BRITISH special forces have played a key role in a defeat of the Taliban as part of Operation Medusa, the largest combat operation ever mounted by Nato. Over the past fortnight Nato troops, led by the Canadians, have driven the Taliban out of the strategically important Panjwayi district between Maiwand and Kandahar.Go Brits and Canadians
Last week members of the newly formed British Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) pulled out of their hides to the southeast of Maiwand with their commanders satisfied that the Taliban had been defeated and expelled from the area.
"Chief, there were no Taliban left to kill. Please send us where there are more talibunnies."
“They chose to take us on,” said a senior Nato officer. “They have suffered heavy casualties. In fact, they haven’t suffered such extensive casualties since the fighting in 2001-02.”
Something about primitives who can barely handle the complexity of an RPG facing-off against first class western Mech Infantry. Just another one-sided slaughter for the last 125 years when the (non-french) West fight muzzies.
| Just another demonstration of Carnage and Culture. |
"Cpl. Wiggins got 7 with his .338 in 42 minutes."
Senior officers cautioned that while Operation Medusa had been “a tactical success”, there was no room for complacency and nobody was about to use the word victory. “It has a tendency to come back and bite you on the arse,” one officer said.
"Puh-lease come back, talibunnies. We are locked, loaded and now battle-tested. But, we can't yet declare victory until each and every one of you is dead."
This battlefield has a profound historical resonance. Maiwand was the scene of one of the most devastating defeats ever suffered by the British when, in July 1880, 2,700 British and Indian troops were outnumbered 10 to one by Afghan tribesmen. More than 1,000 British and Indian troops died but 7,000 of the enemy were killed in what was a pyrrhic victory for the Afghans.
So, in 1880, the Brits lost 1,000 men and now they lost......14 and other soldiers maybe totalling 20. It seems like the loss rate has improved.
The British suffered losses in the latest battle — 14 dead when a Nimrod spyplane crashed on the first day, including signallers from the Special Boat Service (SBS) and the SFSG who were relaying intelligence collected by RAF colleagues. Five Canadian and two Afghan soldiers were killed on the ground. But Nato claimed that more than 500 Taliban — a third of those making a stand at Panjwayi — were killed.
And there is nothing about the Aussie SAS who in their AO have gotten 150 Talibunnies. I also understand that the French have their own AO and are actually in combat and killing talibunnies, but I have only seen few, oblique references.
The Taliban were using the area as a forward operations base to put pressure on the city of Kandahar, which is seen as the key to controlling the south.
During the Soviet occupation of the 1980s, the mujaheddin occupied the area, which is covered with grapevines, wheat and poppy fields, making it an ideal supply base for an insurgent army. It is riddled with drainage ditches and high walled compounds providing perfect cover for a marauding guerrilla band and there are scores of escape tunnels and trenches built during the mujaheddin days.
Every one is now completely mapped digitally.
General David Richards, the Nato commander, chose the area to demonstrate to the 70% of the population who, he believes, will back whoever appears stronger, that Nato and not the Taliban is in charge.
"Watch this, afghan citizens. We will wait here for the talibunnies to come back and taunt them with the smell of cooking pork chops. When they come, we will kill them in great numbers."
| Thus spoke the strong horse ... |
Add a Dutch arty battery to the Brits, Canucks, Aussies and French who are in on this. Der Wehrmacht still limits itself to those areas of Afghanistan where there is no combat. Wimps, sheesh.
| That's okay, they're holding the area safe and doing the reconstruction work. Somebody's gotta do it. |
Hmm. It seems the prep didn't kill enough talibunnies or the Pats had a poor attack plan. "Grizzly". Heh. I think of the bearded pashtun muzzie that is often here and think he looks kinda grizzly.
On the left flank, Taskforce 31, comprising SBS and US Army Special Forces, were used temporarily to “shape the battlefield”, seizing the initiative from the Taliban.
So, a NATO combines SF operation goes off and POOF!, done.
Two other companies of the Princess Patricia’s were making slow progress against a Taliban trench system in the north. The third company was redirected to join the push, along with US infantry. They were backed up by direct fire support from Canadian and Dutch artillery and by air support from Apache attack helicopters, US B1 Lancer bombers, F16s, and US A10 Tankbusters — one of which killed a fifth Canadian soldier with “friendly fire” — plus RAF Harrier GR7s.
Complete combined arms integrated NATO mutinational attack. WOW.
While the SBS and the US Special Forces gave the Nato advance a kick-start from the south, other US special operations troops spread across the area to the south of the battlefield. They were ordered to keep out Taliban reinforcements and supply columns attempting to make their way along the desert roads from the Pakistani towns of Nuski and Quetta.
Layin' in wait, cuttin' 'em down. Sa-weeet. Good work, boys.
| Classic hammer and anvil operation. |
No talibunnies left to kill so we moved to a more target-rich area.
To the north, the Canadians, whose light armoured vehicles were vulnerable to rocket- propelled grenades, were struggling. By the beginning of last week, an operation scheduled to last only 10 days looked like lasting a month. But sustained aerial and artillery bombardment were beginning to tell on the Taliban.
"Looked like a month, but it ended up being 10 days after all. And 2 of those days were for burying all of the stinking talibunny corpses. And then a group of them is hit by 10 or s0 A-10 30mm shells, we need scoops and such to clean up."
Suddenly one company of the Princess PatriciaÂ’s made a breakthrough, pushing forward to hold a position well ahead of the Canadian lines. A second company pushed forward and very soon all three Canadian companies were leap-frogging each other to the point that the American infantry could be withdrawn.
"We killed all of the resisting talibunnies and pushed on."
The effect was like a vice, squeezing the Taliban out to the west where they were awaited by Dutch infantry, a Danish armoured reconnaissance company and, further out towards Maiwand, the British SFSG, mostly former paratroopers.
Danes, too! Dayum. This is actually fucking NATO fighting. Does the West have a chance to pull together? Dayum
By the end of last week, the vast majority of the Taliban were thought to have fled.
"fled or dead, we say."
Senior Nato officers expressed astonishment that the Taliban had abandoned traditional guerrilla tactics that would have seen them dispersing the minute heavy artillery and aerial firepower were introduced.
"They were incredibly stupid tactically, almost as if they believed they were immortal. When your only protection is shouting 'allan akbar', you just don't last very long with the arty, Warthogs and Apaches raining death. We cut 'em down just like the Maxims cut down the muzzies at Omdurman. We hope they come back really soon and play some more with us."
“The next three to six months is a crucial period here,” Richards said. “We are establishing psychological ascendency over the Taliban in Panjwayi.
"All those left will be driven to a frenzy by our relentless taunting and will attack into our mass combined arms teams. Then they will be dead as there is no better path to psychological ascendency than killing all of your enemies."
“Operation Medusa has not been about killing for no reason. The people there want to believe we can win and we’re beginning to demonstrate that we will win."
It's only about killing cause when the enemy is all dead, the war is over, we have victory and we can go home to our families and loved ones in peace."
US, Brits, Canucks, Dutch, Danes militaries all working together in a combined arms attack on islamofascists. Is that a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel?