Danger Close

by Colonel Stuart Tootal

  Loden and I both knew that sitting behind the HESCO was not an option. The surrounding area would still need to be dominated by sending out patrols to disrupt the Taliban’s attacks, kill their fighters and protect the Engineers as they continued to work on the defences. Additionally, a regular patrol presence outside the district centre was needed to interact with the local population and demonstrate resolve. Loden’s immediate challenge was that he was short of manpower. A Company still had only two infantry platoons instead of the normal three. The Royal Irish reinforcement platoon they had hoped to receive had been diverted to support the Danes in Musa Qaleh. It meant that only one platoon could be sent out on patrol at any one time, while the other had to remain in the district centre to man the sangars. The platoons would rotate between the tasks of guarding and patrolling. The platoon on the patrols task was beefed up with a mortar fire controller (MFC) and a dedicated combat medic to increase the chances of survival if someone was hit. The platoon could also call on occasional vehicle support provided by a troop of the Household Cavalry’s Scimitars and Spartans, as well as the fire support from WMIKs. But the lack of infantry and the close nature of the terrain restricted vehicle movement to the more open areas around the immediate vicinity of the district centre. If they progressed into the surrounding fields of crops that had grown up to more than 7 feet during the summer, or into the narrow streets, they would be vulnerable to attack. For the majority of any patrol the men on foot would be on their own. They would have to rely on the GPMGs, Minimi light machine guns and under-slung grenade launchers carried by each section, until the MFC could call in indirect fire support or the aircraft came on station.

  The improved fortification of the district centre was not the only thing that had altered: the mood of the town and the face of the enemy had also changed since A Company’s last stint in Sangin. Private Pete McKinley noticed a perceptible change in the local atmosphere as he patrolled back towards the district centre on 27 July. He was the point man of one of the first patrols to go out on to the ground. The local Afghans appeared edgy as the soldiers passed and they ignored their greetings. Sergeant Dan Jarvie noticed it too. As the patrol moved back into the dry wadi, shop-keepers began hastily to shut up their shops and the streets suddenly cleared of people; it was a clear combat indicator that something was wrong and the patrol went to ground. His senses heightened, McKinley scanned the ground to his front. In his peripheral vision he spotted two gunmen on the rooftops of the shops to his right. He engaged both men with his rifle, hitting one in the face; then the firelight kicked off with a vengeance.

  Both sides traded heavy automatic fire as the Taliban opened up from at least three different firing points and the rest of the patrol responded in kind. RPGs thudded into the wadi as Corporal Bryan Budd gathered the rest of his section and sprinted towards the buildings from where the enemy fire was heaviest. There was a sudden yell and sickening crack as one of his men fell. Private `Eddie’ Edwards crumpled into the gravel; the two AK rounds that hit him shattered his femur and opened his inner thigh from his groin to his knee. Braving the incoming rounds, Private Meli Baleinavalu rushed forward to drag Edwards into cover as Budd launched an assault on the buildings and began clearing them with rifle fire and grenades.

  In the ensuing melee of close-quarter fighting, McKinley was blown on to his back by the blast of an exploding RPG round. After clearing the buildings Budd pulled McKinley to his feet. In the subsequent fighting, at least two more of the insurgents were killed. Edwards was in shock as Jarvie and Corporal Stu Giles began administering first aid. Both men were covered in the frothing blood that squirted from his thigh as they worked frantically to squeeze the wound shut and stem the arterial bleeding. The contact continued to rage around them as a Spartan screamed up the wadi from the district centre to evacuate Edwards and mortar rounds began to crump down on the remaining Taliban. McKinley’s prompt engagement of the first two insurgents and follow-up action with Budd undoubtedly forestalled a Taliban ambush. The mortar fire from the compound then ended it. But McKinley had been hit by a piece of shrapnel that penetrated the back of his body armour. He made light of his wound, initially refusing to get into the back of the Spartan with Edwards until the robust intervention of Dan Jarvie convinced him that his evacuation in the armoured vehicle was non-negotiable. Even the redoubtable McKinley recognized that his burly platoon sergeant was in no mood to argue.

