Brits in Dam battle in Afghanistan

Times:

Serenaded only by the howl of jackals in the dark of predawn, nearly 200 Royal Marines waited in uncertain silence for their attack on the Taleban to begin.

They clustered in cover beneath the rock-strewn slopes of a hill northeast of Kajaki where, only 24 hours earlier, a similar attack mission had been called off at the last moment because bad weather interfered with their air cover.

But this time, as the final minutes closed to their 0615 H-hour and the waning moon broke through the clouds, the voice of a Marine troop commander crackled softly into their headsets.

“OK lads, just heard it from on high — this one’s a go.” Those final minutes of countdown seemed unnaturally short, as the lead troop stepped forward quietly to cross the start line and blow their way into the first compound.

...

H-hour, and the thump of mortar bombs broke the night’s silence, exploding just behind the first objective. Under cover of the detonations, a team of commando engineers crept forward to lay a breach charge against the compound’s thick earthen walls. Seconds later it blew, and Marines from 11 troop, M company, stormed through the breach to the thump of grenades and crackle of gunfire.

There is much talk of a Taleban spring offensive in Afghanistan. But for the M company Marines based in Kajaki, the past six weeks have already been filled with fighting in which the initiative has been their own. Indeed, 11 troop’s 23-year-old commander, a second lieutenant who completed his training in December, has already led his men into assaults in which they have fixed bayonets on at least four occasions.

10 troop followed on into the assault immediately behind these Marines and, as the first glimmers of dawn appeared, the sky clattered with rotor blades. A huge air operation, involving a Nimrod, B1 bombers, F18 jets, Harriers, Apache attack helicopters and UAV surveillance drones, was backing the attack. From 35,000ft down to 500ft, the air was allocated.

As 10 troop moved in a fast, hunched shuffle across the open ground to their target, a neighbouring compound, the complexities of the objective became apparent quickly.

The compounds, part of Shomali Ghulbah, a large curving settlement set in an undulating plain of sand and shingle, were protected by 10ft walls.

“They are ninja,” a Marine forward air-controller had told me two days earlier. “Those walls have had hundred of years worth of baked mud and brick built into them. You can fire what you like at them with little noticeable effect.”

As the Marines scrambled inside, I saw a disorientating labyrinth of narrow internal alleys connected by crawl holes, interspersed with well shafts and tunnels.

If not the most sophisticated of enemies, the Taleban are nevertheless expert in using their compounds from which to fight. The majority are locals from the district, who know every twist, turn, trench and firing point in the area. The Marines had to clear every corner of the winding maze of each compound before they could move on.

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There is a love-hate relationship between the Apache and fighters on the ground in Afghanistan. The Marines love it. The Taleban hate it.

“Have an Apache guarding your flank and you know you’ll be all right,” said Captain William Mackenzie-Green, 10 troop’s commander, as the helicopter wheeled overhead. “The Taleban can’t stand it, though. We know from their intercepted communications that they call it ‘the mosquito’. They know exactly how long its flight time is to reach us, and so know exactly how long they have got to fight before hiding.”

This time though, the Taleban did not hide quickly enough. A Hellfire rocket from an Apache hit the building from which they were firing. A watching air-controller confirmed three dead.

Blown through the roof, one of the Taleban dead lay in a field. A figure rushed forward to collect the body in a wheelbarrow. Another picked up a severed arm.

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The story in the Times has much more and it well written. The training of the troops and their air assets give the Brits and advantage. Unfortunately there are not enough of them to hold the ground taken so it will have to be purchased with another fight n another day.

Telegraph:

Some 700 Taliban fighters are reported to have crossed the border from Pakistan into Helmand Province to join heightened fighting around a hydro-electric dam protected by British forces in the north of the province.

British troops have been engaged in combat against Taliban around Kajaki Dam for months. It is the only source of power for Helmand Province and the neighbouring province of Kandahar.

"They are planning to destroy the Kajaki dam," said the Helmand governor, Assadullah Wafa yesterday. The forces arriving from Pakistan included Pakistani, Uzbek and Chechen fighters, he added.

Last night British officials confirmed that an operation involving 300 British soldiers from M and K companies of 42 Royal Marine Commando, supported by Commando Engineers and Artillery and Afghan forces had commenced north-west of the dam at 6am.

The marines battled for 12 hours, "engaging in at times close fighting" to clear 60 houses nearby.

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The Taliban have give us a real opportunity by massing this many troops in one place. The Brits have so far had no casualties in the engagement. What usually happens in these battles in Afghanistan is that ground troops "fix" the enemy and air power if brought in to destroy them. While the Taliban have numerical superiority, their troops are usually poorly trained and inadequate in combat with trained western troops. The Brits have some of the best.