Insight into the unique atmosphere of a Scottish battalion during combat—taking part in the Iraqi ground war facing many unknown and unknowable factors.   The brevity of the ground war in the Gulf is well known, just 100 hours. By the end of the war, press reports of the massive numbers of Iraqi prisoners taken, and equipment destroyed, compared to our own losses, suggested that it was a walkover. In hindsight it would seem so; however, the experts’, not to mention the media’s, estimates of the Iraqi’s strength and capabilities, and the wild predictions of heavy casualties, are decidedly at odds with the outcome. This book tries to answer why.   In telling the story of The Royal Scots Battle Group, Laurie Milner reveals the remarkable single-mindedness and courage of the soldiers of Britain’s present-day Army in the face of a numerically superior, well-equipped and well dug-in enemy, whose level of resistance could not be accurately assessed. While the pundits in Britain were judging our Army’s likely performance on the peacetime training expediencies of BAOR, The Royal Scots, Britain’s oldest infantry regiment, were carefully preparing their vehicles, weapons, and soldiers for war. The extent of their final preparations and potential is chilling. It is little wonder that they won, for they left nothing to chance.

Insight into the unique atmosphere of a Scottish battalion during combat—taking part in the Iraqi ground war facing many unknown and unknowable factors.   The brevity of the ground war in the Gulf is well known, just 100 hours. By the end of the war, press reports of the massive numbers of Iraqi prisoners taken, and equipment destroyed, compared to our own losses, suggested that it was a walkover. In hindsight it would seem so; however, the experts’, not to mention the media’s, estimates of the Iraqi’s strength and capabilities, and the wild predictions of heavy casualties, are decidedly at odds with the outcome. This book tries to answer why.   In telling the story of The Royal Scots Battle Group, Laurie Milner reveals the remarkable single-mindedness and courage of the soldiers of Britain’s present-day Army in the face of a numerically superior, well-equipped and well dug-in enemy, whose level of resistance could not be accurately assessed. While the pundits in Britain were judging our Army’s likely performance on the peacetime training expediencies of BAOR, The Royal Scots, Britain’s oldest infantry regiment, were carefully preparing their vehicles, weapons, and soldiers for war. The extent of their final preparations and potential is chilling. It is little wonder that they won, for they left nothing to chance.