House to House: A Tale of Modern War - Brossura

Bellavia, David

Brossura

ISBN 10: 184737090X ISBN 13: 9781847370907

Casa editrice: Simon & Schuster, 2007

Riassunto

On 8 November 2004, the largest battle of the War on Terror began, with the US Army's assault on Fallujah and its network of tens of thousands of insurgents hiding in fortified bunkers, on rooftops, and inside booby-trapped houses. For Sgt. David Bellavia of 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, it quickly turned into a battle on foot, from street to street and house to house. On the second day, he and his men laid siege to a mosque, only to be driven to a rooftop and surrounded, before heavy artillery could smash through to rescue them. By the third day, Bellavia charges an insurgent-filled house and finds himself trapped with six enemy fighters. One by one, he shoots, wrestles, stabs, and kills five of them, until his men arrive to take care of the final target. It is one of the most hair-raising battle stories of any age -- yet it does not spell the end of Bellavia's service. It would take serveral more weeks before the Battle of Fallujah finally came to a close, with Bellavia, miraculously, alive.

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Recensione:

'Some of the most ferocious hand-to-hand combat I have ever read. Like Mark Bowden's classic account of fighting in Mogadishu, Black Hawk Down, Bellavia's talent as a writer is to communicate the gut-wrenching reality of close combat, but also, at times, the black comedy of a desperate situation'
Financial Times 2/9
'The best fighting book to come out of the Iraq war so far, and one of the best accounts of close quarters fighting of our time... disturbingly good' The First Post website, September
'Charting the American fight for Fallujah in November 2004, Bellavia takes the reader into the heart of that terrible battle. The place is frenetic, the action shocking. Yet, whatever one may think of Bellavia's views and actions, it is impossible not to empathise with him and his close-knit comrades in Alpha Company. The personal deprivations are appalling, the fighting terrifying, the deaths of men one comes to know and like, heart-rending. And yet somehow they battle on, clinging to each other and their training to get themselves through. Their bravery is astonishing and if there is a better book conveying what it is like to take part ina brutal, violent, urban battle, I've yet to read it. House to House is a stunning book that lingers uncomfortably in the mind long after it has been put down' James Holland, Sunday Telegraph 21/10
'Quite possibly the most exciting book you'll ever read. Seriously'
Daily Telegraph 27/10
‘House to House is a rewarding take of battle and what it means to those that wage it’ Sunday Business Post 14/10
'Some of the most ferocious hand-to-hand combat I have ever read. Bellavia has indeed become a combat hero and I look forward to seeing the movie that will undoubtedly be made of this book. If you liked Black Hawk Down, you will love this'
Military Illustrated, Dec '07 issue
‘Bellavia recalls his infantry unit’s tactics minute by minute. Fighting house to house, his men are wounded, sleep deprived and filthy. @we are America’s warrior class,’ he explains. ‘We stand a breed apart from other men.’ Their machismo is no less terrifying for being sincere. The shock is realising it’s necessary in such a hostile environment. The result is unpleasantly gripping’
Telegraph 31/5

Dalla quarta di copertina:

On the night of November 10, 2004, a U.S. Army infantry squad under Staff Sergeant David Bellavia entered the heart of the city of Fallujah and plunged into one of the most sustained and savage urban battles in the history of modern warfare.
With Third Platoon, Alpha Company, Bellavia and his men confronted an enemy who had had weeks to prepare, booby-trapping houses, arranging ambushes, amassing weapons, rigging entire city blocks as explosives-laden kill zones, and even stocking up on atropine, a steroid that pumps up fighters in the equivalent of a long-lasting crack high. Entering one house, alone, Bellavia faced the fight of his life, against six insurgents, using every weapon at his disposal, including a knife.
Bringing to searing, visceral life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, House to House is far more than just another war story. Populated by an indelibly drawn cast of characters, it develops the intensely close relationships that form between soldiers under fire. Their friendships, tested in brutal combat, would never be quite the same. What happened to them in their bloody embrace with the enemy is a harrowing, unforgettable story of triumph, tragedy and the resilience of the human spirit.
'Staff Sgt Bellavia brings it. This is life in the infantry, circa right now. They used to say that "the real war will never get in the books". Here it does, stunningly. You may not agree with it, or like what he has to say. Read it anyway'
Thomas E. Ricks, author of Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq
£10.99
AUTOBIOGRAPHY / MILITARY HISTORY
Simon & Schuster UK
ISBN: 184737090X

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Simon & Schuster
• Data di pubblicazione: 2007
• ISBN 10: 184737090X
• ISBN 13: 9781847370907
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 336