Operation Certain Death

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As I struggled my way to the top of the sleeping bag and managed to extricate myself and sit up, I was greeted by the sight of a very sheepish looking Lieutenant Commander who said, 'terribly sorry 'Royal', can I buy you a beer?'

Staff Sergeant Kim Hughes GC, is a warrant officer in the British Army, an acclaimed public speaker, and a trustee of the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association.A terrific start to a new series . . . Light the blue touch paper and retire to a comfortable chair’ The Times In early May 1982, HMS Sheffield was hit by an Exocet missile and military commanders decided that this weapon could threaten the success of UK forces. Over the coming days and weeks, there was plenty of time to reflect on events of recent weeks and months.

Although that offer was politely declined on behalf of the aircrew by the British Embassy, they did face the world's media. With our passengers firmly ensconced in the aircraft, the engines were started, rotors engaged and the systems switched on-line in plenty of time for our 2130hrs launch. Dorman, Andrew M. (2009). Blair's Successful War: British Military Intervention in Sierra Leone. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9780754672999. Fowler, William (2004). Operation Barras: The SAS Rescue Mission: Sierra Leone 2000. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 9780297846284. A powerful docu-novel, which conveys the danger of the operation and the courage of those who went in to successfully rescue their colleagues. Sunderland EchoThe ground operation was conducted by D Squadron, 22 Regiment Special Air Service, reinforced with a Troop from C Squadron, Special Boat Service — who assaulted Gberi Bana in a bid to extract the Royal Irish—and elements of 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment (1 PARA), who launched a diversionary assault on Magbeni. The operation freed the five soldiers and their SLA liaison officer, as well as twenty-one Sierra Leonean civilians who had been held prisoner by the West Side Boys. At least twenty-five West Side Boys were killed in the assault, as was one British soldier, while eighteen West Side Boys—including the gang's leader, Foday Kallay—were taken prisoner and later transferred to the custody of the Sierra Leone Police. Many West Side Boys fled the area during the assault, and over 300 surrendered to UNAMSIL forces within a fortnight. Richard Hutchings was one of a handful of flight commanders who flew patrols of SAS and SBS patrols into the Falklands. On cue 'Flyco' delivered the navigation data as practised many times during our training sorties, but this time it was for real. I fixed our position in TANS and all three aircraft launched into the darkness. Operation Sutton was underway.'

In his book he also recalls the first of many missions dropping off patrols into the Falkland Islands from HMS Hermes. During the negotiations, the relatives of several of the West Side Boys were brought to the gang's camp to ask them to release the British soldiers. The gang responded that they had nothing against the soldiers, but that holding them had brought attention to their demands—which now included immunity from prosecution, safe passage to the UK to take up university courses, and guaranteed acceptance to the re-formed Sierra Leone Army. [16] Military planning [ edit ]

COBRA is a British government committee convened to handle national crises. The committee is named after the room in which it meets—the Cabinet Office Briefing Room—and usually known as "COBRA" or "Cobra" or sometimes "COBR". Similarly to the SAS, COBRA first became known to the public during the Iranian Embassy siege. [29] [30] On 29 August, Fordham demanded proof that the captive soldiers were still alive, and Kallay brought with him to that day's meeting the two officers from the group—Marshall, the company commander, and Captain Ed Flaherty, the regimental signals officer. During the meeting, Flaherty shook hands with Fordham and covertly passed him a sketch map of Gberi Bana which detailed the layout of the village and the building in which the soldiers were being held. [14] The night vision goggles enabled us to fly right down to ground level at high speed and enabled us to navigate very accurately." Richard Hutchings, former RNAS helicopter pilot But after holding the five for 17 days, the rebels stepped up their demands and insisted on a new government.

His book is called "Special Forces Pilot: A Flying Memoir of the Falklands War" and is published by Pen and Sword Books. Although Richard's part of the mission was successful, overall it failed because the Special Forces team encountered a difficulty on the ground that prevented them from completing their task. Flying like that was not conducive with the sort of missions we had to do inserting special forces patrols into the Falkland Islands but the night vision goggles enabled us to fly right down to ground level at high speed and enabled us to navigate very accurately to the required drop off point." Nocturnal creature

The SAS located the captive British soldiers from the latter's shouts of "British Army, British Army!", though Bangura had been held separately and proved more difficult to locate. He was found in a squalid open pit, which had been used by the West Side Boys as a lavatory, [37] and had been starved and beaten during his captivity, and thus had to be carried to the helicopter. Less than 20 minutes after the arrival of the SAS, the remaining members of the Royal Irish patrol, including Bangura, had been evacuated from the area. [36] I couldn't believe it, I said to him 'No, we're from the British ship in the port,' and he said, 'There is no British ship in the port, please get into my car,' and he drove us into base." MI6 safe-house Great book which covers all aspects of the story from the captives the soldiers sent in to get them and the top brass planning the operation. The enhanced A Company group—approximately 130 troops in total—arrived in the country in several groups and joined the SAS, who had already established a base in Hastings, a village 30 miles (48 kilometres) south of Freetown, where several of the paras recognised former colleagues among the troopers from D Squadron. At Hastings, the paras focused on live firing exercises and rehearsed various scenarios in a scale replica of Magbeni which had been constructed at the camp. [27] [28] The two villages were to be assaulted simultaneously—Gberi Bana, where the Royal Irish were held, by the SAS and Magbeni by an SAS team and the paras. In addition to the remaining Royal Irish soldiers, the SAS were also tasked with extracting Lieutenant Musa Bangura—the patrol's SLA liaison, whose extraction was given the same priority as that of the Royal Irish—and a group of Sierra Leonean civilians who were being held by the West Side Boys. [34] Assault [ edit ] US Marines fast-roping from a Sea Knight—the same insertion technique used by the SAS at Gberi Bana