by Tom Clancy
TASK FORCE PACIFIC
Though the ice storm at Pope Air Force Base had taken its toll, the twenty heavy-drop and three CDS birds (C-141s) from Charleston were unaffected, and arrived at Torrijos-Tocumen on schedule at 1:45 A.M. carrying most of the equipment the 82nd would use in Panama: seventy-two HMMWVs, most of them equipped with.50-caliber machine guns; eight Sheridan M-551 armored assault vehicles; four 105mm artillery pieces; and several pieces of engineer equipment. Twenty-six minutes later, eight C-141s arrived with paratroopers. General Johnson, his Division Assault CP, and his brigade and battalion commanders flew in with the first eight birds. An hour after that, five more birds dropped. The last seven dropped at 0515 hours, completing the Division Ready Brigade of more than 2,000 paratroopers.
The first division objective was Panama Viejo in eastern Panama City. Stationed there were the PDF 1st Cavalry Squadron, primarily a ceremonial unit with approximately eighty horses, and a 170-man detachment from Noriega's elite and fiercely loyal special operations antiterrorist unit (USEAT), equipped with V-300 armored assault vehicles and antiaircraft weapons. The job of taking this target had been given to the 2nd Battalion, 504th Infantry.
Since the entire DRB had been cross-loaded among the twenty C-141 personnel birds — normal practice in an airborne operation to spread the risk — and all the arrivals were staggered, the entire 2nd/504th did not assemble for the air assault until most of the personnel planes had dropped. And it was nearly daylight when the first lift of the 2nd/504th launched for Panama Viejo, with eleven Blackhawks carrying thirty-five troopers each, supported by two Cobra gunships and two Apaches. They landed relatively unopposed at 6:45 A.M., and quickly set about establishing a security perimeter around their landing zone.
The second lift landed just to their north, behind the barracks. As the Blackhawks approached the landing zone, they took heavy small-arms fire, and two lift ships were hit. Though the two ships made it back to the pickup zone at Torrijos-Tocumen, they were disabled and out of action. The troops on the lift were also quickly engaged by heavy small-arms fire after they hit the ground.
The third lift arrived without serious opposition and began to push outward.
A total of five hundred troops were now on the ground, and all met resistance — PDF and USEAT wearing civilian clothes, using hit-and-run tactics.
By 11:55 A.M., after suffering heavy casualties, the PDF had melted into the civilian population, and the battalion commander officially declared Panama Viejo secured; but sporadic fighting continued for the rest of the afternoon.
TINAJITAS
Tinajitas, the home of the two-hundred-man 1st Infantry Company, was located on a hilltop six miles north of Panama City and eight miles west of Torrijos-Tocumen, and was surrounded on three sides by the sprawling slum village of San Miguelito, the home of a Dignity Battalion. It was a tough target. Anti-helicopter obstacles had been set up in the garrison's large courtyard; adjacent to the compound were four 120mm mortars, six 81 mm mortars, three 60mm mortars, and a ZPU-4 antiaircraft gun. An AC- 130 had engaged the dug-in position three times during the night.
There was only one way to effectively attack Tinajitas, and that was by landing on a ridgeline 700 meters down the hill. The landing zone would be clearly within the range of the mortars, and the fight would be uphill all the way.
The 1st Battalion, 504th Airborne Infantry, lifted off from Torrijos-Tocumen at 8:00 A.M., preceded by two Apaches and an OH-58 helicopter to overwatch the landing zone. During their initial survey of the area, the fire support element took no ground fire, but as they broke off to lead the approaching lift ships to the LZ, they crossed over San Miguelito and received heavy and effective ground fire. Rather than risk collateral damage to civilians, they did not return the fire, but reported it to the air assault task force commander, then flew to Howard Air Force Base to check the damage.
An escort Apache immediately flew to San Miguelito, located the enemy position, and received permission to engage the target, which was neutralized by salvos of 30mm fire from a distance of 2,800 meters, leaving ten dead PDF soldiers.
