Operation Certain Death

In Sierra Leone in 2000, the West Side Boys seize a patrol of British soldiers and hold them in jungle camps. Negotiation secures some releases, but the remaining hostages face worsening treatment and the possibility of execution as the militia becomes less predictable.

Operation Barras sends the SAS, the Parachute Regiment and supporting aviation to assault two sites simultaneously. Lewis reconstructs planning, intelligence and the close fighting from participant accounts, explaining why commanders accepted a rescue operation whose expected casualties made its informal title, Operation Certain Death, appear justified.