Battlefields of Terror
The caves of Tora Bora The cave complex of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan is 31 miles from the Khyber Pass, which for centuries has been a vital pathway in and out of what is today known as Pakistan. More recently, it served as a strategic location for the Taliban and al-Qaida. As U.S. forces converged on the region early in the war, having intercepted radio communications indicating that Osama bin Laden was hiding in the complex.
In early December 2001, members of Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 572, 5th Special Forces Group, converged on the complex, along with CIA personnel and members of the Northern Alliance. For the first 72 hours, ODA 572 guided munitions on target, seemingly to little effect. The ODA team was later joined by an additional 70 special operators with Delta Force, Naval Special Warfare Development Group (commonly known as “SEAL Team Six”) and members of the Air Force’s Special Tactics Squadron. By Dec. 12, the enemy also faced British and German special forces, as well as nearly 2,000 fighters from the Northern Alliance.
Although the complex is not nearly as advanced as media accounts portrayed it, each cave had to be cleared of fighters one at a time. Afghans serving with coalition forces weren’t always reliable, and rival Taliban troops appeared to be bartering for their own freedom as the mission progressed. As Gary Berntsen, CIA field commander at Tora Bora, described in his book “Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda,” there was hope that bin Laden’s men might turn him in themselves. He recounts what one of the CIA men said in discussing the al-Qaida leader: “If [redacted] is willing to help us capture bin Laden, we’ll do business with him and let him go. If he jerks us around, we’ll take him prisoner.”
“Dalton Fury” (a pseudonym for the Delta Force ground commander) believes that bin Laden was hiding in the cave complex at the time, noting in his bestselling book “Kill Bin Laden” that the last radio transmission intercept stated, “I’m sorry for getting you involved in this battle. If you can no longer resist, you may surrender with my blessing.’”
Gen. Tommy Franks was less certain, saying in 2004 that “we don’t know to this day whether Mr. bin Laden was at Tora Bora in December 2001. Some intelligence sources said he was; others indicated he was in Pakistan at the time ... Tora Bora was teeming with Taliban and al-Qaida operatives ... but Mr. bin Laden was never within our grasp.”
It is believed that bin Laden escaped Tora Bora by heading east over the 14,000-foot mountains and into Pakistan, where he found safe haven until his discovery nearly a decade later.
The 21st century’s first cavalry charge Not even two months after 9/11, Mazar-e-Sharif was the first major city to be captured in the Afghanistan operation. Northern Alliance troops led by Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum advanced rapidly until they were within 25 kilometers of the city, which is strategically located in northern Afghanistan near the borders of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.
It was a classic Special Operations mission, marrying U.S. technological and air assets with an implacable group of fighters who were reported to have attacked tanks while mounted on Afghan horses. As one Special Forces team commander accompanying the Northern Alliance quipped, “It was like the Jetsons met the Flinstones.” Many of the Green Berets who went into the city on horseback had never ridden horses before the war began.
Air power and ground tenacity proved too much for the Taliban, which retreated in disarray. Air Force Sgt. Stephen Tomat received a Silver Star for his actions on Nov. 10, 2001, when he and his team entered Mazar-e-Sharif to strike an enemy stronghold of some 900 combatants. According to Tomat’s citation, while under direct small-arms fire 380 meters from the enemy position, he “calmly highlighted the friendly location and called in close air support.” His “expert control obliterated the enemy while keeping the friendly forces well inside of danger close safe from harm. The direct action mission resulted not only in the destruction of the enemy compound and over 800 Taliban personnel, but it also finalized the liberation of Mazar-e-Sharif.”
In a report to Congress, then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the battle for Mazar-e-Sherif “the first American cavalry charge of the 21st century.”
The Northern Alliance lost 38 men, while the Americans suffered no loss of life. In addition to capturing the city, the combined force killed more than 300 Taliban fighters and captured around 500, while another 1,000 defected.
The rescue of Pvt. Jessica Lynch In the initial invasion of Iraq, one area of heavy resistance was Nasiriyah, about 225 miles southeast of Baghdad. On the morning of March 23, 2003, soldiers from the Army’s 507th Maintenance Company mistakenly turned off the route at night and lost touch with the task force’s larger combat units. They were ambushed, and despite a firefight that lasted nearly an hour, Iraqi forces overwhelmed the group. They killed 11 and captured several soldiers, including Spc. Shoshana Johnson and Pvt. Jessica Lynch. Both sustained injuries during the firefight but by all accounts were treated well during captivity in a hospital.
