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

by Nicholas Davies

  By now the first pair of divers were beneath the pier and they could see the Presidente Porras still berthed at the dock. Together they dived beneath the boat out of sight of the patrolling guards. They swam to the stern and were in the process of clamping the first explosive on to the port propeller shaft when the engines suddenly and unexpectedly roared into life. Now they really had to work fast.

  As the engines chortled away, occasionally being revved up, the two divers attached and armed the charge in less than two minutes. They checked it was ticking and then left as silently and unobtrusively as they had arrived. The patrol boat’s engines were still running.

  One minute later, and bang on schedule, the second team of divers arrived, and clamped their Mk 138 demolition system to the starboard propeller shaft. They tied a length of detonation cord around the charge already on the port shaft, using a dual-priming technique to ensure that both charges exploded at the same time. The two divers removed the safety catches and started the clock, set to cause the charges to explode forty minutes later.

  But before the swimmers could move away from the target boat, the Panamanian soldiers once again began throwing grenades into the water around both the vessel and the pier where it was berthed. Fearing the main charges were about to detonate, the swimmers took refuge behind the pier’s pilings. Still the grenades rained down all around them, although they were convinced that the Panamanian soldiers had had no real sighting of them and were only guessing what was about to happen.

  When the swimmers realised there were only ten seconds to go they both dived and swam as deep and as fast as possible. At precisely 10 am they heard the two Mk 138 charges explode dead on time, causing chaos and mayhem among the soldiers on the pier. Heads would roll when General Noriega was informed that his pride and joy, his favourite toy, his wonderful fast patrol boat, had been blown up.

  The four swimmers teamed up, all reporting no injuries and no problems, and headed back across the bay. Waiting anxiously for them were CRRC boats and very relieved officers who had not been in communication with any of the four men for more than ninety minutes. The swimmers’ MX 300 waterproofed radios had not been up to the task. They had heard nothing. Watching the action from a distance, the officers were seriously concerned that the swimmers had not survived the mission. The fact that the main charges had exploded was proof that the teams had done their job despite the firefights and the problems, but from the view they had of the gun battle it was obvious that the Panamanians had put down a lot of metal and grenades into the water.

  The task had been a great success, a tribute to the professionalism of the SEALs who had taken part. They had continued the tradition of the United States Navy Underwater Demolition Units, which had been established during World War Two. These cleared obstacles from enemy beaches, took out beach OPs, targeted beach defences and supplied valuable intelligence about enemy positions, numbers and guns on the shorelines of Europe and the Pacific. Theirs were all highly dangerous missions which have been replicated on many occasions during the past sixty years.

  But what is special, almost unique, about the SEALs and their fellow seaborne Special Forces is that the men who volunteer and take part in such operations are quiet, confident, determined and cool-headed; men who don’t boast of their exploits or even talk much about the extraordinary, often life-threatening, risks they take to ensure that a mission is accomplished.

  CHAPTER 7

  22 SAS

  ONE BEAUTIFUL MAY EVENING a yellow JCB digger bounced gently along the narrow, hedge-lined lanes of County Armagh. The birds were singing and chirping in the trees, which hadn’t yet come into full leaf, and the road between Armagh town and Portadown was almost empty.

  As the JCB approached Loughgall, a quiet, picturesque village with some two hundred and fifty people, a couple of pubs, a police station, a school, a post office and a few shops, a van drove up behind the digger and was waved past. The small blue Toyota Hiace overtook the JCB and headed towards the deserted police station a couple of hundred yards down the road.

  This peaceful scene took place in 1987, during the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland. Using the bomb and the bullet, the Provisional IRA were waging a war of terror against the ruling Protestant majority, the hated Royal Ulster Constabulary, the British Army and the SAS. They had already killed hundreds of innocent people, wrecking town centres with their bombs and terrorising country areas in their determination to drive out Protestant farmers and smallholders.

  It was because of IRA bomb attacks on the sergeant and his two constables that Loughgall’s police station was closed and had been empty for months. Indeed this Protestant village was a far from thriving community, most of the young people having gone to find work in Belfast or mainland Britain.

  As the Hiace passed the JCB, two men wearing dark blue boiler suits, one seated each side of the driver of the digger, pulled black balaclavas over their heads, stood up at either side of the cabin and picked up Kalashnikov AK47 automatic rifles. In the bucket of the JCB was a massive bomb.

  When the van reached the police station it came to a halt. On catching up, the JCB slowed down to a walking pace and turned towards the building. But it didn’t stop. Instead it accelerated and smashed through the wire perimeter fence, with the two men still holding on to the cabin, and continued to trundle on towards the police station.

  Seconds before the JCB crashed into the white, two-storey building, all three men jumped out and began to run back through the gap in the perimeter fence made by the digger. At the same time the back doors of the van opened and six more men dressed in balaclavas and dark blue boiler suits, and carrying handguns or rifles, jumped out on to the road.

