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Ian Gardiner - Writer

Ian Gardiner's first book 

 In the Service of the Sultan

A First Hand Account of the Dhofar Insurgency

 is published by Pen & Sword with the foreword written by

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup GCB AFC RAF

Chief of the United Kingdom Defence Staff

Awarded the Royal Marines Historical Society's Literary Award for 2007

*****

Ian Gardiner's second book   

 
  The Flatpack Bombers   
 

The story of the Royal Navy's struggle with the Zeppelin for air supremacy

 in the First World War   

 

is published by Pen & Sword with the foreword written by

Professor Geoffrey Till

Director, Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies

King's College

******

 

In the Service of the Sultan

A First Hand Account of the Dhofar Insurgency

                

While the Americans were fighting in Vietnam, a struggle of far greater strategic significance was taking place in the Middle East. The Sultanate of Oman guards the entrance to the Arabian Gulf, and thus controls the movement of most of the oil from that region. In the 1960s and 70s, the Communists tried to seize this artery. Had they succeeded, the consequences for the West and for the Middle East would have been disastrous  -  and yet, few people have heard of this geo-political drama which was played out at the height of the Cold War.

             

   In the Service of the Sultan tells first-hand, the largely unknown story of a small number of British officers who led Muslim soldiers in this hard fought insurgency war which has shaped today's Gulf. After outlining the historical, geographical and political context, the book describes military action in a stark mountainous environment, including operations with irregular forces and the SAS, as well as action in the air and at sea. The book gives a gripping, moving funny account of all these and paints a powerful, illuminating picture of the realities of war. 

It ranges widely and will appeal to all who are interested in the Cold War and relationships between the Western and the Arab worlds. Politics, history, irregular warfare, religion, international affairs: all are ingredients in this absorbing informative read. In the light of current insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is also timely to be reminded how a rare victory was won over Communist guerillas.             

 

 

 Given the current tensions between Islam and Christianity, it is of especial relevance. The cooperation, friendship and ungrudging tolerance that flourished in Oman then - and still do now  - present an encouraging and refreshing contrast to the prevailing atmosphere elsewhere. In the light of the current debate surrounding the decision to go to war against Iraq, it is also of interest to be reminded how British forces were committed to a ten-year long hot war against Communism during the Cold War, with barely anyone in UK noticing.                                                                                          

    

This book is now being translated into Arabic. 

 

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"Quite simply one of the best books about soldiering that I have ever read."

Professor Richard Holmes

 

"A young officer's vivid, sensitive account of fighting in Oman. Seldom has a war about which so little is known to this day been so important for the region and the world."

Major General Julian Thompson

 

 "This is an enthralling book"                                             Bruce Anderson - Sunday Telegraph  

 

"It is rare indeed to find an author of a military book who can not only write like a dream, but himself was in the thick of the action. Ian Gardiner is writing about an almost forgotten war, but a critical one, that had to be won. He captures the difficult terrain, the harsh climate and the character of the men who fought and in some case died there. I profoundly recommend this book."

Max Arthur

 

 

You can read a feature article on the book published in The Scotsman on 1 November 2006 at:

 

http://www.scotsman.com/books/The-unknown-warriors.2823199.jp

 

You can order this book at any bookshop or at:

 

http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/?product_id=1265

 

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    The Flatpack Bombers  
 
 

The story of the Royal Navy's struggle with Zeppelins for air supremacy

 in the First World War 

 
 
 

is published by Pen & Sword with the foreword written by

Professor Geoffrey Till

Director, Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies

King's College

   In 1908, HG Wells wrote a sci-fi thriller called The War in the Air in which a fleet of German Zeppelins crossed the Atlantic and devastated New York. When war broke out in 1914, many people in Britain believed that HG Wells' story would come true, and that London would be laid waste by German airships as soon as the Kaiser found it convenient to give the order. Zeppelins also meant that the British navy could do nothing in the North Sea without the risk of being spotted. It was this 'menace' - no aircraft could match it - which spurred the British government into creating the Royal Flying Corps, and which led to Winston Churchill to set about bombing these airships on the ground in 1914.                         

 

Thus it was that the Royal Naval Air Service, with IKEA-style flatpack aeroplanes, pioneered strategic bombing which eventually led to the Blitz, and the massive air raids on Germany and Japan during the Second World War. Moreover, by extending its striking range in order to destroy Zeppelins in their home bases many miles from the sea, the Royal Navy developed the first aircraft carriers. 

 

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  The Flatpack Bombers tells the extraodinary story of those first strategic bombing raids. It described the thrilling exploits of the pilots, and the courage and endurance of their adversaries, the German Zeppelin crews, and explains why the British nightmare never came about. 

Every bomber raid, and every aircraft carrier strike operation since owes it genesis to those early naval flyers, and there are ghosts from 1914 which haunt us still today.           

           

 ".......this enjoyable and important book is highly recommended."

 Professor Geoffrey Till 

"Ian Gardiner provides an insight into the dawn of strategic bombing managing at one and the same time to be meticulous yet charming, accessible to the non-specialist reader, yet full of fresh detail".

Mark Urban

****

Ian Gardiner writes an occasional column for The Scotsman.

         Go to Newspaper Articles   

Ian Gardiner has also published:       

  ·   The entries on “Command” and “Combined Operations” in The International Encyclopaedia of Public Policy and Administration   (Westview, 1998)

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813399777/203-9053134-9687150

   ·  A chapter in  Above All Courage  by Max Arthur   (Sidgewick & Jackson 1984 and 2002)                        

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