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

by Nicholas Davies

  As early as 1972, West Germany set up the Grenzschutzgruppe-9 (Border Guard Group 9), known as GSG-9, under the direction of Colonel Ulrich Wegener, a former FBI-trained police officer. Wegener was a highly motivated, disciplined leader who recognised that the volunteers for this new unit had to be remarkable young men. Sixty per cent of volunteers were turned down and those who passed the tough examinations underwent six months of basic training and three months of advanced work.

  Wegener laid down that the basic skills must include unarmed combat, marksmanship, martial arts and, somewhat surprisingly, the study of German law. The advanced stage included training for assaults on buildings, aircraft and trains, close-quarter combat and high-speed driving, the last practised in the dead of night on Germany’s autobahns at speeds in excess of one hundred and twenty miles per hour.

  So keen was Wegener to learn Special Forces skills that he was in constant touch with the British SAS and Israel’s Mossad, and was contacted as soon as the Air France jet involved in the Entebbe raid was hijacked and diverted to Uganda. He flew immediately to Israel and then to Entebbe with the one hundred men of Israel’s 35th Parachute Brigade to see for himself how the Israelis planned and carried out the release of the hostages.

  One year after recruitment of the initial two hundred men, GSG-9 was operational and working out of St Augustin, near Bonn. There was a headquarters unit and three combat teams, each of thirty men and divided into six five-man sections. GSG-9/1 was a pure combat assault team; GSG-9/2 became a one hundred-man maritime section protecting German offshore installations; and GSG-9/3 became an airborne and paratroop unit. GSG-9 also boasted its own unique intelligence, communications, logistical and engineering sections, as well as its own helicopter unit. The West German government spared no expense in building sophisticated training complexes and aircraft interiors, and supplying speedboats, high-performance cars and helicopters and the very latest in weapons technology and electronic surveillance.

  It was not long before the Baader-Meinhof Gang, named after Andreas Baader, the son of a celebrated historian, and Ulrike Meinhof, the daughter of a museum director, began serious terrorist operations. The philosophy behind the group was to create as much violence as possible in the hope of provoking the authorities to overreact and be seen as oppressors. They claimed they existed to represent the oppressed peoples of Europe, to right wrongs, to obtain justice and to establish a fair and just society for all. Their stance gained them support from politicians, the media and academia.

  After robbing a bank together, Baader and Meinhof fled to Syria, where they underwent terrorist training. On their return to West Germany they began a reign of terror, robbing a number of banks at gunpoint and stealing some US$500,000, reportedly to finance their acts of terror.

  Initially using the name the Red Army Faction and suggesting that their movement had worldwide support, they began their operations in May 1972. Their first attack was the bombing of a US Army base in Frankfurt which killed one officer and wounded thirteen others. Two weeks later they bombed the US Army’s headquarters at Heidelberg, killing three and wounding eight. Other bomb attacks took place in quick succession in Augsburg, Munich and Hamburg, as a result of which the death toll reached double figures, with more than sixty injured.

  But then the West German police had a stroke of luck. A member of the public tipped them off that a small garage was being used as a bomb factory. Baader and others were arrested, and then Meinhof two weeks later. But the capture of the ringleaders only resulted in more terrorists taking up the cause, and by 1975 it was estimated that there were sixty core members and some two thousand sympathisers. And now the group’s tactics changed. Instead of bombing and shooting, the new members turned to kidnapping prominent people and holding them to ransom. On some occasions they demanded the release of their jailed colleagues; on other occasions they demanded money. But the newly formed GSG-9 was never far behind them, ready to be called in whenever Special Forces were needed.

  One of the most dramatic and sensational operations carried out by Special Forces in the war against international terrorism involved an GSG-9 assault team and two SAS advisers and followed the hijacking of a Lufthansa Boeing 737 flying from Palma, Majorca, to Frankfurt on October 15 1977.

  The four hijackers – two men and two young women – were all members of the PFLP. As the PFLP’s terror chief, Wadi Haddad was working closely with George Habash, the group’s political figurehead. Together these two men had been organising terrorist activities throughout Europe and the Middle East for ten years, and their ruthless activities were well known to the world’s counter-terrorism organisations.

