Brits Kicking Butt in Basra
Posted by Keith_Indy on 12 Apr 2007 at 4:31 pm | Tagged as: Notes on the war, Military Matters, Keith's Page, Foreign affairs
Michael Yon reports from the front lines with the Brits… It’s good to see some actual reporting about what’s going on, rather then the 1 paragraph synopsis you might, if you’re lucky, see in the general press. Also good to see something besides the stories about the unfortunate sailors who were captured by Iran.
During planning, British commanders, including Major Quentin Naylor, had briefed that JAM likely would try to lure us into ambush in a certain area. Now, eerily according to plan, sporadic small arms began from the very direction British commanders had anticipated. If 5 Platoon had moved aggressively in that direction, casualties from our side might be severe, but instead, British forces in armored vehicles moved to other pre-planned areas, hoping to draw the enemy out of hiding and into tactical blunders. The enemy answered the challenge with great enthusiasm, and blundered.
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In an operation that lasted over four hours, British forces killed 26-27 enemy and sustained no casualties. 5 Platoon fired more than 4,000 bullets before their guns began to cool, and about 15 of the enemy kills were accredited to 5 Platoon. Another platoon captured two enemy fighters, including one Iraqi policeman who might have been heeding al Sadr’s call for Iraqi Police and Army forces to turn on their Coalition partners.
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