Posted on 02/20/2006 7:55:45 AM PST by NorthOf45
Canadians exchange fire with Taliban
Quick response to RPGs fired at base
Chris Wattie
National Post
February 20, 2006
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Gunmen launched three rocket-propelled grenades at a Canadian fire base in the mountains north of Kandahar, the first time Canadian soldiers have come under direct fire since a battle group deployed to southern Afghanistan.
All three of the powerful explosives missed the ''platoon house'' in the village of Gumbad, 60 kilometres northeast of the city of Kandahar, but the soldiers of A Company, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, immediately opened up on the spot where the weapons were fired.
Lieutenant Colonel Ian Hope, the commander of the Canadian battle group, said yesterday his soldiers were able to give their attackers -- believed to be Taliban insurgents -- something of a shock.
''They returned small-arms fire at the rocky position where the RPGs were launched from,'' he said.
''Normally they [the Taliban] shoot and they run; however, as they were moving ... we were able to fire illumination rounds up in the air -- which are just a big parachute flare -- and illuminate the area.''
The soldiers of A Company, nicknamed the Red Devils, had called in a nearby battery of the army's new, long-range howitzers and within moments of the attack, a troop of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery had fired illumination rounds from its 155-millimetre howitzers, lighting up the area from which the grenades were fired like daylight and sending the suspected Taliban gunmen fleeing.
''I'm sure it caught them by surprise, because it is a powerful illumination round,'' said Lt.-Col. Hope. ''They were in the dark, they probably thought they were safe when all of a sudden way overhead ... para-flares started popping up and they knew they were illuminated.''
A patrol from the fire base, accompanied by Afghan National Army troops, later swept the area but found no sign of the attackers. ''But we've got a fairly good idea where they are now,'' Lt.-Col. Hope said.
He said this was the first time the U.S.-built M777 howitzers, purchased late last year specifically for the mission to southern Afghanistan, had been fired in anger. It was also the first time the Taliban, the hardline Islamic former rulers of Afghanistan, had openly attacked the fire base at Gumbad, which Lt.-Col. Hope's soldiers inherited from the U.S. Army task force whose patrol area they took over last week.
''It's a well-known area that the Taliban have used for fortifications in the past. They've conducted several ambushes from there -- they've actually killed some ANA [Afghan National Army] from those positions, last year,'' he said. ''[But] even the Americans haven't reported before that they've been directly fired at.''
The low mud-brick compound on the outskirts of Gumbad has been reinforced, fortified by machine-gun posts and surrounded by coils of barbed wire, rendering it a difficult target for the Taliban and allied insurgents that have plagued the region north of Kandahar for the past four months.
A total of 2,200 Canadian troops are deploying to Kandahar this month to head up a brigade of British, Dutch and Canadian battle groups that are taking over responsibility for security in the restive southern province, the birthplace of the Taliban.
Senior officers with the Canadian task force have said the Taliban have been ''testing and probing'' the Canadians, who began patrolling the region last week.
Also yesterday, Afghan police seized 43 homemade bombs and handed them to Canadian combat engineers with the provincial reconstruction team in Kandahar.
The bombs were concealed in small pots and were believed to have been designed to be piled up along a roadside vendor, then set off when a coalition of convoy or Afghan police or army vehicles drove by.
Canadian Military Ping
To bad they didn't find any Taliban taking a dirt nap after the Canadians fired back...is taht because the Taliban had time to take their dead and wounded with, or because they hit no one. Any blood trails?
About the author of the story --
"Chris Wattie's Bio
Chris Wattie is a senior national reporter with the National Post, specializing in military and defence issues.
He is a member of the War Correspondents Association and has covered Canadian troops in Bosnia, Kosovo, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan."
I am glad he can help his Canadian readers and describe RPG rounds as "powerful explosives". God help him if he ever has an artillery round or even a mortar round go off near him. :-p
Go get 'em!!! I know there's lots of guys in Canada who aren't afraid to mix it up.
Quote:
All three of the powerful explosives missed the ''platoon house'' in the village of Gumbad, 60 kilometres northeast of the city of Kandahar, but the soldiers of A Company, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, immediately opened up on the spot where the weapons were fired.
Me:
Yeah, with illumination rounds? WTH?
Hunt them down, kill them and burn their villages to the ground.
Good point. Other articles mention the firing of up to 24 rounds. This is the only article that mentions illumination rounds. I don't have enough info to answer your question. Don't worry though, if firing live rounds was required, they'd do it.
The Pats returned fire with their machine guns. It was the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery that provided the illumination rounds.
Yeah, the PPCLI like killing the enemy, just ask Hitlers SSjugand Division. However they hate to waste ammunition shooting up the countryside, or thier comrades.
... in the dark no less.
Canada Ping!
Please FReepmail me to get on or off this Canada ping list.
For their presence meritorious service at almost every battle, the Artillery of Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand bear the single battle honour UBIQUE . All Gunners belong to the same Regiment, and honours won by any reflect on all. MOTTOES: UBIQUE (Everywhere) QUO FAS ET GLORIA DUCUNT (Where Right and Glory Lead)
Yeah, I also thought the "powerful explosives" description was funny. I guess reporters are paid to make the news sounds as dramatic as possible -- providing accurate information is a secondary concern.
Yeah, I agree. I wish more of our U.S. artillery units had this item.
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