Allan Mallinson

On Afghanistan’s Plains tells the story of four gruelling tours of duty during Operation Herrick, the codename under which British operations in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 until 2014 when the mission changed from direct combat with the Taliban to one of mentoring Afghan forces. Allan Mallinson, military historian and former Light Dragoons officer, explains Operation Herrick’s complex historical and strategic background and describes the evolving tactical thinking in this multi-national, NATO-led campaign. Almost from the start, The Light Dragoons, a small, tight-knit, “family” regiment recruiting in Yorkshire and the north-east of England, were in action in Helmand Province, the principal British area of operations. As an armoured reconnaissance regiment they played a leading role in Operation Panther’s Claw, the month-long battle in the searing summer heat of 2012, which saw much hard fighting and many casualties, and proved to be a turning point in the campaign. On Afghanistan’s Plains describes what it was like to be in Helmand on foot or cooped-up in an armoured vehicle fighting the Taliban. NATO’s commander-in-chief in Afghanistan in later years, US General Stanley McChrystal, paid The Light Dragoons the greatest compliment: “When I looked into their eyes, which were bloodshot with fatigue, I remember the extraordinary professionalism, competence and the sheer courage of those young men.”

One of our most distinguished military historians tells the story of six defining battles . . .Every battle is different. Each takes place in a different context - the war, the campaign, the weapons. However, battles across the centuries, whether fought with sticks and stones or advanced technology, have much in common. Fighting is, after all, an intensely human affair; human nature doesn't change. So why were battles fought as they were? What gave them their shape? Why did they go as they did: victory for one side, defeat for the other? In exploring six significant feats of arms - the war and campaign in which they each occurred, and the factors that determined their precise form and course - The Shape of Battle answers these fundamental questions about the waging of war.Hastings (1066) - everyone knows the date, but not, perhaps, the remarkable strategic background.Towton (1461) - the bloodiest battle to be fought on English soil. Waterloo (1815) - more written about in English than any other but rarely in its true context as the culminating battle in the longest war in 'modern' times.D-Day (1944) - a battle within a larger operation ('Overlord'), and the longest-planned and most complex offensive battle in history. Imjin River (1951) - this little known battle of the Korean War was the British Army's last large-scale defensive battle. Operation Panther's Claw (2009) - a battle that has yet to receive the official distinction of being one: an offensive conducted over six weeks with all the trappings of 21st-century warfare yet whose shape and face at times resembled the Middle Ages. The Shape of Battle is not a polemic, it doesn't try to argue a case. It lets the narratives - the battles - speak for themselves.

A distinguished military historian tells the dramatic story of six defining battles in world history. Every battle is different. Each takes place in a different context--the war, the campaign, the weapons. However, battles across the centuries, whether fought with spears and swords or advanced technology, have much in common. Fighting is, after all, an intensely human affair; human nature doesn't change. So why were certain battles fought as they were? What gave them their shape? Why did they go as they did: victory for one side, defeat for the other? In exploring six significant feats of arms--the war and campaign in which they each occurred, and the factors that determined their precise form and course--The Shape of Battle answers these fundamental questions about the waging of war. Eschewing polemics, The Shape of Battle doesn't try to argue a case. It lets the narratives--the battles--speak for themselves.

'Matthew Hervey is as splendid a hero as ever sprang from an author's pen' The TimesFollowing the 6th Light Dragoons' successful campaign in the state of Coorg and the deposition of its deranged Rajah, Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey is looking forward to a few months' respite for his regiment, for himself and his family. Indeed, with his reputation restored, he's rarely felt so content. Alas, such tranquillity is not to last. India's governor-general believes Hervey is just the man to lead a force against the Thuggee and Dacoity gangs whose increasingly vicious attacks threaten not only the stability of a number of friendly princely states but also, of course, the East India Company's interests in the sub-continent. And so Hervey reluctantly leads the Sixth into the field once more. It's a mission that will prove infinitely more complex, brutal and bloody than anyone predicted. For Hervey has taken the first steps on the path towards the conflagration history calls the Indian Mutiny . . .'Mallinson's series of early 19th-century military adventures are even better than Patrick O'Brian's naval equivalent . . . Faithful period detail. Rattling pace. Loveable characters' A. N. Wilson'Thrilling . . . richly engaging, old-fashioned storytelling' Daily Mail

Looking at the First World War month by month reveals its complexity while preserving a sense of time. The month is a more digestible gauge. Based on the Allan Mallinsonâ??s monthly commentaries in The Times throughout the centenary, Fight to the Finish is a new and original portrait of â??The War to End War.â?