  The two male hijackers, the leader Zohair Yousif Akache and Wabil Harb, nonchalantly made their way to the flight deck after the plane had been airborne for thirty minutes. They pushed open the door, drew handguns and appeared to go berserk, screaming at the top of their voices. They yanked the co-pilot, Jürgen Vietor, from his seat and dragged him out of the cockpit. The two young female terrorists, Suhaileh Sayeh and Hind Alameh, also both armed with handguns, pushed the three female cabin crew to the rear of the economy section, where Vietor was made to join them. The first-class passengers were likewise forced into the back of the economy section. As the pilot, Captain Jürgen Schumann, sat at the controls, Harb stood over him with his pistol at his head to prevent him passing a message to any control tower that might have been listening.

  Akache stormed up and down the centre aisle, ferociously waving his gun in the air, threatening passengers and hurling abuse at everyone. Some passengers screamed hysterically, others cowered in silence. Then Akache yelled for silence and walked up and down the plane, repeating loudly, ‘I am Captain Martyr Mahmoud, and anyone disobeying my orders will be shot.’

  All male passengers were ordered from their seats and searched for weapons. The two women then went through all the hand baggage, piece by piece, throwing all the contents on seats in the first-class area. Akache terrified the passengers, particularly the women and children, as he would suddenly scream at someone, hit others with hard blows to the head and face for no apparent reason and berate others, a look of hatred and anger on his face. Some passengers thought he was mentally unbalanced as his outbursts became more hysterical and he repeatedly lost his temper over trivial matters. They feared for their lives.

  Four hours later the plane landed at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport, where, minutes later, it was surrounded by Italian troops and armoured vehicles. Speaking from the co-pilot’s seat, Akache broadcast his demands, which included release the of eleven members of the Red Army Faction from jail in Germany and of two Palestinian terrorists from Turkish jails, and a ransom of US$15 million. Chillingly, he concluded, ‘All demands must be met by 8 am tomorrow [Sunday, October 16] or the plane with everyone on it will be blown up.’

  The West German Interior Minister urged the Italians to shoot out the aircraft’s tyres to prevent it taking off, but they refused, fearful that if they did so the hijackers would blow up the aircraft. Instead the Italian government granted the hijackers’ wishes, refuelled the plane and let it fly away. Three hours later, after another horrendous trip for the passengers, the Boeing landed at Larnaca, in Cyprus, and after refuelling took off once more.

  Akache demanded Schumann fly first to Beirut, but the Lebanese blocked the runway. Syria, Iraq and Kuwait also refused to let them land. Now the fuel was running low and Schumann told the control tower at Bahrain airport that if they were refused permission to land, the plane would run out of fuel. Still permission was not granted, but Akache ordered Schumann to land there anyway. After touching down, Schumann checked the fuel – three minutes’ worth was left in the tanks.

  In Germany, GSG-9 had been contacted by the German government and Colonel Ulrich Wegener was ordered to prepare a team to stand by at Cologne airport, ready to fly out to rescue the hostages when their final destination became known. He called the SAS in Britain to request advice and assistance, and within
hours the second in command of 22 SAS Regiment, Major Alastair Morrison, along with Staff Sergeant Barry Davies, flew from RAF Brize Norton to Bonn, taking with them the then revolutionary stun grenades nicknamed ‘flashbangs’, which GSG-9 officers had never before seen. The dazzling burst of light produced by these devices caused a deafening explosion which disoriented and incapacitated people without physically harming them. The GSG-9 officers also took with them an aluminium suitcase containing the full ransom sum in cash.

  The GSG-9 team and the two SAS men remained at Bonn for some time as the hijackers flew around the eastern Mediterranean and various Arab countries, becoming increasingly desperate as country after country refused the hijackers permission to land. As it seemed that the hijackers wanted to stay somewhere in that region, it was decided that GSG-9 and the SAS men should fly to Dubai, a good jumping-off point.

