U.S. Tells How Rescue Turned Into
Fatal Firefight
By THOM SHANKER
WASHINGTON, March 5 —
Trapped by intense hostile
fire and unable to evacuate their
wounded for 12 hours, American
Special Operations forces fought
off an Al Qaeda ambush in some
of the most grueling and gruesome
combat of the five- month-old
war in Afghanistan, officials said
today.
When it was over on Monday, the
bodies of 7 American servicemen
and 11 wounded comrades were
lifted off the battlefield under
guard of American combat
aircraft. Their machine guns and
cannon of AC- 130's drove back
the advancing fighters — but not
before commanders monitoring
airborne surveillance video had
seen Al Qaeda fighters dragging
off an American serviceman to
his death, military officials said.
Important fresh details of a set of
combat operations that began
Sunday and were waged over a
sprawling battlefield emerged as
Pentagon officials said the
hard-core Al Qaeda and Taliban
fighters making a last stand in
eastern Afghanistan suffered
heavy casualties — but also
surprised American forces by
their fierce resistance. "I don't
think we knew what we were
getting into this time, but I think
we're beginning to adjust," Sgt.
Maj. Mark Nielsen told a
reporter in the Pentagon press
pool for the operation.
Some of the heaviest fighting of
the five-month war also brought
the heaviest American combat
losses, with Pentagon officials
and senior military officers
describing a battlefield where the
topography itself was as hostile
as the adversary — allowing
opposing fighters, who seemed
willing to fight to the death rather
than surrender, to charge and then retreat to fortified caves
and trenches.
But most of all, they described the heroism of those
American servicemen who fell in combat, and those who
went in to bring them back.
One of the American commandos killed was a Navy Seal,
Petty Officer Neil C. Roberts, 32, who tumbled from one
of two MH-47 Chinook helicopters that was to carry in
Special Operations forces. Just as the helicopters touched
down about 5:30 p.m. Sunday Eastern time — in the dark
of night in Afghanistan, where it is 9 1/2 hours later —
one of the helicopters was struck by a rocket-propelled
grenade, officials said. Both lifted off quickly and flew
about a mile, where they set down again to check for
damage.
That was when they realized that Petty Officer Roberts
was not on board. But commanders had access to
real-time surveillance videos shot by a Predator, an
unmanned airborne vehicle, and they saw his capture.
"We saw him on the Predator being dragged off by three
Al Qaeda men," said Maj. Gen. Frank L. Hagenbeck,
commander of the 10th Mountain Division based at Fort
Drum, N.Y., who is in charge of the ground operation in
Afghanistan.
One of the two helicopters flew back to where Petty
Officer Roberts was lost, and dropped off its Special
Operations team to try to rescue him.
In addition, General Hagenbeck, speaking to reporters in a
Pentagon press pool in Afghanistan, said that "a quick
reaction force of about 30 Special Operations troops" was
also sent to rescue him.
"We don't leave Americans behind," said Brig. Gen. John
W. Rosa, Jr., deputy director of operations for the Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
By about 9 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, two more Chinooks
touched down about a mile or so from where the Navy
Seal was last seen. The opposing forces apparently had
set up an ambush and were waiting.
One Chinook was able to drop off its Special Operations
team and depart; the other was riddled with machine-gun
fire and hit by grenades, and could not fly.
"A large number of the enemy advanced on them," a senior
military officer said. The Americans fired back, setting up
fighting positions and calling in attack jets as well as
AC-130 gunships that brought a withering fire of heavy
machine guns and cannon, the Pentagon said.
Before they were rescued by helicopter 12 hours later, 6
Americans had been killed and 11 more wounded. The
Pentagon today identified the dead as Sgt. Bradley S.
Crose, 27; Sgt. Philip J. Svitak, 31; Specialist Marc A.
Anderson, 30, and Pfc. Matthew A. Commons, 21, all of
the Army; and Tech. Sgt. John A. Chapman, 36, and Senior
Airman Jason D. Cunningham, 26, of the Air Force.
The body of Petty Officer Roberts was also recovered and
carried out aboard a rescue helicopter. He died of a bullet
wound, apparently at the hands of his captors, military
officials said.
After describing the bitter losses, senior officers
expressed no doubts today that the remaining Al Qaeda
and Taliban will be captured or killed in coming days.
"The final outcome of this is certain," said one senior
military officer. "We will kill or capture all of the Al
Qaeda. The only thing that is in doubt is how long that will
take."
American combat troops for Operation Anaconda told a
Pentagon pool reporter from The Associated Press
harrowing tales of being pinned down by hostile fire.
Elements of the 10th Mountain Division were pinned
down on Saturday after taking fire from the town of
Marzak. Lt. Col. Frank LaCamer, who was among those
trapped, said about 40 soldiers of the 10th Mountain
Division spent 12 hours under fire from mortar and
rocket-propelled grenades that landed within 15 yards,
wounding 13.
And Col. Frank Wiercinski, a brigade commander for the
101st Airborne Division, said that shortly after he landed
south of Sirkankel to survey the battle his detachment of
about 11 men were attacked and pinned down.
Sergeant Major Nielsen's detachment came under fire
before they seized a Qaeda compound a half mile from
Sirkankel. When they arrived, they made a startling
discovery.
"It was unbelievable, in the mud hut where these guys
slept, the beds were still warm and tea was still brewing,"
he said.
The strain of continuous operations at high altitude has
prompted American officials to ready forces to replace
the Americans on the ground, military officials said,
although the numbers of American fighters on the
battlefield had not grown in the past 24 hours.
Five fresh Cobra attack helicopters, which had been based
on the Bonhomme Richard, a Marine Corps amphibious
assault ship in the North Arabian Sea, have joined Army
Apaches. All of the Apaches flying during the first day of
battle were hit by fire from the ground, but none were lost
in action, officials said. In addition, the Air Force A-10, a
heavily armored, slow-flying attack aircraft normally used
to destroy tanks, has been sent into battle in Afghanistan
for the first time, its targets the opposing troops gathering
together.
Correspondents traveling with the Pentagon pool for the
combat mission were told that an opening offensive had
sent a detachment of Special Forces to work with Gen. Zia
Lodin, a local commander, and to secure the village of
Sirkankel, about 25 miles south of Gardez.
But Al Qaeda and non-Afghan Taliban fighters surprised
the allied force of about 450 with a fierce defense, killing
one American and two Afghans and wounding 24. More
than 40 Americans have been wounded since the operation
began, although 18 of those have already returned to
combat, officials said.
Military officials said the battle against Al Qaeda and
Taliban who have regrouped near Gardez is being carried
out in steep mountain peaks dotted with caves, as well
against some structures in the valleys.
General Rosa said allied troops overran one cave and
found a sizeable cache of weapons. At another building,
they found foreign passports and drivers licenses.
General Rosa said the sustained allied attack is taking its
toll on Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
"I think the biggest thing to change, and not to be flip, is
we've killed a lot of people," he said. "They're not
roaming around freely like they were; they're dug in.
They're hunkered in. We've got a simultaneous attack at
times with air from the U.S. and coalition forces. But I
think it's tougher on them right now, and they're not moving
quite as freely."
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