  They were met with a hail of automatic fire from the hedgerow on the far side of the road. All along the hedge bursts of fire could be seen. The three men from the JCB turned and fled in terror along the road they had driven down. Those who had leapt from the van reacted in different ways. One or two froze and were shot dead, others chased their comrades down the road, while others threw themselves behind and underneath the van in a bid to escape the devastating hail of bullets.

  Those behind the van returned fire as best they could, but they had no clear targets to aim at.

  All of a sudden a massive explosion filled the air as the bomb ripped the roof off the police station and splintered wood, tiles and masonry showered down over the whole area. The Provisional IRA men knew their only chance of survival was to stay behind the cover of the van and take potshots at those who were still keeping up heavy fire. One or two of the Provos were hit in the shins and the feet by bullets ricocheting off the ground and the van took a hammering from the ferocious onslaught.

  After a few minutes the IRA gunmen found themselves under attack from another angle and this time there was nowhere to take cover. They were sitting ducks. Four went down in two further bursts of fire, but still the others were shooting at their attackers But not for long. The three Provos still capable of running decided to make a dash for freedom and took off from behind the van. They had run about a hundred yards along the road before they were met by a hail of bullets which cut them down.

  ‘Cease fire,’ came the order in a clear, crisp and loud voice as silence descended on the grotesque scene. In the background the police station was burning furiously, flames and smoke billowing some twenty feet into the evening air. Around the Hiace van a number of broken bodies lay in contorted positions, and along the road were more, all with rifles close to them.

  From the hedgerows emerged a dozen soldiers in full combat gear, their faces darkened, their green-and-brown camouflage fatigues blending with the background, their helmets covered in hessian, and all carrying sub-machine guns, rifles or machine pistols. But none of them relaxed. Two checked the bodies for signs of life while others stood by, their guns pointing at the prone bodies just in case one was still alive. But all were dead.

  The firefight had lasted exactly ten minutes, during which eight P
rovisional IRA gunmen were killed. The Special Forces operation also provided police forensic teams with the weapons the Provos had been using that night. These had been used in seven murders and nine attempted killings. One .357 Luger magnum revolver had been taken from the body of a part-time officer of the Royal Ulster Constabulary who had been shot dead during a gun and bomb attack on the RUC station at Ballygawley, in County Tyrone, in December 1985. The same handgun had also been used in three further killings and an attempted murder. The other weapons recovered from the dead men had all been used by the IRA in other killings, and included three Heckler & Koch rifles, a Belgian FN rifle, two .223 FN rifles and a twelve-bore shotgun.

  Among the Provos killed that night were two prominent members: Patrick Kelly, the Commanding Officer of the East Tyrone Brigade, a thirty-year-old married man with three children, and Jim Lynagh, thirty-two, a former Sinn Fein councillor for Monaghan. The East Tyrone Brigade had been one of the most active IRA cells in the Province for the past ten years. They launched the campaign to destroy local police stations in villages and outlying districts in their area and would intimidate builders brought in to repair damaged public buildings, threatening to kill them and their families if they carried out any such work.

  There had been another particularly evil and sinister side to the East Tyrone Brigade’s modus operandi. For some seven years they had been deliberately targeting and killing lone Protestant families with only one son. Several farmers whose forebears had worked their land for generations had been shot at their doors, unarmed and often in full view of their families, leading some Unionists to claim, with some justification, that the IRA was waging a genocidal campaign against Protestant families.

  The SAS is considered to be one of the best, if not the very best, Special Force in the world. Most Special Forces are based on the training and organisation of what is properly called the 22nd Regiment, Special Air Service, or 22 SAS, but it is the professionalism, discipline, camaraderie, courage and determination of this British force that maintains it in such high regard among its peers throughout the world.

  The operation described above is meat and drink to the men of 22 SAS but nonetheless it was carried out with ruthless efficiency and not one SAS soldier was killed or wounded. In the Mess that night the team enjoyed a few beers together and celebrated a job well done. They didn’t gloat about killing eight Provo gunmen and bombers but were simply pleased that everything had gone according to plan and that the objective had been achieved with no casualties to the unit.

  During that ambush in Provo country the twelve SAS men adopted the same procedures and disciplines as if they had been on a mission behind enemy lines in a foreign country against large and formidable enemy forces. The SAS is trained to take the war into the enemy camp. First, a small advance party is inserted behind enemy lines to identify the problems and search for a secure, concealed forward base which is close to a water source and a suitable DZ, or dropping zone. Only when that has been achieved will the rest of the SAS team move forward into the delegated operational area.

  The smaller units inserted deeper into enemy-controlled areas are expected to be totally self-sufficient and, if the operation is to extend over several weeks, they will have to survive by living off the land. On most occasions the unit will also be responsible for ensuring they can extricate themselves to a prearranged pick-up zone and not necessarily rely on being taken out by helicopter. These operations may involve only surveillance or reconnaissance; others may involve military action.

