| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| The "Rorke's Drift" of Afghanistan |
| 2006-12-18 |
| When a key strategic town in Afghanistan's Helmand Province fell to the Taliban, British commanders ordered that it must be retaken as a top priority. But with the UK's main fighting units locked in bloody battles further north, it was left to a ragtag band of 12 British soldiers, including TA reservists and medics, to lead a force of barely-trained Afghan soldiers and police across Taliban-held the desert. They hoped to retake the town of Garmisir within 24 hours. In fact they faced an astonishing 14 day close-quarter battle - isolated, heavily outnumbered and fighting for their lives in an action reminiscent of Rorke's Drift. After a summer of intense fighting by British troops in Northern Helmand, attention was focussed on 16 Air Assault Brigade's epic defence of the besieged 'platoon house' garrisons in Sangin, Musa Qala and Nowzad. But hundreds of miles to the south and largely ignored, the frontier town of Garmisir was also under siege and had already fallen once to the Taliban - for whom it is a key transport hub for fighters crossing the nearby border from Pakistan. Helmand's provincial governor, an Afghan trusted by the British, was warning that if Garmisir fell again he would have to resign. On September 8 the town was overrun, presenting UK commanders with a crisis. Garmisir must be saved, but there were no British troops available. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #22 Actually, the historical battle was at Rourke's Drift, where 140 redcoats held off 3 to 4 thousand Zulus which were armed with assegais and muskets. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-12-18 21:15 |
| #21 NATO, what a joke. I am embarrassed that America is a proud member and founder of NATO. I am also embarrassed for the Danes who were there as NATO members, but not allowed to participate. How much longer do we function under this cloak of lunacy ? |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-12-18 20:24 |
| #20 Seems more like ISANDLWANA, where Brit recce cavalry elements accidentally stumbled into massive Zulu Impis. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-12-18 20:17 |
| #19 #11 Proof positive that battles are not equations from strategy, but battles won by men in the field. Way to go Royal Marines and Danes! Excellent comment. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-12-18 18:51 |
| #18 I had a British tourist customer the other day. His son is due to start his second tour in Afghanistan. He said that the two best things about the Gurkhas is they really love killing bad guys and they make some of the best currys. |
| Posted by: bruce 2006-12-18 18:02 |
| #17 It's also from the Daily Mail. There's a certain Breathless sort of war reporting done in the UK. Note the UK causality list in this near hopeless battle. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2006-12-18 17:18 |
| #16 Icerigger, early on it became obvious to the Pentagon that the NATO work in Afghanistan was less than satisfactory. Thus, when it came time to free Iraq, they sought allies in a different manner. Much of the mess in Afghanistan is due to UN and NATO. We tried to make the operation an alliance and discovered we have few real allies. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2006-12-18 16:37 |
| #15 Why so few men in such an important area? Why not more air support? When I hear stories like this I'm pained that I supported going into Iraq. We needed to clear house in Afghanistan first. We can now thank our Mexican President for this cluster fuck. Wish we knew the KIA numbers regarding the diaper heads... Had to look up Rorker's Drift. Knew what it was but didn't place the name. Danes's another reason to buy their beer and enjoy the Muhamhead cartoons! |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2006-12-18 15:56 |
| #14 After eight days a Danish reconnaissance squadron arrived, but their rules of engagement prevented them from actually fighting the Taliban. WTF is this? I realize the Danes eventually "interpreted" the ROE's a lil' more loosely, but this gets people killed. Or, it leads to just sittin' back and dropping 500 pounders all day long and killin' more innocent fluffy bunnies. Jeebus, what's wrong with the command over there (I'm assuming the Danes were there in a "military" role, not some mamby-pamby "police" or "training" role, but I guess I'm wrong). |
| Posted by: BA 2006-12-18 15:49 |
| #13 Maybe one of these days the administration will get big enough balls to do what needs to be done...so that brave men in harm's way will not die needlessly. Turn the Waziristan valleys into glass and kill every goat-buggering, boy-raping taliwhacker. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-12-18 13:37 |
| #12 This reminds me of that little event a while back in which the Talibs thought they had a ready massacre in their hands by attacking a fort defended by just some little brown men. But they know who the Gurkhas are, now. It is a lesson they will never forget. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-12-18 13:11 |
| #11 Proof positive that battles are not equations from strategy, but battles won by men in the field. Way to go Royal Marines and Danes! |
| Posted by: badanov 2006-12-18 13:01 |
| #10 "It's nobody's fault. The Taliban were too strong, with endless supplies of men and ammunition coming in from Pakistan." Pakistan needs sorting sooner than later.To me they are up with Iran and Syria as the West biggest enemies.Saudi Funding is also a big problem!!! |
| Posted by: Snegum Spinert7737 2006-12-18 12:28 |
| #9 Article: The Danish soldiers were soon interpreting their rules of engagement loosely, helping to clear enemy-held buildings with grenades and machine guns. It may have occurred to the Danes that if they were overrun, the Taliban weren't exactly going to keep them alive simply because Danish rules of engagement did not involve fighting them. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-12-18 12:16 |
| #8 Isn't it way past time for an Arc Light strike on Garmisir, being held by the Taliban & a key transport hub from Pakland? Why is this being held back? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2006-12-18 11:51 |
| #7 My wife's cousin, Paddy Williams, is an officer in the Household Cavalry. I have to find out if this is him. I know he recently returned from Afghanistan. He's a great guy. In 2005, he flew in to NYC from the UK on Saturday, ran the NYC Marathon on Sunday, and flew back to his base on Monday. |
| Posted by: Tibor 2006-12-18 11:47 |
| #6 Very heroic. Thus, given material disparity between NATO and Taliban, somebody (up the chain of command) screwed up badly. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-12-18 11:19 |
| #5 Nuke PakLand and Iran and 90% of the issues there would be solved. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-12-18 11:12 |
| #4 The trails always lead back to Pakistan. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2006-12-18 11:06 |
| #3 The Danish soldiers were soon interpreting their rules of engagement loosely, helping to clear enemy-held buildings with grenades and machine guns. Time to buy even more Danish cheese. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2006-12-18 10:27 |
| #2 Doug Beattie said: "It's nobody's fault. The Taliban were too strong, with endless supplies of men and ammunition coming in from Pakistan." Huh. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-12-18 09:29 |
| #1 Doug Beattie recalls an Afghan police officer, Major Showali, as "the bravest man I ever met." "He refused to take cover under fire. Every time he saw us in trouble he would run over and pick me up and throw me into cover, shouting 'It's not your fight, Captain Doug, it's my fight!' "Some of our guys didn't trust the Afghans, and I didn't always. But I trusted that man with my life. When he was shot dead on the last day, I was so sad." Rest in peace, Major Showali. Well done, Captain Beattie. Thank you both for your service. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-12-18 09:13 |