Posted on 08/11/2006 6:04:55 PM PDT by blam
British to lead major assault on Taliban
By Neil Tweedie
(Filed: 12/08/2006)
British troops in southern Afghanistan are to lead a new offensive against the Taliban in an attempt to regain the initiative after weeks of intense fighting.
The plan will involve the use of mobile forces such as the Paras to attack insurgents in their strongholds, rather than defending fixed points.
Lt Gen David Richards, the British officer commanding the Nato force in the country, said yesterday that 10,000 troops would be involved in the campaign, which would last at least three months.
British, Canadian and other Nato troops will be replaced in towns and villages by 10,000 men of the Afghan army. The Nato forces will then be free to undertake search and destroy missions in areas the Taliban has regarded as safe havens.
But the viability of the plan has been thrown into question by the intensity of fighting in the southern province of Helmand, where the men of 16 Air Assault Brigade have been engaged in the most prolonged and intensive combat experienced by British troops since the Korean War. Twelve British servicemen have been killed in combat so far.
It remains to be seen if Afghan government troops can hold fixed points that have been subjected to constant attack.
Gen Richards said his men were tired but that morale was "very high".
"They know what we are trying to do, which is to get on the front foot," he said. "They need rest because some of them have been out there 40 days and almost nightly have come under attack.
"It is very bruising but as a commander I cannot tell you how proud I am of what they have done. Some of these soldiers have been under constant attack almost daily for about month but they have always stood their ground.
"But we don't want to sit passively drawing the Taliban to us for the next three months."
His words, implying that British troops have been on the "back foot" while attacked repeatedly by a determined enemy, are a world away from those of John Reid, the previous Defence Secretary, who expressed the hope that they might complete their mission without firing a shot in anger.
The British have been desperate to get on with reconstruction work to show a wavering population that they are not merely an occupation force. But that work cannot begin in earnest until the south has been secured.
The proposed campaign will focus on four southern provincial capitals - Lashkar Gar in Helmand, the scene of much of the British fighting and recent deaths, Kandahar, Qalat and Tarin Kowt.
Using another unfortunate phrase, Gen Richards said the Afghan army would be brought into areas where British forces were "pinned down" to succeed them in the defensive role.
"I can then free up very high quality troops to take on a more offensive role," he said. "Over the next four weeks we will take on this process of relocation."
The plan, he said, was to establish development zones in the four capitals in which it would be safe to begin development programmes.
Few of the promised reinforcements for the British contingent have so far arrived, and it is understood that just two extra Chinook helicopters - essential for mobile operations in an area almost devoid of proper roads - are to be sent.
L
Git her done! The British got some payback to do.
The Telegraph is a little late on this story. I saw this printed a week or so ago.
Sounds like a dumb plan to me
Looks like Monty's logic is alive and well
Probably here.
Go Brits!
If that's not a name right out of Dickens, I don't know what is.
Yup. This is their summer offensive to take back the country.
It seems to be going well, from what little I hear about it. Perhaps the discovery of the London plot was one of the fruits of the operations labor?
Bernard Montgomery...
It is sad that several generations of Americans have chosen to believe the nonsense that 'Monty' was an incompetent who was 'too slow'.
ANYONE with any knowledge of Montgomery and the British(also the Canadians and Poles) in Normandy knows EXACTLY what they had to face:
75% of all German armour in Normandy...
90% of all SS,SS Panzer or SS Panzer Grenadier units(not to mention crack Wehrmacht units such as the 21st PZ Div and the 'Panzer Lehr')...
ALMOST ALL armoured reserves sent to Normandy by Hitler in the summer of 1944(the Brit-Can-Polish forces even faced troops taken by the Germans FROM THE AMERICAN SECTOR!)
How ANYONE can,then or now,criticise the Anglo-Canadian-Polish forces for being 'slow' is beyond me.And shows utter ungratitude on the American part,then and now....
The Anglo-Canadian-Polish forces SOLE JOB was to tie down the Germans in the east,so as to allow US troops an easier job in the west.
And those forces under Monty did a FANTASTIC JOB under incredible pressure.They DID it.They DID what was asked of them and DEFEATED the cream of German armour in the summer of 1944...
And lets not forget Monty's actions in the Ardennes:
'Even though he was still very much in the dark about the enemy's intentions and Eisenhower's reaction to them,he decided,without orders from Allied Supreme Command,to do something.He would place his veteran 43rd Infantry Division and the Guards Armoured Division on standby alert,on a mere six hours notice to move south.At the same time,he would send out his eyes and ears,six young officers,three British,two American and one Canadian,to find out what was happening on the long Ardennes front'
from 'Britain's Battle of the Bulge:The Untold Story' by historian(and ww2 veteran)Charles Whiting (1999)
Monty was not a genius and DID make errors,BUT he laso deserves FAR MORE respect and credit than modern America seems to give him...
Here is top US hsitorian Carlo D'Este and his excellent and fair 3-part article on Monty from an American history magazine.
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/articles.php?p&p=2240&page=1
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/articles.php?p&p=2271&page=1
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/articles.php?p&p=2293&page=1
I agree with that comment Monty wasn't the best but he was successful. His Normandy plan worked there is no doubt the Brits Canadians and Poles did most of the fighting whilst the US Army just had a stroll! Patton- it could be said was just as bad or good look what happened to his armour at Aachan - shot to peices!
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