Death Before Dishonour - True Stories of The Special Forces Heroes Who Fight Global Terror

by Nicholas Davies

  In a desperate effort to calm the terrorists, a senior officer of the Anti-Terrorist Squad persuaded Dr Sayyed Darsh, the senior imam at the Central Mosque in Regent’s Park, London, to act as a mediator in an effort to save the lives of the hostages. At the same time a meeting of all Arab ambassadors in London took place, and they agreed to issue a press release saying they would also act as mediators. But it was all too late.

  No Arab ambassador was ready to hold talks with the terrorists and the attempt by Dr Darsh to calm Salim by reading from the Koran seemed to infuriate rather than placate the terrorist leader. Over the phone the sound of three shots rang out. A few seconds later the front door of the embassy opened and a body was dumped unceremoniously outside.

  News of the second shooting was flashed to COBRA, where the Home Secretary, William Whitelaw, telephoned Mrs Thatcher requesting permission for the SAS to carry out an immediate assault. At 7 pm control over the assault phase of the operation was passed to Colonel Rose.

  Harclerode again:

  At 7 pm as Salim was still talking to negotiators on the phone two large explosions reverberated through the embassy building and the assault began.

  The plan called for all floors of the embassy to be attacked simultaneously by the two SAS teams, Red and Blue. Red was responsible for clearing the top half of the building with two groups of four men abseiling in two waves from the roof to the second-floor balcony at the rear of the building where they would force an entry via three windows. Meanwhile, another group would assault the third floor using a ladder to descend from the top of the building to a lower roof. The top floor would be cleared by another group entering via the skylight.

  Blue Team was tasked with clearing the lower half of the building comprising the basement, ground and first floors. Explosives would be used to blast through the bullet-resistant glass of the French windows at the rear of the building and the windows on the first-floor balcony at the front. Members of Blue Team would also be responsible for firing CS gas canisters through the second-floor windows…

  Dressed in black assault suits and wearing body armour and respirators, each man in both teams was armed with H&K MP5 sub-machine guns and a Browning 9mm pistol. In addition, one group in each team was equipped with a frame charge manufactured from linear cutting charge explosive mounted on a light wooden frame. As the teams took up their positions, an explosive charge was lowered and suspended just above a glass roof covering the building’s stairwell…

  The charge above the stairwell’s glass roof detonated with a huge explosion, blowing it in and sending a shock wave through the building. At the same time, members of Blue Team began firing CS gas canisters through the second-floor windows while the rear assault group smashed their way through the French windows with sledge hammers.

  Television viewers saw members of Blue Team clambering across from the adjacent house on to the embassy’s first-floor balcony. One SAS man put the charge against the window, blowing it away, and then threw a stun grenade into the room. The four SAS men clambered inside, guns at the ready. They knew that it would become a case of ‘them or us’ and that their reactions would be decisive.

  Two SAS men moved from the room on to the landing, but there was no one there. They heard noises of a scuffle coming from a side room and burst in to find PC Lock struggling with Salim. On hearing the explosions, the policeman had gone for the gun he had concealed throughout the six-day siege, but Salim had seen him fumbling for the gun and was desperately trying to rip the handgun from his grasp. One SAS man yelled at PC Lock to ‘get out of it’ as both soldiers opened fire with their MP5s, hitting Salim in the head and chest. He died instantly.

  The other two SAS men who had gone in through the front windows opened the door to the smoke-filled Ambassador’s office to be confronted by an armed terrorist. A burst of automatic fire sent the gunman staggering backwards, and he disappeared into the smoke. Cautiously, the two SAS men moved into the room, unable to see more than a few feet. They found the gunman lying on the sofa with his weapon at the ready. He died in a hail of bullets from their sub-machine guns.