One of the doctors who treated Lynch walked nearly six miles to a Marine Corps vehicle checkpoint; acting on the intelligence he provided, U.S. forces devised a rescue plan.
On April 1, Marines and Navy SEALs staged a diversionary attack on nearby Iraqi irregulars, while Army Rangers, Air Force pararescuemen, and Special Forces and Delta Force operators launched a night raid on the hospital. They secured Lynch and the bodies of eight fallen U.S. troops. Johnson and six other prisoners were rescued during a house raid on April 13.
Fallujah: Two battles, two lessons By 2004, Fallujah had a reputation as one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq. U.S. patrols occasionally went through the city, but no all-out effort was made to control the situation until March 31 that year, after four contractors with the private military firm Blackwater were ambushed and killed. Their bodies were burned, dragged through the street and eventually hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River. Images from the atrocity were broadcast worldwide.
U.S. reaction was immediate and clear. “We will pacify that city,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director of operations in Iraq.
On April 3, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force received its initial operations orders. Nearly 2,000 U.S. Marines encircled the city by the next evening. As they prepared to attack the city, Navy Chaplain Wayne Hall blessed one of the units that would do the bulk of the fighting. “Today is Palm Sunday,” Hall was quoted as saying in The Atlantic. “The day of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where he broke the bounds of hell. Tonight commences your triumphal entry into Fallujah, a place in the bounds of hell. This is a spiritual battle, and you Marines are the tools of mercy.”
Troops moved slowly into the city, retaking it street by street under intense fire from small groups of insurgents. Marine scout snipers positioned on roofs throughout the city engaged enemy snipers, some averaging 31 kills apiece, according to an embedded Atlantic reporter.
Political support from the Iraqi government diminished significantly due to a number of civilian casualties, which led to an eventual cease-fire in Fallujah, which was at least partially secured. U.S. troops suffered 27 deaths, while insurgent forces (Al-Qaida in Iraq, Ba’athists and Chechen volunteers) reportedly had between 180 and 230 killed.
The Iraqi government and military officials agreed on a plan to arm local militias that, it was believed, would fight aggressively against the extremists. However, shortly after U.S. weapons were transferred to these groups, it was discovered that the man selected to lead the militias had engaged in attacks on the Shi’ite minority population and was replaced. Within months, all the weapons provided to the militia to fight against al-Qaida and affiliated groups were in the hands of enemy forces.
Staff Sgt. Daniel Briggs and Master Sgt. Donald Hollenbaugh received Distinguished Service Crosses for the First Battle for Fallujah. Sgt. Willie Copeland and Capt. Brent Morel received the Navy Cross, the latter posthumously.
By November, the situation had deteriorated to the point that nearly 14,000 troops were needed to pacify the city. “Operation Phantom Fury” featured Army, Marine and Navy personnel working side by side with British forces and Iraqi security troops. The number of enemy insurgents was estimated at around 4,000, in heavily fortified areas; the entire city was thought to be wired with explosives.
The invasion began the night of Nov. 7, 2004, with Special Forces and Iraqi commandos attacking from the west and the south, with numerous Marine Corps units. Meanwhile, Navy Seabees disabled all electricity going into the city. Other Marine and Army units attacked from the north.
Civilian casualties were not as much of an issue this time around, because nearly 90 percent of the civilian population had fled the city prior to the second battle. The 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines faced some of the most intense fighting, which one military official called “some of the heaviest urban combat U.S. Marines have been involved in since the Battle of Huế City in Vietnam in 1968.”
By the time Phantom Fury ended Dec. 23, the 3/5 Marines had 19 killed in action and 245 wounded. Total casualties for coalition forces were 95 killed and 560 wounded Americans, eight killed and 43 wounded Iraqis, and four killed and 10 wounded British. Insurgents had between 1,200 and 1,500 killed with an additional 1,500 captured.
The Army’s 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for actions during the battle. Operation Phantom Fury also yielded two nominees for the Medal of Honor. Sgt. Rafael Peralta of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines eventually received the Navy Cross, and Staff Sgt. David Bellavia of the Army’s Task Force 2-2 Infantry received the Silver Star and was nominated for the Medal of Honor. Marine 1st Sgt. Bradley Kasal, Staff Sgt. Aubrey McDade, Cpl. Jason Clairday, Sgt. Jarrett Kraft, Cpl. Jeremiah Workman, Lance Cpl. Christopher Adlessperger, Cpl. Robert Mitchell and Cpl. Dominic Esquibel received the Navy Cross. Clairday’s award was presented posthumously.
