Lester W. Grau is the research director for the Foreign Military Studies Office at the U.S. Army’s Combined and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth and the translator and editor of several books dealing with the Soviet military experience in Afghanistan, including The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost. ||Dodge Billingsley, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and Director of Combat Films and Research, Inc., accompanied U.S. infantry troops into the Shar-i Kot Valley during Operation Anaconda. His numerous films include Virgin Soldiers and Chechnya: Separatism or Jihad?
"A gripping tale of adventure and a strong contribution to the
history of Operation Enduring Freedom. Grau and Billingsley remind
us that plans rarely survive the first shots in battle and that
modern technology does not change the fact that war is ultimately a
life or death struggle."--Hy S. Rothstein, author of Afghanistan
and the Troubled Future of Unconventional Warfare"This is the best
narrative to date on a critical battle in our wars in Afghanistan
and one that uses the latest and most detailed information
available. . . . A unique, well-documented, and historically
significant study."--Sean M. Maloney, author of Fighting for
Afghanistan: A Rogue Historian at War
"The authors were careful to construct their approach and provide
enough background information of Operation Anaconda so that even a
novice student of military history could understand and relate to
the decisions and processes affecting the battle."--Aviation
Digest"All told, Operation Anaconda presents a compelling telling
of a key point in the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan... a useful
and interesting read for both the experienced as well as the casual
reader of military history. Even more impressive is the DVD
included with the book that features over an hour of documentary
footage and interviews. This bonus material helps the reader
visualize the region's terrain and to better understand the keys to
the battle."--Army History"Lester Grau, a decorated combat
infantryman and proven historian, together with Dodge Billingsley,
a journalist with combat experience, ably chronicle all that did
and did not go well in Operation Anaconda in March 2002. The story
they tell is compelling, based on thorough research, personal
experience, and an affinity for combat soldiers and airmen. . . .
This is a well-told story of courage under extraordinary
conditions.--Army"The best and most detailed account of America's
first major military ground war in the twenty-first
century."--Historian"Grau and Billingsleys work, Operation
Anaconda, helps dispel the cloud of chaos that apparently
characterized American military might in the opening sequence of
Operation Enduring Freedom. If the authors had merely studied and
analyzed records of when and where men were deployed, for how long,
and with what armaments, they would have provided the reader with a
less satisfying study, one that lets us know what happened but not
necessarily how it happened (that is, how decisions were made in
the heat of battle). Using interviews with soldiers allowed Grau
and Billingsley to construct an impressive account of the fog of
war in modern warfare and to suggest ways to dissipate that fog in
future battles."--Oral History Review"This book provides the reader
with a detailed account of the whole operation, including the
preparation and decision making and a blow by blow description
ofthe fighting, concluding with a valuable chapter covering
operational and tactical lessons learned. . . . This is a great
book that can be read and studied by anyone (all military rank
levels and military history enthusiasts) interested in modern
combat operations involving land and air forces and the lessons
that come from doing things for real, beyond the world of
operational and tactical theory where discussion, planning,
decision making, training and mission rehearsal exercises point
toward perfect results."--Australian Army Journal "Rich in detail
and background material, a day-by-day account--the best
available--of Operation Anaconda during March 2002. Operation
Anaconda was the largest and longest (13 days) light infantry
battle fought since Vietnam, as US, Canadian, Australian, and
Afghani forces tried to seal off the Shar-i Kot Valley in eastern
Afghanistan. . . . It would be the last major set-piece battle Al
Qaeda would fight, a classic battle of encounter fought almost two
miles above sea level."--Choice
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