The landing zone at Tinajitas turned out to be the hottest encountered by 82nd units. The delay brought on by the ice storm had given the PDF time to set up defenses and inflict casualties. (One Blackhawk took twenty-eight hits but still remained airborne, thanks to its redundant systems.)
As they approached the LZ, the first lift came under automatic-weapons and 81 mm mortar fire from PDF soldiers positioned in buildings to their west and southwest. After landing, as they were deploying in their attack formation, the paratroopers came again under heavy fire, this time from the hilltop and the surrounding barrio. These troops, supported by fire from the two Apaches, attacked the PDF position; heavy fire continued as the second and third lifts came in.
The battalion then fought up the hill, but when they reached the top, the garrison turned out to be abandoned. The PDF had left a stay-behind element to counter the attack, while the rest of the company had withdrawn into the barrio to fight alongside the Dignity Battalion. The stay-behinds slipped away before the paratroopers reached the top.
The battalion later moved into the barrio and neutralized organized resistance.
The battalion commander declared the position secure at 2:30 P.M.
FORT CIMARRON
As of noon on D Day, only one major target remained to be taken — Battalion 2000. But with three companies, eight V-300 armored cars, fourteen mortars, and four 107mm rocket launchers (somewhat attrited during the attempt to cross the Pacora River bridge the night before), it was one of the most demanding targets of the twenty-seven.
At 12:05 P.M., Lieutenant Colonel John Vines, Commander of 4th Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, departed for Fort Cimarron in eleven Blackhawks, escorted by Cobra gunships. The assault required two lifts.
After landing, paratroops fanned out into the villages outside the encampment, where they encountered heavy PDF resistance (another consequence of the ice storm delay); five PDF soldiers were killed in the resulting firefights.
When they reached Fort Cimarron, the battalion PSYOPs team broadcast a surrender message; in reply, the PDF inside the cuartel fired on the paratroopers. The battalion commander directed an AC-130 gunship attack on the barracks complex. The gunship fired at the barracks area almost continuously for four hours.
At daylight, when the paratroopers conducted a sweep through the garrison compound, they found it empty. They prepared for a counterattack, but it never came. The survivors of Battalion 2000 had abandoned the garrison, put on their Levi's, and made their way into the city.
Battalion 2000 casualties were heavy.
STABILITY OPERATIONS
U.S. forces broke the PDF — and Noriega's ability to control his forces — during the first hour of combat. By the end of D Day, most of the fighting was over — though Panama was by no means safe. Many of the PDF had changed into Levi's and slipped into the city, where they banded together to continue making trouble.
There was no law and order.
Have-nots, armed bands of hoodlums, Dignity Battalions, and PDF displaced by the fighting — and sometimes a mix of all the above — started looting and causing mayhem.
This had been anticipated by American planners; the Task Force Atlantic and Task Force Pacific division commanders had orders to move into the city and begin stability operations to secure key facilities and mop up resistance.
By dawn of the twentieth, there were already 3,000 refugees in the Balboa High School athletic field, including many PDF who had infiltrated in civilian clothes. There were also 1,500 detainees in a camp being established on a rifle range halfway up the Canal — a number that grew to 4,600 within a week, as more detainees were brought in from the combat units.
Meanwhile, hospitals had to be reopened and sanitation services restarted.
A CBS News poll later determined that 93 percent of the Panamanian people supported U.S. operations — yet the same people ha
d instant expectations that their new government could not soon fulfill, since the removal of Noriega's appointees had decapitated most of the vital institutions.
Though additional units from the 7th Special Forces Group and civil affairs were being brought in to handle these needs, the demand was now, and it could only be satisfied in the near term by the military personnel already on the ground.
The immediate tasks were:
• Mopping up and bringing security to the major cities, particularly Panama City and Colon.
• Neutralizing the PDF and Dignity Battalions in the remainder of Panama.
• Reestablishing law and order.
• Taking care of refugees and displaced persons.
Meanwhile, all major military objectives had been achieved: The PDF had been neutralized, the PDF command and control no longer functioned, Noriega was no longer in control, and the new government had been installed.
