Afghanistan: Ghurkas in combat.
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Gurkha spirit triumphs in siege of Nawzad
By Tom Coghlan
(Filed: 05/10/2006)
The Gurkhas were never supposed to fire a shot in anger in Helmand. Their main duty was to protect the main British Army base at Camp Bastion.
But as British forces found themselves fighting a full-scale war, the Gurkhas were thrust into the front line and became involved in some of the fiercest fire fights of the summer-long campaign.
One of the most dramatic engagements took place in the town of Nawzad, a key strategic post in southern Helmand.
The Gurkha commanders realised that trouble was brewing when the town centre emptied of civilians.
As night fell they heard the sounds of holes being chipped through the walls of the buildings close to their fortified ''platoon house", the town's police station. Then the sound of civilian electricity generators in the town abruptly ceased, so that in the silence approaching British helicopters could be heard sooner.
"We knew it was the calm before the storm. We sensed what was coming," said Major Dan Rex, 35, the Gurkhas' tall, softly spoken commander.
During the next 10 days, the 40 Gurkhas sent to Nawzad to hold the police station fought tenaciously to defend themselves as they were subjected to 28 attacks lasting one to six hours each, including five full scale efforts by hundreds of Taliban fighters to over-run their compound.
Senior British officers say it was one of a series of gruelling attritional sieges that have characterised the bloody first six months of the British deployment to Helmand.
They paid tribute to the courage displayed by the 110- man mixed force from the 1st and 2nd Gurkha Rifles, particularly those who fought so valiantly to defend the Nawzad police station.
"I held a Shura (meeting) with the town elders to discuss the deteriorating situation just before the attacks began," Major Rex said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph.
"Several of those present eyeballed me throughout, and I subsequently discovered they were the Taliban commanders coming to size me up."
The first major attack began at 1.50am when a Gurkha corporal spotted armed men "leopard crawling" towards the compound 60 yards away. He opened fire killing four.
Ten minutes later a coordinated assault began from three directions. Every one of the six sand-bagged positions around the compound and on its roof were hit by rocket-propelled grenades. The command post on the roof received four separate hits.
For many of the Gurkhas, seven of whom had just finished training, it was their first experience of combat. "For the first five minutes under fire I was just so frightened," said Tkam Paha Dur, a 19-year-old Gurkha rifleman, to the amusement of his comrades."After that it became just like a live firing exercise."
With the Taliban closer than 50 yards, Rifleman Nabin Rai, 20, manning a heavy machinegun on the roof, had several rounds ricochet off his weapon before a bullet went through the gunsight and hit him in the face.
"His commander called for him to be medi-vacced out, but he refused to come down from the roof," said Major Rex. "Later he was again hit, this time in the helmet. He sat down and had a cigarette, then went back to his position."
With a full moon negating the advantage of British night vision equipment, the Taliban launched another full-scale assault the next night, using dried up underground watercourses to move men and ammunition around the British position.
"We took two or three RPG hits on one position and significant machinegun fire from a range of about 20 yards," said Lt Angus Mathers, 26.
"They had used tunnels and knocked holes in the compound walls to get close."
The Gurkhas threw 21 grenades at the Taliban position before an Apache helicopter arrived overhead.
The pilot later described the situation as "like the Wild West", with tracer converging on him from numerous positions. He hovered 20 yards above the compound firing back with the helicopter's cannon while the empty shell cases cascaded on to the heads of the Gurkhas below.
The Gurkhas faced constant danger from several snipers and Taliban mortar teams.
"The snipers had positions in buildings two rooms back with holes cut through the walls to give them a field of fire," said Major Rex.
British troops could not show themselves during the day and a signaller was shot in the back, but survived his injuries. In response the Gurkhas flew in a specialist sniper. "It was cat and mouse for a couple of days," said Major Rex. "Then our sniper, Corporal Imbahadar Gurung, got four confirmed kills."
Two mortar positions were spotted and destroyed by aircraft but the third continued to elude British spotters for several days. "Eventually my JTAC (ground-air coordinator) caught the smoke as it fired out of the corner of his eye," said Major Rex. "An American aircraft dropped a 2,000lb bomb on the spot and that ended the mortar fire." After a particularly heavy attack Major Rex used the Afghan police radio, which was known to be listened to by the Taliban, to send them a message through an interpreter.
"I said 'you have two paths here. If the attacks continue you will suffer. We are being restrained. We take no pleasure in this. We are here to help you if you want a better life. It is in your hands.' "
By the time the attacks began to peter out the British estimated that they had killed 100 Taliban fighters. Three British soldiers were injured.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=IQEHHICGBA3MPQFIQMFSFFWAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/10/05/wafghan05.xml -
"His commander called for him to be medi-vacced out, but he refused to come down from the roof," said Major Rex. "Later he was again hit, this time in the helmet. He sat down and had a cigarette, then went back to his position."
i wonder what would happen if that was a singaporean white horse serving ns. -
He wouldn't be there....
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I said 'you have two paths here. If the attacks continue you will suffer. We are being restrained. We take no pleasure in this. We are here to help you if you want a better life. It is in your hands.' "
That's practically saying "look man we're kicking your ass and we arent even trying,dont piss us off!"
nice hah
Interesting they suffered only 3 injured for such a fight,no deaths and considering that the enemy suffered alot more deaths! -
must be damn good prepared postitions
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Are you kidding, have you seen how these guys shoot?
The british is far superior tactically. You guys should read up on the exploits of 3 para in afghanistan. They were thrown in the thick end by politicians who know nothing of fighting to man a remote outpost for no good reason.
Still, they gave a good account of themselves!
Afghanistan's where its at now, but there is not much coverage of that because of a media blackout by the MOD. -
What's surprising isn't the Gurkhas fighting skill and fighting spirit.
