Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan
May 2009 · Sold by Simon and Schuster
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89 reviews
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About this ebook
The inspiration for the major motion picture 12 Strong from Jerry Bruckheimer, starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon.
From the New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way comes a true-life story of US Army Special Forces soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve a stunning military victory in the Afghanistan War.
Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following September 11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty-to-one, they pursued the enemy army across the mountainous Afghanistan terrain and, after a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential to defeat their opponent throughout the country.
The bone-weary American soldiers were welcomed as liberators as they rode into the city, and the streets thronged with Afghans overjoyed that the Taliban regime had been overthrown.
Then the action took a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of six hundred Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers were ambushed by the would-be POWs. Dangerously overpowered, they fought for their lives in the city’s immense fortress, Qala-i-Janghi, or the House of War. At risk were the military gains of the entire campaign: if the soldiers perished or were captured, the entire effort to outmaneuver the Taliban was likely doomed.
Deeply researched and beautifully written, Stanton’s account of the Americans’ quest to liberate an oppressed people touches the mythic. The soldiers on horses combined ancient strategies of cavalry warfare with twenty-first-century aerial bombardment technology to perform a seemingly impossible feat. Moreover, their careful effort to win the hearts of local townspeople proved a valuable lesson for America’s ongoing efforts in Afghanistan.
From the New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way comes a true-life story of US Army Special Forces soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve a stunning military victory in the Afghanistan War.
Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following September 11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty-to-one, they pursued the enemy army across the mountainous Afghanistan terrain and, after a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential to defeat their opponent throughout the country.
The bone-weary American soldiers were welcomed as liberators as they rode into the city, and the streets thronged with Afghans overjoyed that the Taliban regime had been overthrown.
Then the action took a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of six hundred Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers were ambushed by the would-be POWs. Dangerously overpowered, they fought for their lives in the city’s immense fortress, Qala-i-Janghi, or the House of War. At risk were the military gains of the entire campaign: if the soldiers perished or were captured, the entire effort to outmaneuver the Taliban was likely doomed.
Deeply researched and beautifully written, Stanton’s account of the Americans’ quest to liberate an oppressed people touches the mythic. The soldiers on horses combined ancient strategies of cavalry warfare with twenty-first-century aerial bombardment technology to perform a seemingly impossible feat. Moreover, their careful effort to win the hearts of local townspeople proved a valuable lesson for America’s ongoing efforts in Afghanistan.
The inspiration for the major motion picture 12 Strong from Jerry Bruckheimer, starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon.
From the New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way comes a true-life story of US Army Special Forces soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve a stunning military...
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Ratings and reviews
89 reviews
Chris Sideris
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February 16, 2018
I can't beleive there are so many good reviews for this book. The writing is weak and overly stretched out. This story would have been 200 less pages if it wasn't for the unnecessary explanations.
1 person found this review helpful
Robert
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August 5, 2026
I think they were actually diaper soldiers who rod in civillian craft out of fear. Edit: Horse Iglets. GET OUT OF MY SEARCH RESULTS
Justin Choi
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February 9, 2018
Read this book and then go watch the movie that just came out. You'll like both. The difference between the book and the movie: in the movie, the prison riot in Mazar-e-Sharif that caps the book is missing.
2 people found this review helpful
About the author
Doug Stanton is the author of the New York Times bestsellers In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors and Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan, which is the basis for a Jerry Bruckheimer–produced movie by the same name, starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon, to be released by Warner Bros. in 2018. He attended Hampshire College and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Time, The Washington Post, Men’s Journal, The Daily Beast, Newsweek, Esquire, and Outside, where he has been a contributing editor. Stanton is a founder of the National Writers Series, a year-round book festival, and lives in his hometown of Traverse City, Michigan, with his wife, Anne Stanton, and their three children, John, Katherine, and Will.
Doug Stanton is the author of the New York Times bestsellers In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors and Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan, which is the basis for a Jerry Bruc...
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