On the downside, Noriega had not been captured, and U.S. forces had no idea where to find him.
MA BELL
Throughout D Day, heavy-lift transports had been landing at Howard Air Force Base and Torrijos-Tocumen, bringing in Major General Carmen Cavezza and two additional brigades from the 7th Infantry Division, as well as the 16th MP Brigade from Fort Bragg, to bring stability to Panama City and Colon, while extending operations to the west to neutralize the remaining PDF main force units. The 75th Ranger Regiment could now be "freed up" to join in liberating the west and clearing the area north of Panama City.
On December 20, the new government asked General Thurman to send a force to liberate political prisoners at Penomone Prison, sixty-five miles southwest of Panama City.
Wayne Downing got the call. That morning, he had flown to Rio Hato to visit Buck Kernan and his Rangers. Later that day, Stiner called him: "I want you and Kernan's rangers to conduct a battalion-size air assault tonight to liberate the political prisoners."
Meanwhile, A Company 1st Battalion, 7th SFG, which was already stationed in Panama, was to operate toward the west with the Rangers and the 2nd Brigade of the 7th Division. Later that afternoon, Major Gilberto Perez, the commander, flew his company to Rio Hato, where it would stage for these operations.
Downing and Kernan decided to fly out and take a look at the prison — which turned out to be located in a populated area. Taking it could easily result in collateral damage and civilian casualties. Later, as Downing and Kcrnan prepared the units for the assault, they kept telling themselves, "There has to be a better way to do this."
At about that time, Perez linked up with Downing and Kcrnan. Since he was already familiar with the country, they asked if he had any helpful ideas about liberating Penomone.
"I just happen to know the major who commands the prison," he told them. "So why don't you let me call him? I'll tell him what's about to happen and see if he'll surrender."
"That's a real gamble," Downing said after he and Kcrnan had talked this over. "We have to keep preparing for the assault tonight. But go ahead and call him up, and see what he says."
Perez got on the phone and called the major. "Did you see what happened to the Comandancia last night?" he asked the major in Spanish.
"Yes, it was terrible, wasn't it?" The major answered.
"You're exactly right," Perez said, "and the same thing is going to happen to you tonight."
"What do you mean? "
"The Rangers are planning to assault the prison tonight, but if you are agreeable to their terms, you can avoid loss of life."
"What do they want me to do?"
"You can send someone down here," Perez told him, "and we'll give him the terms and conditions."
"I will come myself. Where are you?"
"At Rio Hato," Perez answered.
The major showed up an hour and a half later, and Downing laid out the terms for surrender: "At eight o'clock tonight, you'll leave enough guards to keep the prisoners under control, march all the rest down to the air strip" — near the prison—"lay down your arms, and raise the white flag.
"To keep you honest, an AC-130 gunship circling overhead will sec your every move, and relay hack to me exactly what you are doing and if you are living up to the terms of the agreement. If you do what I said, no one will get hurt."
The major agreed to the terms and returned to the prison.
Meanwhile, Downing had told Kernan: "Even if this works, I want you to run the operation as planned — except with no gunfire — in order to send the message to the other PDF installations."
At 8:00 that night, Downing and Perez set up an observation post near the prison, Kernan prepared his Ranger battalion for the assault, and the AC-130 watched the prison. A few minutes after 8:00, prison guards were marching down the hill toward the airstrip. At the airstrip, they placed their weapons in a ditch alongside the runway, then got into a formation and raised the white flag.
Downing and Perez accepted the surrender ten minutes before the air assault hit the prison. The awed PDF watched as Little Bird gunships hovered over the prison compound and Rangers fast-roped down. Not one of them believed the major had made the wrong decision.
What happened at Penomone was repeated elsewhere in western Panama, became standard operating procedure, and was known as "Ma Bell."