  The SAS troopers had not yet discovered the exact whereabouts of the hostages, but suspected they were being guarded by the remaining three armed terrorists. They knew they had only seconds to save their lives. One of the SAS men at the back of the building looked through a window to see a gunman lighting newspapers in a crowded room. He smashed the window, threw in a stun grenade and clambered in. The terrorist ran from the room and across the landing to Room 10, where the hostages had been herded. As he entered he opened fire on the huddle of frightened people with his machine pistol and was joined by another terrorist, who also opened fire indiscriminately at the screaming hostages.

  A moment later the SAS man ran into the room and shot one terrorist in the head with a single bullet from his Browning. Ali-Akbar Samadzadeh, one of the embassy’s press officers, had been shot dead and Dr Ali Afrouz had been shot twice in the legs. There was chaos in the room, with the SAS yelling at the hostages to lie down; the hostages screaming in fear; and the terrorists shouting for mercy as they threw themselves down on the floor among the hostages. The SAS men had a problem because there was no way they could tell – in a split second – the difference between the Arabistan terrorists and the Iranian hostages. The SAS men shouted at the hostages to get out of the room as they searched out the terrorists, fearful they might make one last desperate effort to kill them. One man lying on the floor made a sudden move and was shot in the back. Under his body they discovered a grenade.

  The soldiers were still desperately trying to identify the remaining two gunmen. They lined up on the landing and hurriedly and roughly pushed the hostages down the stairs while checking each of them. One man was being pushed towards the top of the stairs when a trooper recognised his face. The SAS man glanced down and saw that the terrorist was holding a grenade and he shoved him in the back as hard as he could so that he stumbled down the stairs. He had not wanted to open fire because the stairs were crowded with hostages. Another SAS man standing halfway down the stairs clubbed the terrorist on the back of the head as he toppled past him, and the man landed at the bottom of the stairs in a crumpled heap. A second later the SAS soldier guarding the hall shot the man in the head and took away the grenade. The safety pin was still intact.

  But the SAS squad were certain there was still one remainingterrorist unaccounted for. They ordered everyone into the rear garden and made them lie face down on the lawn while Blue Team soldiers handcuffed each of them. Within a couple of minutes the hostages identified the remaining terrorist and he was pulled to his feet, searched and handed over to police. The hostages were released but ordered to remain in the garden while the entire building was searched and declared safe by the soldiers. Only then did the SAS men leave, driving away in unmarked vans back to obscurity.

  Those sensational TV pictures, flashed around the world, made the SAS’s reputation. From that day the unit had become the world’s foremost anti-terrorist organisation, praised for its courage and professionalism. The action had sent a clear signal to all terrorists that Britain would deal firmly with any threats to the community. It also brought many requests from governments around the world seeking the SAS’s assistance in training their own anti-terrorist squads. From the viewpoint of the SAS, however, the publicity was most unwelcome. The last thing the secret force needed was to be the centre of attention amid a blaze of publicity.

  CHAPTER 3

  ‘THE LEGION IS OUR COUNTRY’

  SINCE ITS INCEPTION in the 1830s, the French Foreign Legion has been involved in many of the same kinds of military operations as today’s Special Forces. However, unlike nearly every other such unit, the Legion is a mercenary force. It is defined in this way because France is not the country of birth or adoption of some of its members, and these soldiers serve only for the pay they receive. However, since the pay has never been high, men join the Legion less for the money than for a wide variety of
other reasons.

  Before anyone signs up as a Legionnaire he knows that the discipline will be severe, the training pitiless and that his comrades may well be men who are on the run from justice in their own country. For many years the Legion had the reputation of being not only tough and hard but also a unit where the majority of men had enlisted for reasons other than wanting to serve in an elite military force. In the past some volunteers were described as murderers, brutes or simply hard bastards. And throughout the Legion’s history some have joined up because they wanted to make a fresh start in life, whether for personal or emotional reasons, while others have done so to prove to themselves they are tough.