From THE Sunday Times bestselling author Allan Mallinson, a riveting read with the perfect combination of hero, history and adventure - perfect for fans of Patrick O'Brian and Bernard Cornwell.'A very astounding and enjoyable military read' -- ***** Reader review'Excellent - full of excitement, adventure and history' -- ***** Reader review'Outstanding' -- ***** Reader review'Magnificent!' -- ***** Reader review'Allan Mallinson is a truly gifted storyteller..."- ***** Reader review*********************************************************************************1831: riots and rebellions are widespread . . .In England, the new government is facing protests against the attempts of the Tory-dominated House of Lords to thwart the passing of the Reform Bill. In India, relations are strained between the presidency of Madras and some of the neighbouring princely states.Having taken command of the action in Bristol to restore order after one of the bloodiest and most destructive riots in the nation's history, Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey is out of favour with the new government. But then his old friend, Sir Eyre Somervile, offers him a lifeline...Somervile has persuaded the Court of Directors of the East India Company to approve an increase in the Madras military establishment. Hervey and the 6th Light Dragoons are sent to the princely state of Coorg. The Rajah is in revolt against the East India Company's terms and Hervey's regiment is called upon to crush the rebellion.With the stakes raised by an unexpected visitation from his past, for Hervey the question is whether he and his men will get out of this brutal war unscathed?

‘War is too important to be left to the generals’ snapped future French prime minister Georges Clemenceau on learning of yet another bloody and futile offensive on the Western Front. One of the great questions in the ongoing discussions and debate about the First World War is why did winning take so long and exact so appalling a human cost? After all this was a fight that, we were told, would be over by Christmas. Now, in his major new history, Allan Mallinson, former professional soldier and author of the acclaimed 1914: Fight the Good Fight, provides answers that are disturbing as well as controversial, and have a contemporary resonance. He disputes the growing consensus among historians that British generals were not to blame for the losses and setbacks in the ‘war to end all wars’ – that, given the magnitude of their task, they did as well anyone could have. He takes issue with the popular view that the ‘amateur’ opinions on strategy of politicians such as Lloyd George and, especially, Winston Churchill, prolonged the war and increased the death toll. On the contrary, he argues, even before the war began Churchill had a far more realistic, intelligent and humane grasp of strategy than any of the admirals or generals, while very few senior officers – including Sir Douglas Haig – were up to the intellectual challenge of waging war on this scale. And he repudiates the received notion that Churchill’s stature as a wartime prime minister after 1940 owes much to the lessons he learned from his First World War ‘mistakes’ – notably the Dardanelles campaign – maintaining that in fact Churchill’s achievement in the Second World War owes much to the thwarting of his better strategic judgement by the ‘professionals’ in the First – and his determination that this would not be repeated.Mallinson argues that from day one of the war Britain was wrong-footed by absurdly faulty French military doctrine and paid, as a result, an unnecessarily high price in casualties. He shows that Lloyd George understood only too well the catastrophically dysfunctional condition of military policy-making and struggled against the weight of military opposition to fix it. And he asserts that both the British and the French failed to appreciate what the Americans’ contribution to victory could be – and, after the war, to acknowledge fully what it had actually been.

Once again, THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR Allan Mallinson captivates readers with an eminently readable piece of historical fiction. If you're a fan of Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwell and CS Forester, you'll love this.'The Matthew Hervey books have a way of getting under your skin...reveals a man who is very much of his time -and one to have beside you when riding into action.' - DAILY MAIL'One for the fans, who will not be disappointed by Mallinson's winning combination of scrupulous research and derring-do...with the French in front and the Russians behind, Hervey's your man.' - THE TIMES'Leaves the reader slavering for the next instalment.' -- ***** Reader review'This is historical fiction at its very best.' -- ***** Reader review'Such a pleasure to read a well written, well edited, well researched, readable piece of historical fiction.' -- ***** Reader review******************************************************************January 1830, and one of the hardest winters in memory...The prime minister, the Iron Duke, is resisting growing calls for parliamentary reform, provoking scenes of violent unrest in the countryside.Against this inflammable backdrop Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey, recently returned from an assignment in the Balkans, takes command of his regiment, the 6th Light Dragoons. His fears that things might be a little dull are quickly dispelled by the everyday business of vexatious officers, NCOs promotions and incendiarists on the doorstep of the King himself.But it's when the Sixth are sent to Brussels for the fifteenth anniversary celebrations of the battle of Waterloo and find themselves caught up in the Belgian uprising against Dutch rule that the excitement really starts.Will Hervey be able to keep out of the fighting - a war that would lead, nearly a century later, to Britain's involvement in an altogether different war - while safeguarding his country's interests? Not likely!

'No part of the Great War compares in interest with its opening', wrote Churchill. In this history, the author brings his experience as a professional soldier to bear on the circumstances, events, actions and individuals and speculates - tantalizingly - on what might have been...