It worked this way: One of Major Perez's A-Detachments would make contact with a PDF cuartel to find out if the commander was willing to surrender. A rifle company from Colonel Lin Burney's 2nd Brigade, 7th Infantry Division,[29] would fly in to accept the surrender — but was prepared for combat. After surrender, both the A-Detachment and the company would remain as a guard and stabilizing force until the government decided what to do with the cuartel. This was their mission: (1) To secure the cuartel and ensure that no PDF got away. (2) To gather intelligence on the weapons caches of the PDF and Dignity Battalions who had not yet surrendered. (3) To help the local civilian leaders gain control of the town. (4) To assess the local infrastructure — hospital, public utilities, law and order — and establish priorities for follow-on civil-military operations. (5) To conduct joint Panamanian/U.S. patrols throughout the area.
The second and third "Ma Bell" missions secured the cuartels at Santiago and Chitre. Each PDF commander surrendered without resistance, and one of Burney's rifle companies took control.
On Christmas Day, Perez and his team flew into Las Tablas, the capital of Las Santos Province. Perez telephoned the local commander, who willingly surrendered. As Perez and his team were searching the cuartel, a crowd of civilians gathered outside the wall — presenting Perez with an opportunity. He assembled the PDF on the parade field and had his own troops line up beside them. He then called the combined force to attention, ordered "present arms," and had the Panamanian flag raised on the cuartel's flagpole — thus demonstrating that the United States was not a conqueror, but a liberator, and gaining civilian support for follow-on U.S. efforts.
That same day, Lieutenant Colonel Joe I Iunt and his 3rd Battalion of the 75th Rangers air-assaulted into Malek airfield near David, the capital of Chiriqui Province.
David was the home of Lieutenant Colonel Del Cid, who commanded its largest PDF installation. Del Cid was the second-most-powerful man in Panama and a close friend of Noriega's — the man tagged by the dictator to carry out his plan for guerrilla warfare in the mountains. Like Noriega, he had been indicted for drug trafficking.
On December 21, as the Rangers were preparing their air assault against David, Marc Cisneros phoned Del Cid and gave him unconditional surrender terms. The following day, he agreed to the terms, and a white flag appeared over his headquarters. He was picked up by the Rangers on Christmas Day, flown to Howard Air Force Base, and arrested by the DEA. He was then flown to Homestead and on to Miami for arraignment.
Meanwhile, Burney and his brigade provided security and support throughout central and western Panama. As a result of the rapport they established, civilians provided valuable intelligence that helped locate weapons caches, people on the m
ost wanted list, and PDF and Dignity Battalion members who had not yet been captured — and no more than eight shots had been fired in that part of Panama.
Elsewhere, U.S. forces were closing the noose on armed bands of holdouts, and intensifying operations against Dignity Battalions in Panama City.
Until two days into the operation, when documents were captured during a raid on a headquarters, not much was known about this mysterious organization, except that they were baddies — Noriega's control and enforcement force — who had terrorized the people enough to make them afraid even to talk about them.
According to the captured documents, there were eighteen Dignity Battalions, and they were the best paid of Noriega's forces — including quarters for both members and their families. A list of leaders — also provided by the documents — added many names to the most-wanted list.
During the next days, Downing and his special mission units worked tirelessly to uproot and dismantle the Dignity Battalions, and track down their leaders. Their success soon inspired the locals to reveal where Dignity Battalion members were holed up. And by December 23, that threat had pretty much ended.
By then, the equivalent of four combat brigades and fifteen hundred military police had brought stability to Panama City, Colon, and most of the rest of the country, and all the PDF regional commanders had surrendered. One major task remained — capturing Noriega.
THE SEARCH FOR NORIEGA
At H-hour, Wayne Downing launched one of the most intensive manhunts in history, when he went to work to disassemble Noriega's infrastructure (the most-wanted list) and capture the elusive Noriega.
Downing's Panzer Cruppe — now two Sheridan armored reconnaissance vehicles, two U.S. Marine Corps LAVs, five Army APCs, four confiscated PDF two-and-a-half-ton trucks, and an old yellow school bus — together with his air assets, would give him maximum flexibility responding to leads.
