The War That Never Was
  • Published: 15 February 2011
  • ISBN: 9781409049821
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 416
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The War That Never Was

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EBook
15 Feb 2011
Paperback
15 Jun 2012
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The true story of the men who fought Britain's most secret battle. A Sunday Times bestseller.

For the very first time, The War That Never Was tells the fascinating story of a secret war fought by British mercenaries in the Yemen in the early 1960s. In a covert operation organised over whisky and sodas in the clubs of Chelsea and Mayfair, a group of former SAS officers - led by the irrepressible Colonel Jim Johnson - arranged for a squadron of British mercenaries to travel to the remote mountain regions of the Yemen, to arm, train and lead Yemeni tribesmen in their fight against a 60,000-strong contingent of Egyptian soldiers.

It was one of the most uneven running battles ever waged; the Egyptians fielded a huge, professionally-trained army. The British fought back at the head of a ragtag force of tribal warriors and, ultimately, won. Egypt's President Nasser described the battle in the Yemen as 'my Vietnam'.

It's a fascinating, forgotten, and rip-roaringly entertaining pocket of British military history, much in the spirit of Ben MvIntyre's bestselling Agent Zigzag and Operation Mincemeat.
  • Published: 15 February 2011
  • ISBN: 9781409049821
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 416
Categories:
Share…

About the author

Duff Hart-Davis

Duff Hart-Davis has written and edited over fifty books on a wide variety of subjects, including eight adventure novels and the Sunday Times bestseller The War That Never Was, an enthralling account of the secret war fought by British mercenaries in the Yemen during the 1960s.
He worked on the Sunday Telegraph as Literary Editor and feature writer and as a columnist for the Independent. Together with his wife Phyllida, he now lives on the Cotswold escarpment.

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Praise for The War That Never Was

Remarkable story ... Hart-Davis tells splendidly the astonishing tale he has uncovered

Max Hastings for The Sunday Times

Duff Hart-Davis has taken over the writing of this book from Jim Johnson's second-in-command, Tony Boyle, who was working from Johnson's archive; both men died before the work was completed. He has done his extraordinary subject justice. Why did any of them get involved with the project? Well, the pay was good, but that is exactly the sort of thing men say to cover their enjoyment and excitement. The fact of the matter is that it was a terrific adventure

Philip Hensher for The Spectator

An extradordinary story, told for the first time

Today, Radio 4

Plenty of books claim to be about forgotten aspects of the past. Yet Duff Hart-Davis has managed to go one better in this tale of British mercenaries and Egyptian skulduggery by unearthing a war that has hitherto remained more or less secret

James Owen for Mail on Sunday

Their gung-ho story is told with much buckle and swash

The Times

An extraordinary story that needed to be told... Duff Hart-Davis tells their fascinating story, which will be new to many readers, remarkably well

Charles Guthrie for the Literary Review

This dramatic piece of history is thoroughly researched, drawn from first-hand accounts of the mercenaries' experience. Written at the pace of a James Bond thriller, Hart-Davis leavens his gung-ho tale with details that are at times touching and humorous

The Herald

A barnstorming history

i Independent

This true story has all the ingredients of a John Buchan 1920s thriller

Country Life