January 1829: George IV is on the throne, Wellington is England's prime-minister, and snow is falling thickly on the London streets as Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey is summoned to the Horse Guards in the expectation of command of his regiment, the 6th Light Dragoons. But the benefits of long-term peace at home mean cuts in the army.

Edgehill, 1642: Surveying the disastrous scene in the aftermath of the first battle of the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell realizes that war can no longer be made in the old, feudal way: there has to be system and discipline, and therefore - eventually - a standing professional army.

Matthew Hervey of the 6th Light Dragoons is urgently summoned to the Cape Colony when he learns that the Zulu warrior King Shaka is about to wage war. Soon Hervey, his old friend Eyre Somervile and their escort of dragoons and mounted rifles are riding north. When they arrive at Shaka's kraal it is a horrifying place.

It is 1827: Britain and the Mediterranean Captain Sir Laughton Peto, engaged to Matthew Hervey's sister, is sailing his line-of-battle ship towards Navarino Bay. All is set fair for Matthew Hervey's marriage to Lady Lankester, and his return to active duty at the Cape. But trouble lies ahead as familial commitments clash with affairs of the heart.

It is 1827, and Matthew Hervey is on the look out for a new posting. He soon finds one in the Cape Colonies, where there is need of a man to re-organise the local forces, and in particular to form a new company of horse. As Hervey and his greenhorn troops are plunged into a battle, death is only a heartbeat away.

It's 1826, and Matthew Hervey of the 6th Light Dragoons is a prisoner of the Spanish, incarcerated in the fortress of Badajoz. As he plans his escape, his thoughts return to the year 1812 when he was a cornet in Wellington's Peninsula Army. While Hervey paces his prison cell, and re-lives the bloodshed of battles past, friends rush to his aid.

Matthew Hervey joins a party of officers sent to lend support to Portugese regent. But Peninsula is a place redolent with memories. The French had forced British army into retreat until, under leadership of Sir John Moore, they made a defiant stand at Corunna. As he prepares for battle, Hervey finds himself confronting ghosts from his past.

Matthew Hervey and the 6th Light Dragoons are stationed in India, where conflagration looks set to flair. The usurper prince, Durjan Sal, has taken refuge in the infamous fortress of Bhurtpore. Hot and dangerous work lies ahead for Matthew Hervey and his courageous troop who know their fortunes will be decided by the sabre's edge.

Matthew Hervey is charged with raising a new troop, and organising transport for India - for he, his men and their horses are to set sail with immediate effect. What Hervey and his soldiers cannot know is that in India they will face a trial for which they are ill prepared. A large number of Burmese war-boats are assembled near Chittagong.

Another riveting Matthew Hervey adventure from the Sunday Times bestselling author Allan Mallinson, combining hero, history and drama to perfection. If you like Patrick O'Brian, Bernard Cornwell and CS Forester, this will not disappoint!"Assured and capable...a fine read" - The Times"Matthew Hervey has now joined Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe and Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey" - Birmingham Post"Delighted, as simple as that." - ***** Reader review"Absolutely excellent - cannot recommend this series of books enough to anyone who likes historical fiction." - ***** Reader review ***********************************************************************Canada 1817: Captain Matthew Hervey is suffering the effects of unrest within his beloved regiment, the 6th Light Dragoons.Their new commanding officer - wealthy, arrogant and cruel - has taken an immediate dislike to him. Somehow, Hervey must earn promotion while retaining his integrity and the loyalty of his men.Then the regiment is sent to Canada where, in the aftermath of war with the United States, Hervey faces danger on two fronts. Murderous native tribes are on the move. While, closer to home, he and his commanding officer have embarked on a collision course - the consequences of which will be devastating...Have you read A Close Run Thing and The Nizam's Daughters - the first two Matthew Hervey adventures? A Regimental Affair is the third book in Allan Mallinson's Matthew Hervey series. His adventures continue in A Call to Arms.

In a rousing follow-up to the critically acclaimed A Close Run Thing, Captain Matthew Hervey makes the hazardous sea voyage to India for what the Duke of Wellington has called “deuced tricky work.”As Wellington’s new aide-de-camp, Matthew’s covert mission will embroil him in the jostling of native potentates and England’s encroaching East India Company — both threatened by lawless bands of horsemen bent on plunder and massacre. When Matthew’s journeying leads him to the small key state of Chintal, he thinks himself close to his objective. But at the rajah’s sumptuous court, he discovers that war in India is waged as often with money and spies as with the clear-cut tactics of the battlefield — with battles won through devious conversations and murderous perfidy. And Matthew, torn between his honor and his destiny, is drawn deeper into the court’s serpentine coils than he ever dreamed....