Biggest Battle In Afghanistan In Two Years To “Break A Last Taliban Stronghold” Ends In Jihadi Rout
Telegraph:
Breaking one of the last insurgent strongholds in southern Afghanistan, the “Battle of Qarat-e-Hazrat” in Zabul Province ended in an enemy rout.
The Daily Telegraph’s Defence Correspondent Thomas Harding watched as British firepower finally turned the tide in the Taliban’s own “back yard”.
Witnessing the firefight, he reports on a fight which destroyed the idea of Afghanistan’s “mythical warriors”.
Paratroopers fought their biggest battle in Afghanistan for two years as the Taliban attempted to push them out of their “backyard”.
But the inability of the insurgents to make an impact on the British force during its fourth day deep in enemy territory was demonstrated by a brutal rebuff which resulted in an enemy rout.
As last light crept in, a stream of red tracer bullets lit up the sky, zipping 10ft above heads of those in the mudbrick compound held by A Company, 3rd Bn The Parachute Regiment.
“None of the British will leave that compound alive,” local intelligence had reported a day earlier.
In reply to the threat, company commander Major Jamie Loden told a meeting of village elders that the Taliban “fight like women” and if they were men “they would dare to fight us”.
Two hours later mortar rounds, heavy machine gun bullets and other weapons rained down on the Paras’ positions but by the early hours of the morning the Taliban were a beaten force.
In one of the biggest air assaults in the regiment’s history, the Paras have landed by helicopter deep in the heartland of Taliban territory in Zabul province to take on the last insurgent strongholds in southern Afghanistan.
For the last week the Paras have been relentlessly patrolling through pretty villages surrounded by apricot orchards and climbing mountains, redolent of wild rosemary, to provoke the Taliban into a response.
In almost every village the local population still lives in terror of the insurgents denying that the Taliban operated in the area.
With the insurgents murdering people who co-operate with security forces their lies were understandable but became more difficult to sustain after the major gunfight.
Using “dead ground” to get close to observation posts on a hill overlooking the Para’s compound, the Taliban opened up from 800 yards with a heavy salvo.
Enemy fire was coming in from all directions at a ferocious rate, said one of the soldiers.
Capt Andy Mallet, Patrols Platoon commander on the hill, said mortars landed 20 yards from his position and tracer rounds “were winging past my eyes”.
With the enemy sneaking upon the rear position, the soldiers were taken by surprise and in the desperate opening moments of the firefight they struggled to hold them back.
Cpl “Jack” Russell helped lead the counter-attack by running back to his position to grab a GPMG machine gun as his comrades held off the enemy with small arms fire.
“The enemy rounds were all around us,” said Cpl Russell. “They were winning the firefight for a little while as they hit us by surprise. It was pretty hairy, like. When I was running back to my position the guys saw rounds landing by my feet.”
With the enemy opening up a second front by firing from an orchard on a flank, the pressure intensified.
But the tide of the “Battle of Qarat-e-Hazrat” was turned as the Paras hit the Taliban with a barrage of 40 rounds from their 81mm mortars. It was followed up by machine gunfire and two £30,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles.
The heavy and accurate fire the broke the Taliban will to fight and they ran.
At first they tried to drag back two badly wounded fighters but then abandoned them and another dead insurgent.
Using thermal imaging equipment the troops spotted three heat sources on the ground.
“We had two heat sources that were seen crawling on the floor and one that was static,” said Capt Mallet. “After about 45 minutes all three sources then faded.”
French Mirage fighters also circled over the scene but were not used as the Taliban withdrew.
Spent bullet casings and smashed apricot trees littered the battle area as the Paras went on dawn patrol.
Major Loden said the battle showed that “contrary to popular belief this confirms that the Taliban are not mythical warriors”.
“This shows they cannot match us force on force. When they try and take us on they always lose. They start it we finish it.”
He added: “The ethos of the Parachute Regiment is all about being deep in enemy territory surrounded and destroying them regardless of everything they throw at us. So morale is exceptionally high.”
Capt Mallet added: “The blokes reacted exceptionally well – they are soldiers and paratroopers. You don’t have to ask them twice to start returning fire. They are massively experienced and that showed last night.
A member of the mortars’ platoon said: “The Taliban took us from the rear and we gave them a good spanking,”
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HooAh mates! 1st Cav tactic, land right on top of the bastards, kill every swingin’dick.
June 7th, 2008 at 5:46 pmIf British leaders had half the stones and will to win of these guys, things would be about wrapped up by now….
June 7th, 2008 at 5:51 pmGood on ya, lads!
get em’ boys
that is great news
June 7th, 2008 at 6:11 pmCould somebody ask Barry Hussein how “agricultural advisors” would have handled that situation?
