Military Review English Edition July-August 2015 | Page 130

on the front lines with Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler
(Hitler’s bodyguard), or in the front office with Himmler,
number-two man in the Third Reich.
Peiper never could escape his past, as convincingly
shown by the author. With Malmedy behind him, new
allegations of war crimes cropped up from other places where he and his units served. Additionally, West
German political sensitivities in the aftermath of the
sensational Adolf Eichmann trial eventually caught up
with Peiper, forcing him to leave Germany and seek
refuge in a remote part of France. There, Parker paints a
picture of an increasingly despondent man who eventually meets his demise at the hands of unknown assailants,
possibly French Communists, in July 1976. Insights such
as these are invaluable to understanding Peiper’s character and are an obvious strength of the book.
Hitler’s Warrior is meticulously researched, contai ns
extensive notes, and reads like a novel. Parker clearly adds
great depth to a study of the personal character of Jochen
Peiper and shows that there is value in examining such a
controversial figure. The book is highly recommended to
students of World War II’s European theater, the international military tribunals, and post-war Germany.
Mark Montesclaros, Fort Gordon, Georgia

ZERO SIX BRAVO: The Explosive True Story of
How 60 Special Forces Survived Against an Iraqi
Army of 100,000
Damien Lewis, Quercus, New York, 2013, 324 pages

T

he book Zero Six Bravo is the history of sixty
British and American Special Operations
troops who took on the impossible in
Southwest Asia in the days leading to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It was a British mission, manned largely
by Special Boat Service and Special Air Service
operators. That said, American training, support,
and equipment were critical to the mission and
eventually to the very survival of those involved in
this “Mission Impossible Iraq” that quickly became
labeled as “Operation No Return” by those embarking upon it.
The story is one of teamwork, of insurmountable
odds, and of highly trained Special Forces who are labeled as cowards by the international media—charges
128

that they cannot refute because they are muzzled by
their own nondisclosure rules. It is also the story of
sixty men against one hundred thousand. Yes, that is a
force ratio of 1,666 to 1.
It gets worse; the unit the men are pitted against is
the very unit that Saddam has chosen for his last stand,
and it represents one-third of his standing, active army.
Can the odds be worse? Yes.
Further enemies are extreme heat in the daytime, murderous cold at nighttime, bad intelligence
assessments from headquarters, and logistics that
are stretched beyond the breaking point. Adversity,
Murphy, and the unexpected become the norm.
Further enhancing things is the presence of the
Fedayeen, who drink goats’ blood and then eat the
hearts while they are still beating, as well as trackless
deserts that are populated when they shouldn’t be in
addition to seven hundred miles of harsh terrain with
no guaranteed allied support. The odds of survival are
not good.
This book will grab you, and you won’t put it down
until you’ve turned the last page. The author, Damien
Lewis, has written a dozen works of nonfiction, and he
knows his craft well. By the end of his narrative, you
will be familiar with “dickers,” “gobsmacked,” “TLZ,”
“TSM,” “Pinkies,” “sod’s law,” and many other uniquely
British terms.
By the end of the book, you’ll also have drawn your
own conclusions as to whether or not these warriors were
pusillanimous cowards or misunderstood heroes who
fought through the Ninewa desert, the Sunni Triangle,
and the gates of hell to accomplish a mission with zero
chances of success. Are they heroes or villains? You decide.
Regardless, this book is highly entertaining and
educational. The only challenge I have is to the accuracy
of some of the firefight descriptions. At one point, the
author describes T-72 tanks firing illumination. I have
found no evidence of the T-72 tank having an illumination round capability. My only explanation is that
the author may be referring to the firing of illumination
flares off the tank.
No book is perfect. No book will quiet all critics.
This book, however, will quell most of the naysayers
and cynics, and it will do so while entertaining you and
robbing you of sleep.
Lt. Col. Glenn R. Mosher, U.S. Army, Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas
July-August 2015  MILITARY REVIEW