and only played a small part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. All that changed with Helmand where they faced almost continual assault. When Afghanistan was invaded the South of the country was the Taliban's stronghold. It was in this area they originated and the money that was being pumped into the country as a hold to help modernize it was having little impact in this area. Add to that what an inhospitable region this is with 50 degree heat, desert and flesh eating bugs. Helmand produced 20% of the world's heroin and although the Taliban did their best to outlaw it, they turned a blind eye to court public opinion when 3 Para came on the scene. One particularly shocking thing is the Taliban often use women and children as human shields when fighting because they know the allied armies won't shoot back if there is a risk of innocent people getting hurt. The army in Afghanistan daren't use the roads which are frequently booby trapped and luckily in the case of them they used Land Rovers which could be driven off road. Things in Afghanistan have got to the stage where the domestic police and army have taken over most of the work of the allied armies with their role mostly being training them currently. This is a very interesting book with lots of interviews with soldiers of this regiment and lots of their experiences. The book is also only around 270 pages so is a reasonable length.

[Al Lock · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you expect an uplifting story of heroics, this isn't it. The men of 3 Para are heroes, men who faced the stress of insurgent warfare for months on end in sangers spread over some of the worst of Afghanistan. But, in the end, you feel like those efforts and some lives were wasted, wasted by the corrupt Afghanistan government, wasted by a policy that didn't understand unconventional warfare, wasted by a concern more for how many rounds they fired than by concern for the lives and spirit of these young warriors.

[Iain Bulpett · Rating 4 out of 5]

How not to be entangled by politics. To arrive in Helmand and secure by a hearts & minds method. Once in location, you have 3 government's with different agendas. Four bosses: British government, Helmands governor, US supreme commander & the NATO commander (of your equivalent rank).
This consigned hearts & minds to the dustbin, as 3 Para are pulled in every direction but the original task! They did whatever was politically asked if them, but should have been left to help the province repair & recover.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was one of the first i read about the Afghan war. I was frustrated at how poor the press coverage of the war was and wanted to find out more. This was at a time when the Iraq deception and media collusion in it was becoming clear and British casualties in the war were mounting.

This book gives a very clear picture of the cock ups that lead to British troops being deployed to the area. That they were sent hoping "they wouldn't have to fire a shot" to an area where the Afghan government had no authority and the Taliban were firmly in control. The Paras quickly found themselves being sent in small platoons to disparate towns all over Helmand province.

The Paras were thinly spread, from Lashka Gah the provincial capital, or the way up to the hydroelectric dam at Kajaki, to the small town of Now Zad, to the siege of Musa Qala and the fighting in Sangin and Gereshk. How at many points throughout the 6 month tour the Paras were saved by air cover from Harriers and Apaches numerous times. The crippling lack of helicopters for transport and suitable armoured vehicles.

In an amusing incident Whitehall had the cheek to demand the British forces stop using so much ammunition! A most illuminating read.

[Tim Corke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another astonishingly accurate read on the modern day military efforts in Afghanistan. Following 3 Para on their mission to Helmand Province, the mission they set off on changes amidst political pressure from the Afghan government threatening to weaken the British resolve. This resolve is what makes the British military legendary and without question 3 Para continue to defy the ongoing Taliban attacks. Bishop documents real life conflict in a way that the mainstream media just cannot compete with and after reading this, leaves me with a deeper humbling admiration for our forces fighting abroad.

[Jane Fenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to it as an audio book and seemed to be 'just' a catalogue of events. Useful background info for my job, but not sure it was a good recreational read. There was certainy relatively little opportunity to form a bond with the characters, which I found hard when these are/were real people, rather than fictional characters. But would I have complained if there had been too much emotional bias in there? Maybe it's just too recent to feel comfortable about reading it. Stories of the Dam Busters and the like seem quite popular nowadays. Maybe this book will be too, in a few decades?

[Chantel · Rating 1 out of 5]

i wasent a big fan of this book to be honest, ive read a lot of books on diffrent wars but this book was my least favorite. In my opinion this book was simply just an emotionless account of the situation at that time and it seemed like a rushed report or something. if the author had split the book into charactor chapters and added more personal quotes, it would have given the reader a better chance of emotionally connecting with this event as a whole.

[Martyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not very enjoyable. Didn't manage to finish it.

[Paul Cookson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good informative look behind the scenes of the current Afghan conflict. If I'm really critical, the end feels a bit rushed but the story itself is excellent.

[Rhys Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

good account of the trouble in Helmond th e politics and issues the squadie faces fay to day

[Chris Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

They went, they got shot at, they came back.

[Bryan Proctor]

couldn't get on with it

[Simon Clayton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and atmospheric It feels like an accurate summary of 2006 in Afghanistan with many facts correlating with other books I have read. Worth a read if non-fiction combat interests you