New Vanguard

One of the most remarkable mechanized campaigns of recent years pitted the brutal and heavily armed jihadis of Islamic State against an improvised force belonging to the Kurdish YPG (later the SDF). While some Kurdish vehicles were originally from Syrian Army stocks or captured from ISIS, many others were extraordinary homemade AFVs based on truck or digger mechanicals, or duskas, the Kurds' version of the technical. Before US air power was sent to Syria, these were the Kurds' most powerful and mobile weapons.

Co-written by a British volunteer who fought with the Kurds and an academic expert on armoured warfare, this study explains how the Kurds built and used their AFVs in the war against 'Daesh', and identifies as far as possible which vehicles took part in major battles, such as Kobane, Manbij and Raqqa. With detailed new artwork depicting the Kurds' range of armour and many previously unpublished photos, this is an original and fascinating look at modern improvised mechanized warfare.

About the Authors

Ed Nash fought for the YPG in 2015/16, participating in several offensives against the so-called Islamic State. He has written an account of his experiences in a memoir entitled Desert Sniper: How One Ordinary Brit Went to War Against ISIS (Little, Brown, 2018). He has travelled in conflict zones across the globe, especially in South East Asia. He holds a first-class degree in History and has published many articles on counterinsurgency, weapons technology and military affairs more generally.

Alaric Searle is Professor of Modern European History, University of Salford, UK. He is the author of numerous journal articles and several books on military history, including Armoured Warfare: A Military, Political and Global History (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017), and is editor of an essay collection, Genesis, Employment, Aftermath: First World War Tanks and the New Warfare (Helion, 2015). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a visiting professor at Nankai University, Tianjin, China.

About the Illustrator

Irene Cano Rodríguez (known as Araire) is a freelance artist working and living in Spain. Since 2014, she has worked as a specialized historical illustrator, recreating historical scenes for museums, studios, editorials and magazines. Nowadays she also combines her work as an illustrator with teaching archaeological illustration.