  Loden had accompanied 1 Platoon to familiarize himself with the ground around the district centre. The patrol provided him with an object lesson in the challenges and risks his men faced on a daily basis when they left the confines of the HESCO bastion perimeter. Any patrol that left the base was immediately dicked. The firefight in the wadi was an indication of just how susceptible his men were to being ambushed. There were only a limited number of routes in and out of the district centre and it was easy for the insurgents to track their movements and lie in wait for them. The contact also demonstrated that the Taliban had continued to adapt and improve their tactics. The number of standoff attacks against the district centre increased in intensity as the Taliban brought new long-range weapons systems into play. These weapons included 82mm mortars, which had made an appearance in Now Zad, and multi-barrelled rocket launchers that could fire several projectiles at once. The insurgents were also displaying a far greater willingness to engage troops operating outside the base at closer quarters. They would cache their weapons at potential ambush sites in advance. This allowed them to move through the streets undetected and occupy a suitable ambush site once a patrol had been identified. After the attack the weapons would be left in place and the enemy would melt back into the local population.

  The improvement in their tactics was a reflection that the inexperienced fighters A Company had first encountered in June had been replaced by a core of battle-hardened guerrillas. It also reflected the fact that the Taliban were finding it more difficult to recruit males from the local population, who had become reluctant to see their men die fighting the British after the insurgents’ claim that they would drive them out of Sangin had failed to materialize. The hardcore fighters were more committed to their cause and more fanatical in their approach. Their ranks were also swollen by an increasing number of foreign fighters who brought their combat experience from other conflicts with them.

  Being ambushed on 12 August for the first time was a defining moment for Second Lieutenant Andy Mallet who commanded 2 Platoon. He had joined 3 PARA in Afghanistan fresh out of officer training. He had never had the opportunity to train with the battalion before the deployment and the first set of orders he gave to his platoon for a fighting patrol was for real. As he ran through the patrol plan and sketched out the ‘actions on’ being ambushed and taking a casualty, he left his men in no doubt that he expected to make contact with the enemy. The seriousness of the task was reflected on the faces of his men, such as privates Zippy Owen and Andrew McSweeny, as they listened intently to their brand-new platoon commander. The platoon patrolled into the main bazaar with a number of ANA soldiers and set up a vehicle checkpoint on the main road through Sangin. Mallet let the Afghan soldiers do the talking to the local drivers while his men provided close protection. He knew that he could not remain static for too long, as to do so would invite attack. As his men covered their arcs, the insurgents were already moving unseen against them.

  The first indication of the emerging threat came as adults began ushering their children indoors. The patrol collapsed the checkpoint and headed back into the market. Mallet interpreted the clearing of the streets as a combat indicator and gave orders into his radio mike for his men to be on their guard. The tension mounted as they moved back cautiously towards the district centre, their weapons on their shoulders with safety catches off Index fingers caressed triggers, as the troops scrutinized every likely ambush point. The welcoming safety of the HESCO perimeter of the base soon came into view less than 100 metres to their front as Mallet’s team progressed steadily down the
narrow track of the Pipe Range that led to the main gate. His point section had already moved back into the district centre and he had only 30 metres to go. They were almost home.

  Suddenly the whole world opened up. Rounds knocked lumps of mud off the surrounding walls and kicked up the dirt at their feet. Mallet heard the wush of an RPG as it landed behind him. It threw up a huge black cloud of smoke and dust, showering his team with shrapnel that sliced off the antenna of his signaller’s backpack radio. Knocked down and dazed from his blast, McSweeny came to his senses realizing that he still had a live grenade in his hand. In the chaos he had already pulled the pin before being blown off his feet. He glanced at it briefly and then lobbed it in the direction of his attackers as he scrambled to his feet. Corporal Andy Carr’s radio was still working and he immediately started to call down mortar fire from the other side of the HESCO. Mallet’s other two sections were already returning rifle and machine-gun fire as friendly 81mm mortar bombs began to thump down danger close. The noise was deafening as rounds and lethal RPG fragments continued to sing among the troops caught in the confined area of the killing zone. The rapid response of the mortars delivered a devastating storm of exploding metal splinters into the Taliban and reduced the amount of fire the patrol was taking. The sections began to peel round each other as they manoeuvred their way out of contact to get back into the district centre.

