'How many are they?'

The reply came in the finest traditions of accurate situation reporting, 'f***ing hundreds of them!'

Marbat, South Oman, 19 July 1972 is one of the least-known yet most crucial battles of modern times. OPERATION STORM is the inside story - told by those who took part - of the greatest secret war in SAS history. The tipping point was Marbat, a secret battle which defines the world we all live in today.

If the SAS had been defeated at Marbat, the Russian and Chinese plan for a communist foothold in the Middle East would have succeeded, with catastrophic consequences for the oil-hungry West.

OPERATION STORM is a page-turning account of courage and resilience. Marbat was a battle fought and won by nine SAS soldiers and a similar number of brave local people - some as young as ten years old - outnumbered by at least twenty five to one. Thousands of heavy calibre bullets, rockets, shells, mortars and grenades were fired in a six hour fire-fight of staggering intensity, the tipping point in a clandestine war which went unreported at the time.

Roger Cole, one of the SAS soldiers who took part, and writer Richard Belfield have interviewed every SAS survivor who fought in the battle from the beginning to the end - the first time every single one of them has revealed their experience. The authors have also talked to many other survivors from both sides, including the pilots who flew with the SAS, the SAS soldiers who joined the battle towards the end and some of the insurgents who fought against them.

OPERATION STORM is a classic story of bravery against impossible odds, minute by minute, bullet by bullet.