Don’t let the size of the dog in the fight fool ya. It’s always the fight in the dog.
June 7th, 2008 at 6:28 pmThe Brits might be cutting military spending daily but the soldiers they have are real pro’s.
I had the privelage of crossing into Iraq during Gulf I with the Desert Rat’s. The noisy ass Challenger tanks sucked but the sense of security with them next to me was welcome.
Brilliant work lads. Unfortunately, this victory again will go unreported in the US Press, while the full on love affair with B. Hussein Obama continues. Thanks Pat!
June 7th, 2008 at 7:17 pmInteresting how fortunes change in war when you add a couple thousand Devil Dogs to the mix.
Not taking anything from British paras, but it sure seems coincidental to me that when the USMC is on the job, jihadis start dying.
June 7th, 2008 at 7:23 pmNot taking anything from British paras, but it sure seems coincidental to me that when the USMC is on the job, jihadis start dying.
Dan: it is basic math, add the dogs and the mujh dies, quickly and efficiently
June 7th, 2008 at 8:21 pmThe Syrians have a saying about the IDF, mess with the Israelis and your life will be short and exciting.
maybe this morons will figure out soon enough that if they mess with us their lives will be just as short and exciting.
Interesting that Dan is aware that the USMC is involved - there’s no mention of that in this report, and others. This is something picked up by Richard North here:
http://defenceoftherealm.blogspot.com/2008/06/tell-it-to-marines.html and underlines just how much the once-great Telegraph has sunk.
Good news all the same, pity it takes the US to help out where once British forces would have made short work of these guys.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:47 pmExagerated story (pumping up Brit Forces) or not, the killing of Mohammed’s whores is cool.
The ANA is a toddler, they need spoon feeding. As Western Europe acquiesces to the jihadi’s and we wait for the ANA to achieve even a modicum of legitamacy we will be doing the heavy lifting.
That is why The Corps is in country.
America has carried the weight of Freedom in this world since 6 June 1944.
That is a long line of HEROES dying for the Freedom of others.
A legacy no other civilization can claim.
In my day I would say hooah Leathernecks/Jarheads,
June 7th, 2008 at 11:02 pmtoday I have to say…THANK YOU
French Mirage fighters also circled over the scene but were not used as the Taliban withdrew.
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!
June 7th, 2008 at 11:38 pm“At first they (The Taliban) tried to drag back two badly wounded fighters but then abandoned them and another dead insurgent.”
Betrayal of their own. What else needs to be said?
June 8th, 2008 at 2:31 amgreat news from the front line!
DRIVE ON MEN! Clean out the whole lot of them!
WE (true American patriots) salute you!
June 8th, 2008 at 3:48 am@Will
Irespective of what the story says; ever since we pit in several thousand Marines into Afghanistan, I’ve seen more stories like this one. Prior to that, I didn’t.
Though I read military pubs, I’m still able to put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4.
Putting Marines in areas near the Brits has allowed the Brits to get a little glory for a change.
Hoo-ah to the paras and the rest of the squaddies.
Personally, I don’t give a flying F*ck who kills haj. Whether they die by British bullets or US bullets, doesn’t matter…so long as they are dead.
But you can bet the house that the presence of Marines in the battle space is causing “Terry” to have some really bad days.
June 8th, 2008 at 3:53 amThanks for the link Will. It brings me great joy to read these stories.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:17 am“The Taliban took us from the rear and we gave them a good spanking,”
Thanks and cheers to the British forces!
As just about everyone else has already mentioned a huge THANK YOU to the U.S.M.C. is always in order
Nothing but THE BEST from THE BEST
Anytime you unleash the dogs of war you get outstanding results.
Let the Talibitches run like hell and fall where they may.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:13 am“French Mirage fighters also circled over the scene but were not used as the Taliban withdrew.”
WTF? withdrew? Best time to kill ‘em.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:24 pmProbably couldn’t get authorization from Paris to engage.
“French Mirage fighters also circled over the scene but were not used as the Taliban withdrew.”
tipical british perfidy from the telegraph
though the telegraph forgot to write about their navy without arms :
http://www.corlobe.tk/article9330.html
“Probably couldn’t get authorization from Paris to engage”
WTF they don’t fire for the pleasure of firing : a low army budget needs to spare the munitions for when the goals are certain and defined by their duty attributions ;
though, here we don’t know the orders, that depend not on the Frenchs troops neither on Paris but from the Nato commendement on place
“yar in the army now ? vieux coocoo ?
June 8th, 2008 at 3:49 pmJust love when the allies work well with each other.
June 8th, 2008 at 7:19 pmThis will surely cut down the amount of GOATS BEING RAPED.HOOOAAAA
June 9th, 2008 at 6:45 am