  But after the war in Algeria, which ended in 1963, the French government drew up new rules rejecting volunteers who had a police record involving serious crimes. Today every volunteer’s past is closely examined. But some secrets are still permitted, and the Legion will protect its soldiers from ex-wives or girlfriends, or even police enquiries, unless the offence is serious. This is why there are many serving Legionnaires who enlisted under a false name and whose true identity remains secret.

  The unofficial motto ‘The Legion Is Our Country’ reflects the fact that all those volunteers who are not French by birth accept that loyalty to the Legion has taken the place of loyalty to their own country. Indeed the Legion also becomes a man’s home, at least for the five years of his contract, though the great majority of Legionnaires serve for twenty or more years.

  In return, the Legion provides a man with a uniform, a weapon, food and pay. Extraordinarily, it also provides a brothel, and throughout the Legion’s long history there have always been more volunteer whores than places for them. Today, if the Legion is sent overseas to fight in a protracted war, then a number of whores volunteer to follow the soldiers. These women are provided with food, shelter and constant medical supervision, but in return they are allowed to service Legionnaires only. A surprising number of them end up marrying Legionnaires.

  But it is the spirit instilled by the Legion through training and camaraderie that makes these men become such great soldiers. The officers and NCOs nurture in their recruits a remarkable esprit de corps, a conviction that they are special men who would risk their lives for one another and for the Legion. It is true that Legionnaires have fought to the death when a battle is lost and survival impossible, not only for their fellow Legionnaires but simply for the honour of the Legion. The Legion’s motto sums up the character of the unit: ‘Honour and Loyalty.’

  From the start of their training, would-be Legionnaires accept that the Legion fights and dies but never surrenders. And there is no other known Special Forces unit which can match that extraordinary commitment. Every single Legionnaire has to be very tough, because the physical demands are exceptional. Even today the Legion demands that its volunteers are strong, superbly fit and capable of marching an incredible forty miles a day in full kit over any terrain and in any weather. This march is not a one-off training exercise but a volunteer must repeat it many times a year, every year, once he has been accepted as a fully fledged member of the Legion. There is no Special Forces unit in today’s armies that demands such a strenuous ordeal, mainly because other crack forces now use helicopters, trucks and jeeps for speed and mobility.

  Today the French Foreign Legion numbers some eight thousand men, though at times in the past it boasted as many as fifty thousand fully fledged Legionnaires. Each year, some six thousand men, mostly ex-soldiers, apply to join the Legion, and less than a thousand are accepted. Most of the recruits are French, but there are also Germans, British, Americans and a number from the former Yugoslavia.

  The selection process takes three weeks, which gives the Legion time to carry out physical, psychological and IQ tests as well as to check on the background of the volunteers. If tests show that a recruit is an alcoholic or drug addict he will be dismissed immediately. The language of the Legion is, of course, French and from the start of training the recruit begins to learn the language. He knows he must strive to become fluent, for his life might one day depend on it. After signing on for five years the recruit will hand over all his own clothes, which are taken away and sold. In return he will receive his paquetage – tunic, boots, green tie, beret and the famed white cap, or kepi.

  A sixteen-week basic training course follows. Today the training is not as brutal and harsh as in former times – recruits are no longer flogged – but still extremely tough. Unable to stomach the training or the discipline, many recruits desert and flee abroad, never to be seen again. Those who stay the course know that the first sixteen weeks is only basic training and that after passing this stage they must continue training to obtain the objective – the highest standard of any fighting unit in the world.

  One of the most courageous battles ever fought by the French Foreign Legion in its entire history was at Dien Bien Phu in North Vietnam in the spring of 1954. Vietnam was then part of the French colonial empire in Indo-China, but was coming under increasing attacks from the Vietminh peasant army led by the famous Ho Chi Minh and the brilliant guerrilla leader General Giap. Financed and equipped by the might of Mao Zedong’s China, the Vietminh leaders were determined to push the French out of Indo-China for good.