  Meanwhile conditions on board the hijacked aircraft were becoming horrendous, as the hostages had been forbidden to use the toilets. When the power supply failed and the air conditioning no longer worked, the temperature inside the plane climbed to over one hundred degrees centigrade. Most hostages stripped down to their underwear. Occasionally the hijackers permitted food and water to be brought to the plane, and once permission was given for the toilet tanks to be replaced with clean, empty ones.

  Throughout the ordeal Akache underwent dramatic mood swings, sometimes chatting calmly to people and at other times screaming hysterically at passengers and crew, threatening to kill them. At one point he lost control of himself completely. After the hijackers had been given permission to land at Aden, Captain Schumann was allowed to walk to the control tower to plead for fuel from the Yemeni authorities so that he could take off again. When the pilot returned and climbed aboard, Akache went berserk, accusing him of betrayal and waving his handgun at the cool-headed German. Then the terrorist pointed the gun at Schumann’s head and shot him in the face at point-blank range.

  Afraid that the Yemenis might now decide to storm the plane, Akache ordered the co-pilot, Vietor, to take off immediately and, when they were airborne, told him to fly to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, in East Africa. The hostages had now been aboard the hijacked plane for four long days, and many were very agitated and frightened. After Schumann’s appalling murder, a number of the hostages were convinced that they would die in one way or another, and some said their last prayers.

  Aware of Schumann’s death, the West German government feared that the desperate hijackers might blow up the aircraft with all the hostages on board, and gave orders for the rescue attempt to begin. Another Lufthansa plane, with the Special Forces on board, followed the hijacked Boeing 737 to Mogadishu and managed to land without the terrorists realising that another aircraft had arrived. After talks between the West German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, and President Siad Barre of Somalia, permission was given for the rescue to proceed.

  The assault plan was practised once more on the aircraft that had brought the rescue team. Everything was planned to the last detail. As darkness fell that night, the GSG-9 snipers took up their positions around the hijacked aircraft, but out of sight of those on board.

  In the control tower skilled negotiators began a dialogue with Akache, telling him that the West German government agreed to all his demands on condition that all the hostages and crew were released unharmed. Akache was also warned that if anyone on board was harmed, the deal was off. The negotiators told him that the $15 million ransom would be handed over, and that both the Red Army Faction and PFLP members would be released.

  Akache, however, countered by refusing to release the hostages until the terrorists had been freed and the ransom money had arrived in Mogadishu. The authorities agreed, telling him that the money had already arrived but that the terrorists, already on their way from jails to the respective airports, would not arrive in Mogadishu until the following morning. This news, given to them by Akache, brought cheers from the hostages.

  At midnight the rescue plan began. First, a recce team, with the aid of an image intensifier, crept towards the plane and checked the whereabouts of Akache. They discovered he was chatting with Wabil Harb in the cockpit. As soon as they reported this information the assault team swung into action, moving to a prearranged assembly point behind the plane where no one on board could see them. In single file they moved stealthily towards the rear of the plane and placed a ladder against each wing and another at the rear door.

  While this was going on the negotiators informed Akache that the aircraft with the freed terrorists on board had just left Cairo after refuelling and that he would be able to speak to them when it was within range of Mogadishu airport.

  At the final briefing the GSG-9 assault team were told, ‘Remember, shoot to kill. These hijackers have already shot the pilot dead. We must not risk the lives of any of the hostages. Good luck.’

  The assault began at 2 am. Somali troops at the end of the runway lit a huge fire some three hundred yards in front of the plane. This drew the attention of both Akache and Harb. As the flames leapt ever higher, Major Morrison and Staff Sergeant Barry Davies simultaneously hurled their stun grenades at the aircraft. These exploded with tremendous noise and blinding flashes over the wings and cockpit, and immediately the GSG-9 men opened the escape hatches and rear doors. One of the women terrorists, Hind Alameh, ran towards the rear door with a gun in her hand, but she was met with a burst of automatic fire from the first man through the door. She died instantly.