  The SAS deploys only four fighting units, called Sabre Squadrons, each of which is divided into four troops, each of sixteen men. Each troop consists of four independent patrols, each manned by four cross-trained specialists. Typically, these four-man patrols, the SAS ‘bricks’, are used during offensive missions against a major enemy behind their lines. They will be tasked with extended surveillance of vital targets such as military formations or movements, roads, railways, airfields, shipping lanes, and this information must be passed back as soon as possible. Today there is also a wide range of electronic devices which the SAS use to watch and listen to the enemy.

  When the bricks arrive at an ideal observation post, or OP, which the SAS calls a ‘hide’, one man will be tasked with keeping watch while the other three construct the hide. Working behind a hessian screen, these three clear the immediate area and set up a camouflaged, waterproof covering as protection against enemy aircraft as well as the weather. Then they camouflage the hide with fallen branches and other suitable greenery, taking care not to disturb the surrounding undergrowth or foliage or cutting any branches or twigs. Most hides are shaped like a cross, each soldier occupying one arm of the cross, with their kit in the centre. This cross-shaped form provides all-round observation, is easy and quick to build and offers a number of escape routes. At all times one man is on sentry duty while another is responsible for radio communications and helps to keep watch, while the third man attends to personal needs and rests and the fourth man sleeps. The men rotate their positions anti-clockwise at hourly intervals to ensure that the sentry is replaced before he becomes tired.

  Several factors have to be considered before the final decision is taken on exactly where a hide will be built. There must be a nearby source of water and the position must offer unrestricted observation and radio communications. Also, the hide should be sited away from roads, tracks, buildings or anywhere else that might be discovered accidentally.

  Today a brick’s intelligence-gathering activities usually extend far beyond the normal range of vision, thanks to the latest electronic gadgetry, which can be used to monitor roads, railways, dead ground or areas of low visibility. Unattended ground sensors (UGS) are also much in use nowadays. Magnetic sensors can detect ferrous metals used in small arms, vehicles, tanks, artillery and other military hardware, all of which distort the earth’s magnetic field.

  Other remote electronic devices used in surveillance work include Audio Unit DT-383/GSQ, an integral microphone which can detect noises with the sensitivity and frequency range of the human ear; AN/GSQ-160, a disposable seismic intrusion detector which emits a continuous radio frequency signal that senses changes in the reflected energy caused by vehicles or personnel up to one hundred and twenty feet away; AN/GSQ-160, an electromagnetic intrusion detector which radiates a continuous radio signal on two frequencies and senses changes in reflected energy resulting from movement; AN/GSQ-176, an air-delivered non-recoverable seismic intrusion detector which looks like a small tree and transmits a radio alarm signal to circling warplanes, pinpointing the bombing target; and AN/GSQ-154, a miniature seismic detector equipped with a logic unit and external geophone which minimises background signals and issues a radio alarm signal when intrusion is detected by vehicles or ground troops.

  There are also other magnetic sensors and intrusion detectors which inform those in the hide that there are either vehicles as far away as seventy-five feet or humans as close as twelve feet. Seismic sensors, which detect vibrations, can be used either to protect the hide or to gather intelligence. There are acoustic sensors which, in effect, are highly sensitive microphones; disturbance sensors, which transmit a sweeping radio alarm when moved or stepped on; and, infrared sensors, usually employed to defend large perimeter areas.

  Different surveillance techniques are employed by SAS soldiers who are using their hides for longer periods of time. Sometimes a brick has to watch a vast area of countryside and collect accurate and precise records of people, traffic, military personnel or military vehicles. This vital information is recorded on a picture-map of the terrain under surveillance. Major reference points, such as a village, a railway line, a church, woods and hills, are first marked on the map and then the positions of the enemy units are superimposed on the drawing. Every few minutes the man on duty scans the countryside systematically from left to right, checking for any movement of man or machines. He then logs the time and movement. Today video cameras are sometimes used to provide the
planners back at base with a real-life picture of the scene and the photographs are transmitted to HQ in digital form via a satellite communications link.

  The expertise of the SAS behind enemy lines is often of the greatest value when friendly artillery and warplanes need to target enemy formations or military targets. This task is usually carried out by specially trained Forward Air Control teams, but the SAS is also quite capable of directing warplanes and artillery if necessary.

  A little publicised area of the training undergone by all SAS soldiers is the methods that should be employed when on the run in enemy territory, when enemy forces are in hot pursuit, and when in a hostile environment. And each SAS unit under training is reminded that this part of their course might well be the difference between life and death.

  The trainees are told that evasion is the best form of protection. Enemy ground and aerial patrols, some using infrared equipment, may well be searching for them and those on the ground will search the area for footprints, hides, old campfires, discarded equipment and any trace of recent human waste. When behind enemy lines, those trying to evade notice must take care never to be seen by anyone if at all possible, because that information can be passed to the searching troops within minutes.

  The SAS recruit is taught that the evader must rely on his own eyes and ears as well as camouflage and fieldcraft. Naturally, recruits are told that it is a cardinal rule to move only during the hours of darkness and to hole up during daylight, making sure a new hide has been constructed before the dawn.