  The battle of Dien Bien Phu was the final straw for the French in Indo-China, though they had been fighting sporadic battles against the Vietminh since 1948. Many Legionnaires had earned their spurs in Vietnam confronting this army which relied on machetes, rifles, bayonets and the odd machine gun. By contrast, the French had not only rifles but also machine guns, grenades, artillery, mortar and war planes to keep the enemy at bay. It was an unfair fight despite the fact that General Giap’s army was some ten times larger than the French forces and he could always call on tens of thousands of extra troops whenever he wanted.

  During the winter of 1953–4 the French generals had devised a plan to bring about a swift, once-and-for-all victory against the Vietminh. They believed that the only reason they had not wiped out the enemy during the previous six years was the fact that they would never stand and fight. The tactics of the Vietminh were always those of a guerrilla army – sneak attacks against outposts and small units of infantry – followed by a quick retreat into the surrounding jungle. Almost the whole of North Vietnam was a mountainous jungle and therefore no major pitched battles had ever taken place. A few set-piece battles had occurred in which the smaller French forces had devastated vast numbers of the enemy with comparative ease. French attempts at bombing and shelling had proved fruitless because every Vietminh soldier carried, in addition to his rifle, a spade with which to dig deep trenches where he could shelter from bombs and shells.

  Nevertheless, the French plan was to lure General Giap and his army into the vast and beautiful jungle valley of Dien Bien Phu, north of Hanoi, close to the Chinese border, and then slaughter them in their thousands by non-stop bombing and shelling. Long enough to land transport planes and wide enough to defend with troops and artillery, the valley rose on either side to high mountains covered with lush green vegetation.

  If they could wipe out Giap’s huge force at Dien Bien Phu, the French generals reasoned, they would be able to control the so-called Ho Chi Minh trail – the jungle route through which the enemy ferried arms and ammunition to their forces fighting in South Vietnam. In time, they believed, Ho Chi Minh would be forced to the conference table and the whole war in Indo-China would be brought to a respectable conclusion with no further loss of French blood. It seemed a brilliant plan.

  In February and March 1954 the French poured some sixteen thousand men, mainly paratroopers and Legionnaires, into Dien Bien Phu. The first task was to flush out and kill Vietminh troops hiding in trenches on the jungle slopes either side of the valley. They then prepared a defensive ring of trenches and fortifications, gun emplacements and strongholds around the lengthened airstrip. Protecting this would be vital to the success of the battle plan, as the French troops, some seven hundred air miles from their ba
ses in the south, would have to be re-supplied by air. There were, in all, seven of these fortified positions, each given a French woman’s name.

  When all this had been completed the French troops sat around and waited for the Vietminh to attack. Fifty per cent of them were Legionnaires, impatiently waiting for the battle to begin. Some twenty per cent were French paratroopers and another twenty per cent were hardened French infantry. In addition there was support from artillery and engineers.

  General Giap obligingly played the role the French had carefully prepared for him. He gathered together an army of fifty thousand hardened Vietminh fighters with which he intended to surround and then wipe out the entire French force at Dien Bien Phu. It was the opportunity for which he too had been waiting and planning.

  But this time there was a major difference. During that winter he had persuaded Mao Zedong to provide hundreds of heavy artillery weapons and rapid-firing anti-aircraft guns, as well as trained Chinese soldiers to fire and maintain them. Never before had the Vietminh had such sophisticated weaponry, for they had always relied on guerrilla tactics. Now, for the first time, they would have the weapons to tackle the French.

  At dawn on March 13 1954, the French were taken completely by surprise when the Vietminh launched a devastating heavy artillery barrage from the hills surrounding the valley. The shells came whistling down in their hundreds on the French positions and along the entire length of the airstrip. What amazed the French generals was not only that the Vietminh possessed such devastating, modern artillery but that they had somehow managed to pull these huge artillery pieces up the slopes of the hills in such numbers – a feat they considered virtually impossible, given the mass of vegetation and jungle. And they had done so without the French having any idea what was going on.