  Disorientated and confused by the stun grenades, Wabil Harb staggered out of the cockpit and crashed into Suhaileh Sayeh as she ran for her life from the German soldiers chasing her down the aisle. Hit by a burst of rapid automatic fire, with some twelve bullets entering him, he too died instantly.

  As he fell, one other group in the assault party broke through the starboard door into the aircraft just as Akache appeared from the cockpit. The first GSG-9 man opened fire with his sub-machine gun, cutting down the terrorist leader with eight or so bullets. But as Akache fell to the floor he dropped two hand grenades from which he had already removed the pins. Both grenades rolled into the first-class area and exploded. Scared and shocked, some hostages were screaming and others fainted. As the grenades exploded, the one surviving terrorist, Suhaileh Sayeh, opened fire with her handgun from the lavatory. One GSG-9 man returned the fire, hitting her in the chest.

  Desperate to live, Sayeh screamed that she surrendered.

  ‘Drop the gun, drop the gun,’ the GSG-9 men shouted; then, ‘Open the door, open the door,’ as they heard the weapon drop to the floor. ‘Kick the gun out, kick the gun out. Stand with your hands on your head.’

  Outside the toilet two GSG-9 soldiers stood either side of the door, their sub-machine guns aimed at Sayeh’s head from just three feet away. She came out shaking and pleading for mercy, and was ordered to lie on the floor. One man searched her for guns or grenades while two others stood over her, their weapons pointed down at her. ‘If you move you will be shot,’ she was told. The terrorist didn’t move a muscle until someone came along, roughly pulled her to her feet and frogmarched her out of the door and down the steps to a waiting vehicle.

  German doctors, nurses and psychologists, who had been brought out on the second Lufthansa flight, were on hand to take care of the deeply traumatised hostages. They realised the hostages had been forced to live through a most frightening experience during the one hundred and ten hours of captivity, terrorised by a gun-crazed killer, forced to sit in rapidly deteriorating conditions, forbidden to visit the toilet and all the time without sleep and given only a little food and drink. It would take weeks, months and, in some cases, years for the hostages to forget their ordeal.

  For the combined Special Forces who took part, however, it was a brilliant and singular success. The dramatic rescue also proved to other European governments that, with training, discipline and courage, Special Forces could deal with terrorists and hijackers quickly and comprehensively. It also demonstrated to w
ould-be terrorists that their operations might now well end in their own death.

  Italy’s Red Brigades came to prominence in December 1970 with the shocking and completely unexpected bombing of a Milanese bank, in which seventeen people were killed and fifty-eight injured. The Red Brigades were well organised, and consisted of cells of five people in Rome, Milan and four other Italian cities. There were fifty hard-core terrorists headed by a Strategic Directorate, supported by some five hundred unpaid part-time activists who rallied support for the left-wing terror group.

  They targeted rich, prominent and influential Italians in various walks of life, assassinating a public prosecutor, a leading Turin lawyer, a judge and the editor of a national newspaper. They also succeeded in killing a senior officer of the Carabinieri in retaliation for the hard time that the military police force’s counter-terrorism unit had been giving their members. A number of terrorists had been arrested and given long prison sentences.

  But the Red Brigades weren’t beaten yet. They retaliated with the brutal kidnapping of Aldo Moro, a former Italian Prime Minister and leader of the Christian Democratic Party, during daylight in Rome as he was being escorted by police officers. Moro’s two-car convoy was ambushed in a narrow street and all three bodyguards and the two drivers were murdered in a hail of automatic fire. Moro was taken away. The kidnappers demanded the release of thirteen of the group’s members, who were due to face trial, but the Italian government stood firm, refusing all the terrorists’ demands. A massive police search was organised throughout Rome, but Moro was never found alive. Seven weeks later his body was discovered in the boot of a car. This act of terror caused revulsion against both the Red Brigades and most of the other terror organisations operating in Europe.

  That single assassination made the Italian politicians sit up and take note, for they now feared for their own lives. They decided to get tough with the terrorists. The Carabinieri were permitted to set up a counter-terrorism organisation, the Nucelo Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza (NOCS), the members of which were nicknamed ‘Leathernecks’ because of the leather helmets they wore in action.