  In all, the ambush had lasted only a few minutes, but to the men who now smoked behind the safety of the HESCO it had lasted an age. Mallet’s initial relief that everyone was okay was immediately replaced by disbelief that no one had been hit. As the post-combat euphoria of having survived an engagement without suffering casualties kicked in, Mallet’s men began to laugh and joke about their near-death experience. Even Private Owen, who had a reputation for being a serious-minded soldier, went off to clean his GPMG grinning like a Cheshire cat.

  The attacks against the two patrols on 27 July and 12 August had been the most serious of numerous encounters with the Taliban. But on both occasions the rapid application of battle drills and sheer tenacity had enabled the platoons to overmatch the insurgents. However, both patrols also highlighted the perils of being forced to patrol along the restricted number of predictable routes which made it easy for the Taliban to dick a platoon. It meant that every time members of A Company moved beyond the HESCO they were likely to be attacked. Consequently, every patrol was treated as an advance to contact and Loden made efforts to come up with novel ways to reduce their vulnerability to ambush. On 14 August, Loden had ordered Hugo Farmer to take his platoon out and blast holes through the walls of the compounds around the district centre using bar mines. Each mine was capable of destroying a main battle tank and contained enough explosive to blow a wide gap through the mud structures. They proved to be better than the underpowered mouse-hole charges and created a gap through which the men could move at ease. Loden’s intention was to create alternative routes into the town which would make it more difficult for the Taliban to predict the movements of his men. It was a successful, if noisy, tactic that enabled Farmer to get his men into the centre of Sangin without being tracked in advance by the Taliban. Two and a half days later, 1 Platoon was sent out to make a stealthier attempt to defeat the enemy’s dicking screen.

  Voices were kept to a whisper as Farmer’s men made their last-minute preparations: watches were zeroed, fire plans were confirmed and kit was checked to ensure it would not make tell-tale rattles or clinks that might give away the presence of the patrol. Final commands were passed down the line from man to man. Cocking handles were slid silently backwards and pushed forwards to chamber rounds to recheck that weapons had been made ready; then Farmer gave word for his point section to start moving out. They slipped through the rear gate built into the HESCO on the river side of the LZ and began to head south into the shadows of the night. They moved slowly, each man concentrating on his footing as they crossed the pebble-strewn flood plain along the riverbank. The world they patrolled into was a contrast of murky green and black as they looked through the monocular scopes of the night vision devices mounted on their helmets. Commands were passed by hand signal as the men patrolled, went to ground and listened for sounds in the blackness around them before moving off again until they reached their laying-up position to wait for the coming of daylight. If their movement out of the district centre had gone undetected they could resume the patrol at first light without being spotted by the dickers, which would reduce the amount of time the insurgents had to organize against them. However, it soon became clear that the Taliban had raised their game one notch further.

  As dawn broke, Farmer’s men moved from their concealed positions in the dense vegetation. Concurrently, a Scimitar and Spartan moved out of the district centre to distract any watching Taliban spotters. Had Farmer’s patrol not been conducting a fighting patrol to look for cached weapons the Taliban had placed ready to engage helicopters landing on the LZ, the scene might have been idyllic. They were surrounded by an exuberance of the greenery of maize crops and vegetable plants bounded by irrigation channels and bushy-topped trees. The early morning sun gilded the high-standing leaves against the growing brilliance of a clear blue sky as a light mist lifted off the river basin. But the peaceful beauty of the scene was lost on the men, who struggled to see further than a few metres to their front as they began to receive reports that their presence might not have gone undetected. They heard a motorbike engine in the near distance and received intelligence reports that the Taliban were looking for the patrol. Some of Farmer’s men broke on to a dirt track to see a bike with two Afghans moving slowly towards them. Farmer decided to detain them and take them back to the district centre for questioning. He watched as their hands were secured with plastic cuffs and blacked-out goggles were placed over their eyes to prevent them from picking up information about A Company’s defences when they moved back into the base.

