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.”

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. The sentinels at the gates are corpses, and it quickly becomes apparent that he has slaughtered thousands of his subjects - warriors and women alike. When Shaka is killed by his own people, and the region plunged into civil war, Hervey and his men find themselves in the midst of terrible danger. Yet worse is to come. Separated from his troop, Hervey must lead Shaka's queen across a hostile land where sanctuary has never seemed further away...