Francis “Bing” West spent both battles embedded with various units, and came away with a strong distaste for the command’s handling of them. “The singular lesson from Fallujah is clear,” he concluded in his book “No True Glory.” “When you send our soldiers into battle, let them finish the fight. Ordering the Marines to attack, then calling them off, then dithering, then sending them back in, constituted a flawed set of strategic decisions. American soldiers are not political bargaining chips. They fight for one another, for winning the battle, and for their country’s cause.”
Two years later, Bellavia returned to Iraq not as a soldier but as a journalist, placing flowers at the places where his friends had given their lives.
“The soil in Fallujah and all of Iraq has been consecrated with the blood of our dead,” Bellavia recounted in “House to House,” his best-selling book. “Fallujah will never be just another battlefield .... It was here we fought for hope. It was here that we fought to end the reign of terror that had descended on the innocents of the city.”
Regime change: Saddam’s era ends On July 22, 2003, U.S. troops led by Special Forces Task Force 121 – including the Headquarters and Charlie companies of the 101st Airborne’s 3/327th Infantry – cornered the sons of Saddam Hussein, Qusay and Uday, in a home in the northern Iraq city of Mosul.
In the “Most Wanted Deck of Cards” issued to identify high-value targets, Qusay was the ace of clubs and Uday was the ace of hearts. Acting on a tip from a cousin of the Husseins, Special Forces troops approached the house and came under fire. The operators pulled back, and over the next six hours attacked the building with TOW missiles, a Mark 19 belt-fed grenade launcher, .50 caliber machine guns and small arms.
After the firefight, U.S. forces recovered the bodies of the president’s sons, as well as their bodyguard and Qusay’s 14-year-old son, Mustapha. Meanwhile, Saddam went on the move to avoid capture by coalition forces; some intelligence indicated that he might be hiding in his hometown area of Tikrit, 100 miles north of Baghdad.
Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno turned over the operation to Col. James Hickey, who had members of Task Force 121 work with his troops in “Operation Red Dawn.” On Dec. 13, 2003, the combined unit searched two purported hiding sites, “Wolverine 1” and “Wolverine 2,” but failed to locate the deposed dictator. Troops continued searching the area, and finally an Iraqi-American interpreter named Samir located the “spider hole” in which Saddam was hiding with a 9mm pistol. He surrendered without a fight.
On Nov. 5, 2006, an Iraqi court convicted Saddam Hussein of crimes against humanity, including the murder of 148 residents of Dujail, Iraq, whom he had arrested, tortured and killed in 1982. On Dec. 30, he was hanged for his crimes.
Deadly defense at Wanat At about 4:20 a.m. July 13, 2008, a loose affiliation of anti-coalition forces attacked a small outpost near Wanat in the rugged Nuristan province of Afghanistan. Having just moved into the area a week earlier, defensive positions were not completed. Most of the vehicle patrol base and nearby observation point (“OP Topside”) had some perimeter protection, but various setbacks, including a broken-down construction vehicle, impeded progress. A 4-foot-high wall of HESCO barriers (large sandbags) surrounded most of the outpost, while some of the perimeter was secured only with concertina wire laid across the ground.
The attackers had managed to approach the base from multiple directions and initiated contact with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. The assault knocked out a 120mm mortar and caused secondary explosions from ammunition stockpiled there, while rocket-propelled grenade fire destroyed a TOW missile.
At OP Topside, about 60 meters beyond the outpost perimeter, the situation was grim. A burst of machine-gun fire initiated contact, followed by an RPG round that hit the position and wounded or stunned everyone there. Spc. Matthew Phillips managed to toss one grenade before he was mortally wounded. Pfc. Tyler Stafford and Staff Sgt. Ryan Pitts were seriously wounded, and within the first 20 minutes, all nine men at the outpost were either killed or badly hurt. Insurgents then swarmed through a wire barrier that provided meager defense.
Because of its elevated position, Topside was critical to base protection. Losing it would have given the more numerous insurgents excellent firing positions. As President Barack Obama said at Pitts’ Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House on July 21, 2014, “against that onslaught, one American held the line ... just 22 years old, nearly surrounded, bloodied but unbowed.”
Wounded in both legs and with shrapnel in his arm, Pitts crawled onto the sandbags and fired a machine gun at the approaching insurgents. Alone and bleeding, the perimeter of his position breached, he could hear enemy voices as they closed in. He made a prediction about his fate: “I was going to die and made my peace with it.”
