New Book – Storm Front by Rowland White

I have been fortunate to get first sight of this new work by Rowland White

Two years after the appearance of Phoenix Squadron, Rowland White author of Vulcan 607 returns to the bookshop shelves with his new work Storm Front

Set during the early years of the 1970’s the author takes us through the formation of the gulf state of Oman by coup d’etat, in which Her Majesties Government complicit and indeed assisted if only by turning the occasional blind eye, through to the fierce fighting between the men of the Special Air Service and the insurgent forces or Adoo, and includes the operation of Strikemaster jets flown by Royal Air Force pilots that were not officially in theatre. The story develops and reaches its climax with a graphic description of the battle for the BATT house, near the tiny fishing village of Mirbat, where 9 SAS men fought for their lives under overwhelming odds against several hundred Adoo insurgents. Their bravery under fire is aided by the RAF pilots and their Sultan of Oman’s Air Force Strikemasters performing some of the RAF’s first Close Air Support missions, firing 7.62mm gun pods and Rockets into the advancing terrorists to slow there advance.

The author has, as is his usual style, relied on detailed research and first hand interviews of those that were there to ensure that the chronology of the event as written is correct and that the full intimate detail of the story is gained. The book also contains names that in 1972 would have meant nothing to the man on the street but would later become household names. In early career form we meet with the likes of Sir Peter de la Billiere, later to command British forces during the first Gulf War against Iraq, Lofty Wiseman SAS Quartermaster and survival expert, Sir Jock Stirrup, a Flight Lieutenant with the Sultan Of Oman’s Air force who would later be Chief of the Defence Staff, and at Mirbat itself, SAS Trooper Pete Winner who would later take part in the relief of the Iranian Embassy siege at Princes Gate in London.

For the aviation or military history aficionado Storm Front, while a veritable boys own story of daring do, is a superb work that highlights the trouble the Arab peninsula has been subjected to long before peoples interest increased with Desert Storm in the early 1990’s and more recent operations further east in Afghanistan. Indeed it could be said that what is seen in Storm Front on the front of Arab armed insurgency is possibly the genesis of later, larger terrorist action to come. I can only highly recommend this book.

Storm Front published by Bantam Press will be available at your usual book seller from Thursday 9 June, ISBN9780593064344.