What's surprising is that the Taliban is still alive and well after early reports that gave the impression they were long defeated.
Also, I thought the press had reported many times that England will cease to use Gurkhas. -
taliban is so fucking incompetent, with snipers and mortars they didnt kill a single person, losers.
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this i gotta agreeOriginally posted by the.owl:taliban is so fucking incompetent, with snipers and mortars they didnt kill a single person, losers.
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The taleban will be difficult to defeat as long as NATO keeps taking the politically acceptable stance.Originally posted by moca:What's surprising isn't the Gurkhas fighting skill and fighting spirit.
What's surprising is that the Taliban is still alive and well after early reports that gave the impression they were long defeated.
Also, I thought the press had reported many times that England will cease to use Gurkhas.
You cannot win the fight if you piss the local populace off, and that is what NATO is doing by proudly declaring that they are there to destroy poppy crops.
That is, without a doubt, a move of monumental stupidity.
What NATO needs to do is to buy the crops off friendly farmers. That is certainly not a new concept. Many farmers, manufacturing plants in Europe would not still be running today had it not been for state intervention in the form of subsidies. Do the same here and perhaps you might have a chance of winning over the local populace.
Of course that is not the only way. Another way is to tell them that if they are caught growing poppy, NATO will level their villages and kill every single one of them. The taleban used that to great effect around 2003-ish - World opium imports fell drastically that year. Clearly, however, this is a strategy NATO cannot pursue.
I've never herard of any serious reports that the UK wants to stop using Gurkhas though. -
But they did. More than 20 british soldiers have died in combat thus far in afghanistan.Originally posted by the.owl:taliban is so fucking incompetent, with snipers and mortars they didnt kill a single person, losers. -
that's quite little considering US dead are in the hundreds.Then again they have more troops on location.Originally posted by scabstermooch:But they did. More than 20 british soldiers have died in combat thus far in afghanistan. -
I'm not counting dead due to falling down the loo, getting run over by landrovers etc etc.Originally posted by |-|05|:that's quite little considering US dead are in the hundreds.Then again they have more troops on location. -
The Taliban fighters are seriously not as incompetent as you think. These people have veterans that held off the Soviet Army and their gunships. They were simply outclassed by the Ghurkas.
Look at the report.
As night fell they heard the sounds of holes being chipped through the walls of the buildings close to their fortified ''platoon house", the town's police station. Then the sound of civilian electricity generators in the town abruptly ceased, so that in the silence approaching British helicopters could be heard sooner.
The Taliban planned and prepared the battlefield. They are not incompetent rag tag rush at the infidel terrorists.
The first major attack began at 1.50am when a Gurkha corporal spotted armed men "leopard crawling" towards the compound 60 yards away. He opened fire killing four.
Stealthy recon approach. Unfortunately, they don't know that the Ghurkas take their sentry duties dead serious. Had it been an American infantry unit, things might have been different.
Ten minutes later a coordinated assault began from three directions. Every one of the six sand-bagged positions around the compound and on its roof were hit by rocket-propelled grenades. The command post on the roof received four separate hits.
Signs of a company level commander coordinating the attacks.
With a full moon negating the advantage of British night vision equipment, the Taliban launched another full-scale assault the next night, using dried up underground watercourses to move men and ammunition around the British position.
Evening the odds. A full moon allows the Taliban to see their enemies as well.
"The snipers had positions in buildings two rooms back with holes cut through the walls to give them a field of fire," said Major Rex.
Prepared sniper positions... That takes experience in combat to know how to Create good sniper field of fire.
The Taliban are no push overs. Many of them have seasoned fighters and no doubt leaders. Thats why when the US first decided to do something in Afghan, they sent in their best, Delta Force. Even so, it wasn't a walk in the park for them.
In this situation, the Taliban were just outclassed by the Ghurka's discipline and capabilities in combat. -
kudos to the Gurkhas.
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I would not be surprised if the police station is overrun and the are forced to go into close combat with Khukris. I would even not be surprised if even the police station is overrun, the Gurkhas can lose no man and still retake their position using just their Khukri.
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Yes, in true guerilla style, the Talibans retreated in the face of over-whelming force when the US invaded. And now, after they had regrouped and studied enemy tactics, they are beginning to fight a classic guerilla war by chipping away at conventional forces like they did the Russians.
Eventually, western country politicians will recall their troops, seeing no point in having htier soldiers killed off in a long, drawn-out and soon-to-be unpopular war in a faraway land.
We've all seen news clips of US using B-52 to bomb the mountains trying to kill Osama. Instead, the US only succeeded in bombing a few villages, creating more recruits for the Taliban. A bigger act of stupidity, not to mention waste of money, cannot be matched.
It is sad though cos the Talibans are a real scourge and must be mercilessly wiped out before they gain momentum. -
The problem with fighting the taleban is that they are a milti headed hydra made up of myriad groups. In fact, many poppy farmers actually fight part-time for the taleban. That is why there is less fighting in recent days - it is poppy planting season and winter is approaching!Originally posted by moca:Yes, in true guerilla style, the Talibans retreated in the face of over-whelming force when the US invaded. And now, after they had regrouped and studied enemy tactics, they are beginning to fight a classic guerilla war by chipping away at conventional forces like they did the Russians.
Eventually, western country politicians will recall their troops, seeing no point in having htier soldiers killed off in a long, drawn-out and soon-to-be unpopular war in a faraway land.
We've all seen news clips of US using B-52 to bomb the mountains trying to kill Osama. Instead, the US only succeeded in bombing a few villages, creating more recruits for the Taliban. A bigger act of stupidity, not to mention waste of money, cannot be matched.
It is sad though cos the Talibans are a real scourge and must be mercilessly wiped out before they gain momentum.