Two U.S. soldiers, platoon leader 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom and Cpl. Jason Hovater, were killed trying to deliver ammunition to the observation post. A second relief group led by Sgt. Mike Denton finally made it to Topside, an act for which Denton was later awarded the Silver Star.
“That Mike Denton and the other guys basically decided that my life was worth risking their lives to come and try to save me, that’s pretty amazing,” Pitts recalled. “He saved my life. He was able to search his best friend Jason Hovater’s dead body for ammo and tell him that he loved him and then moved back on to fight ... I don’t know if I could have done that.”
With support from Denton, Pitts called in air support. Over the ensuing three hours, the air above the outpost would swarm with Apaches, Predator drones, B-1B Lancers, A-10 close air-support planes and even F-15E Strike Eagles. Four hours after launching the attack, the anti-coalition forces withdrew, having sustained nearly 50 killed and another 40 wounded.
COP Keating At dawn on Oct. 3, 2009, Taliban-led insurgents attacked Army Combat Outpost (COP) Keating in Afghanistan’s Kamdesh Valley. Nestled in a river valley, the COP was home to about 60 cavalrymen from Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. They confronted the enemy in a 12-hour close-contact battle that nearly went hand-to-hand. Security was breached in three places. Fires set by the attackers destroyed the COP’s barracks. Close air support and mortar fire had to be directed at enemy forces inside the original perimeter.
In the first hour, the cavalrymen had consolidated in a tight perimeter, in the only two buildings not burning. From there, they began pushing out teams to regain control. They expanded the perimeter all the way back to the entry control point and to the buildings on the western edge of the outpost, which became their final fighting position.
Jon Hill, a platoon sergeant and Silver Star recipient, said he’ll never forget Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha’s attitude that day. “I was at my peak of frustration, fatigue, and overwhelmed at the situation at hand,” Hill says. “In the tactical operations center, it was loud with explosions just outside, yelling, and new reports of enemy locations. Out of the blue, ‘Ro’ said in a very stern and demanding voice – just as there was a moment of odd but haunting silence – ‘I’ll tell you what we are going to do. We are going to take this f***ing COP back!’”
Staff Sgt. Ty Carter, meanwhile, had been wounded. Nevertheless, he continued firing at the enemy inside the perimeter, ran weapons and ammunition to positions under fire, and carried a wounded comrade 30 meters while rounds ripped the air around him.
Close air support coming on station changed the tide of the battle and forced an enemy retreat. Twelve hours after the battle started, the quick-reaction force that landed three kilometers away made it to the COP and relieved the besieged troops.
After the battle, COP Keating was abandoned and ultimately destroyed by U.S. aircraft called in to ensure that nothing was left that could be used by the insurgents. As the last helicopters full of troops loaded up to leave the area, Romesha was the final man onboard.
The Battle for COP Keating produced 27 Purple Hearts, 37 Army Commendation medals with “V” devices for valor, three Bronze Stars, 18 Bronze Stars with “V” devices and nine Silver Stars. Two cavalrymen, Romesha and Carter, received the Medal of Honor.
The enemy death toll is estimated at between 150 and 200.
The Battle for Marjah In terms of troops involved, nothing in the Afghanistan war compares with the 10-month Battle for Marjah, which began in early 2010. A combined force of more than 15,000 American, Afghan, Canadian, Estonian, Danish, French and British troops fought to secure the area in the country’s southwest corner, near both the Pakistan and Iran borders. Marjah had long been crucial to the Taliban for its abundant poppy fields, from which was made heroin to finance war efforts. The U.S. forces planned the battle well in advance and included numerous units. Marines from Camp Leatherneck made up the bulk of the American contingent.
Codenamed “Operation Moshtarak” – which means “together” in the local Dari language – the operation was the first for surge forces that had been filtering into theater since President Obama announced the initiative the previous December. Marines, Special Forces and coalition units took the city in about a week, engaging in heavy combat nearly the whole time. However, the Taliban stubbornly refused to give up Marjah and attacked with IEDs and small arms fire almost daily.
Four Marines received Silver Stars for their actions at Marjah: Sgt. Miguelange Madrigal, Capt. Timothy Sparks, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Cole and Cpl. Jason Hassinger. Army Staff Sgt. Cory Calkins received the Army Distinguished Service Cross, while Marine Sgt. Joshua Moore received the Navy Cross. Marine Cpl. Kyle Carpenter received the Medal of Honor.
The nearly yearlong battle for Marjah cost 45 American and 13 British lives. Enemy casualties exceeded 120, and another 56 were captured.