Posted on 08/06/2016 2:59:12 PM PDT by GilGil
Outgunned, outmanoeuvred, hopelessly outnumbered and besieged in the Afghan desert, a small band of British soldiers chose to save a final bullet for themselves rather than fall into Taliban hands.
For nearly two months, the 88 men of Easy Company – a mix of Paratroopers and the Royal Irish – had faced the overwhelming force and firepower of up to 500 Taliban determined to over-run the remote Helmand outpost of Musa Qala.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
My dad was Army Infantry during WWII. He said when they
finished basic training, they were “ready to charge HELL
with a bucket of water”. They were. They DID!
There were no Tiger tanks in North Africa.
From the article: “They used up a quarter of all the British Army’s Afghan ammunition for that entire year.”
Which can only mean that they were being re-supplied frequently during those two months.
“If Freepers were involved 90% would have told the soldiers how it is all over and that they could not win and that they should use their final bullet to kill themselves.”
Well, to be accurate, it’s only *some* Freepers who are that woebegone and morally defeated, but your point is well taken. There are far too many here who are all too ready to run up the white flag.
To quote a true ashole “ fight to the last man,fight to the last bullet”.
Yeah it was old Adolph who said it; in this case it applies.
Don’t blame the British Queen; she has nothing to do with combat operations per British law.
She probably knew nothing about this until it was over.
You want someone to blame?
BLAME THE POLITICIANS....
Thanks for posting. Listened to the whole poem on Youtube while reading the words, “The Young British Soldier”.
I ended up going to the link to read whole thing at the Daily Mail. That place always loads slow for me. I bounced about what DM said against other sources. It looks like Wiki has a good write up about this.
The battle, the "Siege of Sangin" that took place from June to late August, 2006.
And the British called in support from A to Z - artillery from ground batteries and air:
Wiki: "Each attack was repulsed, as British troops posted on the DC rooftop directed fire from artillery, mortars and airstrikes from attack helicopters and jets against the Taliban, inflicting heavy losses."
The Daily Mail story centered on this compound where they directed fire support from the rooftops.
Wiki: "The "district centre" (DC), a run-down compound half a mile from the town centre, became a base for some 120 British troops. It also housed the local government offices, and an Afghan police force "
On July 16th, 2006 'Operation Mountain Thrust' came in to push back the Taliban in support of the besieged Brits.
Again from Wiki:
"200 British paratroops, supported by Apache helicopters, were inserted by Chinook into Sangin. In a concerted attack with the troops stationed there, they were able to break the siege of the District Centre. They were supported by 700 coalition troops, including American, Canadian, Afghan and Estonian forces. In a cordon and search operation, the town was sealed off and Taliban compounds were searched and cleared. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sangin
What I recalled came 4 years later after a lull for a while in Helmand Province where again the Taliban re-surged when Brits got replaced by the U.S. Marine.
"...The British troops withdrew on September 20, 2010 to be replaced by 3rd Battalion 7th Marines. 3/7 began aggressive clearing operations in July 2010. 3rd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment continued clearing operations in early October 2010. Members of 3/5 conducted clearing operations in the Sangin District of Helmand Province, Afghanistan..."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sangin_(2010)
A note:
The 3/5 was E.B. Sledges' old outfit, who wrote the famous book With The Old Breed, that documented the brutal fighting at Peleliu and Okinawa during WW2 Pacific theater.
I read the article on here but your info shines a very different light on the situation.
Nonetheless, they were brave men and took casualties while staunchly defended the base.
But I think the movie is off the table now :)
They should go ahead and make the movie I’ll watch it. I always watch war flicks heh. :)
Yeah, what the heck :)
Poor kids. And many of them WERE kids.
Some of them look like boys to me. :(
The way it struck me, was that the Brits took responsibility for a sector, under-resourced it, never left their FOB, and surrendered the area to the enemy after 56 days and two casualties.
Not uncommon, and still better than many of our multi-national allies perform when push comes to shove.
Let me see if I’ve got this straight.
88 British/Irish soldiers in a low walled and indefensible outpost battle 500 attacking Taliban for two months suffering 3 KIA and 12 WIA until the Taliban get tired of fighting and provide trucks for the British/Irish and the British/Irish use these trucks to desert their outpost.
Sounds about right.
MORe than one such scenario, handsful of Our soldiers were sent into similar situations - - left in spots like fish in a barrel, where the enemy could shoot down on them from all sides - and when under attack - NO AIR COVER for days.
I stress - there were MANY such incidents -
and NO ONE in here should be ignorant of these. But I learned, over the years, that there would many - MANY many most comments and interest from freepers on a post about Paris Hilton, for example, than what was happening to our troops in the ‘Ghan. Flame away - I experienced this lack of interest ad nauseam.
The story of this post is heart breaking - but hardly isolated. And those of you who are shocked - well, shame on you.
And after O’bummer took office and changed the ROE’s - which including ‘Can’t shoot until shot at first” - our KIA DOUBLED the first years and TRIPLED the next - Of course, you all knew that, with? Nah - More important things to do, like watching “Dancing with the Stars.”
Have I offended you?
(Don’t bother answering my post. When it comes to our troops and what was done to them, you’ll were AWOL. I have no interest in what you might say.
Main
Tough.
Here’s just one of OUR such battles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vJXqDhfTaA
There were 'spared' in more battle than one for OUR troops -
Not the fault of our soldiers who FLEW the air support - They were/are incredible...
Aside from the fact that the QUEEN hardly has any control over the military - You must not know her history - particularly during WW11.
She's quite a stalwart...
Perhaps you'd rather reference the REAL slackers?
The story of this post is heart breaking - but hardly isolated. And those of you who are shocked - well, shame on you.
_______________________
Totally agree. This is not an isolated incident. Too many people think we live in a 911 world.
“There were ‘spared’ in more battle than one for OUR troops - “
I knew some of the guys coordinating air, and you are full of it. If they were “spared”, it was because they were being USED somewhere else, by the Army.
Thank you so much for posting that - I remember reading the original back when -
I’m going to print this out nd put in the tote, with all the other related pieces, with my grandson’s name on it - a tote he many one day - decades from now - want to look at.
And maybe not. It was hard for me to read - too many reminders...(You’d recognize his platoon if I mentioned it - it’s gone down in history)
But I was among the lucky - my grandson came home...and then, like so many thousands of our soldiers, went thru’ years of hell from the VA. It’s the VA that pushes so many of the 2 each day that take their lives - homeless, jobless, and still having to see a CIC on TV that is the worst traitor to the military in the history of our country.
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