12 Strong

Description

This book was the inspiration for the major motion picture “12 Strong” starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon.  This is a true-life story of American soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve stunning military victories.  An exciting read, a page turning book.

Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a twelve-man team of U.S. Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan by helicopter following the September 11^th attacks on New York’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Riding to war on horses against the Taliban and heavily outnumbered, the Green Berets joined Afghan guerillas of the Northern Alliance to pursue the Taliban forces across the rugged Afghanistan mountains.  After a series of intense battles, they captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential to defeat their opponent throughout Afghanistan. The bone-weary and saddle-sore Americans were welcomed as liberators as they rode into the city, and the streets thronged with Afghans overjoyed that the Taliban regime had been overthrown.

Then the story took a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of six hundred Taliban soldiers, the Green Berets and their allies were ambushed by the would-be POWs. Dangerously overpowered, they fought for their lives in the city’s immense fortress, Qala-i-Janghi, or the House of War. At risk were the military gains of the entire campaign: if the soldiers were killed or captured, the entire effort to defeat the Taliban was likely doomed.

Thoroughly researched and beautifully written, the author’s true account of the Americans’ careful efforts to win the hearts of local the Afghan people and their quest to liberate an oppressed people is an exciting read. The soldiers on horseback combined ancient strategies of cavalry warfare with twenty-first-century laser guided aerial bombardment technology to accomplish seemingly impossible feats.