On March 4, 2002, a team of SEALs was choppered onto a hostile Afghan mountain peak as part of Operation Anaconda. The largest operation by US forces since Vietnam, it was intended to bring to battle foreign al-Qaeda fighters who had fled after the overthrow of the Taliban and the battle of Tora Bora. But when their special ops Chinook was hit by RPGs, it marked the beginning of the SEALs' epic day-long battle for survival, which involved Coalition special forces, gunships and Predators in a 17-hour firefight against the al-Qaeda guerrillas.

Leigh Neville is an Australian national currently living and working in Sydney. He has travelled and worked internationally, was based in Europe for ten years, and now works for a large American consultancy; he is currently completing a Masters programme in International Studies. This is his second book for Osprey, a companion to his Elite 163, Special Operations Forces in Afghanistan.