  Farmer looked away as the men were being detained. Sixty metres off through a gap in the maize he spotted the heads of two more Afghans. Could they be farmers on their way to work in their fields? He looked again and saw four men behind them; he knew there were no fields in the direction they were heading. His suspicions were confirmed as the men moved closer and he spotted that they were wearing webbing and carrying AKs. The insurgents chatted idly, unaware of the proximity of Farmer’s men. He had a split-second decision to make: he could either engage them himself or warn the rest of his men. He turned back to face his soldiers, making a thumbs-down signal and pointed to indicate the presence of the enemy in their midst. As he did so the gaze of enemy and foe met through the gaps in the corn. A frozen second of surprise was replaced by a frantic fumbling of weapons and then the shooting started.

  Drills kicked in as Farmer’s men set about winning the firefight and he shouted orders to launch a hasty platoon attack. His MFC started bringing 81mm bombs down on the Taliban as Farmer crawled along a ditch to within 30 metres of where the enemy had gone to ground and started to throw grenades. As his men laid down suppressive fire, Corporal Budd took his section in a flanking attack and the enemy fled. There were no casualties among Farmer’s men, but the two detainees had been slow to move from their exposed position and were cut down by their own side’s bullets in the opening exchange of fire. The initial contact had been won by z Platoon, but they had expended a large quantity of ammunition. They had also lost the element of surprise and were over a kilometre away from the base.

  Suspecting that other Taliban would be attempting to move in behind them, Farmer decided to extract back to the district centre. But the Taliban were not about to let them go lightly. They had no idea that the two insurgents who had been apprehended had been killed in the initial firefight and were determined to get their men back and kill some of the patrol in the process. A minute after the patrol began to push back through the maize automatic fire cut through the crops from their right flank, forcing the patrol to take cover in the waterlogged irrigation ditches. As th
e vegetation above their heads was shredded by incoming bullets, Farmer consulted his map. His horizon was limited to the muddy bank a few metres in front of his face, but he knew that if he pushed north the Taliban would be waiting to ambush his men as they moved through the dense greenery. He decided to alter course and move north-west where he knew that the Household Cavalry’s Scimitars had driven out from the district centre on to the relatively open ground by the river. The armoured vehicles were over 1000 metres away, but if he could get closer to them he could get under the cover of their 30mm Rarden cannons. His men could already hear another group of Taliban beginning to close in behind them and he knew he had to get moving.

  Rounds continued to strike into the earth and crack in the air around them as Farmer’s men dashed, crawled and waded through the thick plantation. The insurgents were only a few metres from the rear section and their footfalls and breathing were audible to the men they pursued. Fanner put in the first of a series of snap ambushes that cut down the leading Taliban fighters as they closed to within a few metres of where his men had paused to turn and fire. The process was repeated and kept the enemy at bay as the platoon slowly reduced the distance between themselves and the Scimitars that waited to give them covering fire on the edge of the fields. But the Taliban weren’t giving up and continued to fire and manoeuvre towards them from the flanks and the rear.

  As the deadly cat-and-mouse chase through the maize fields unfolded, Loden’s urgent call for air support had finally been answered by the arrival of two RAF Harriers. The pressures the aircrew faced were very different to those of the men on the ground whom they had come to help. Their pressure was to deliver vital fire support when the location of the enemy was not known and the position of friendly troops was difficult to discern. The pilots of the aircraft could see the fields where the contact was raging below them, but they could not distinguish friend from foe among the figures that moved through the maize. The pilots asked for smoke for a point of reference to guide them towards the enemy. Corporal Carr popped a canister that spewed a green cloud of signal smoke, which the pilots spotted. So did the Taliban and it acted like a bullet magnet for their fire.