Battle of Mogadishu The Battle of Mogadishu, also known as Black Hawk Down took place on the 3rd and 4th of October 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia. What was supposed to be an in and out mission capturing General Mohamed Farrah Aidid which should have taken only a couple of hours at most, turned into a daylong nightmare for the 3rd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment, and the 1st Special Forces Detachment-Delta. Throughout the 1980 and 1990 violence in Somalia was rising. Warlords took advantage of the chaos and took power in certain regions. Reports started to come in that people in Somalia were starving and the world decided to act by suppling the people with food, but the Warlords would end up taking the supplies that were meant for the
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After that U.S. Army Rangers fast roped down and secure the perimeter around the compound like what would be in a cordon and search. While Delta Force entered and secured Aidid and anyone there who had any importance, but unfortunately Aidid was not at the compound. At the same time a convoy was making its way through the streets in order to pick up the prisoners. The mission started to go to hell around 16:20 when Black Hawk Super 61 piloted by CW3 Cliff Wolcott and Donovan Briley got shot down by a RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade). The crash ended up killing both pilots and severely wounding the two crew chiefs. There were two Delta Force snipers that were in the crash and survived and immediately started to defend the crash site while they were waiting for backup. At around 16:40 Black Hawk Super 64 that was piloted Michael Durant was shot down by another RPG. During the scramble to get to the down Black Hawks most of the ground forces that were a part of the assault unit headed to the first crash site under heavy enemy fire were able to take control of a few buildings around the crash site. LT Col McKnight (Rangers’ CO or Commanding Officer) radioed in for help. Sgt Lamb got the message. He said in an interview, "We pulled all our guards off the perimeter and launched a platoon-size [contingent], about 40 guys. The team consisted of cooks and other assorted rangers, including Lamb, an …show more content…
One article states, “The attack force left the airport at about 2:30. There were risks, of course. Conducting the maneuver at midday instead of at night left the commandos exposed to ground fire as the choppers hovered over the rooftops of Mogadishu's teeming slums. Still, "when somebody nibbles on the line, you have to pull the fish out of the water, even if it is daylight," says a senior Defense Department aide involved in the plan.” (Post, Tom, and Daniel Pedersen. "Fire Fight From Hell. (Cover Story)." Newsweek 122.16 (1993): 39. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.) This shows you the situation of how desperate we were to try to capture General Aidid. That we took the risk of doing a mission in the middle of the day and we ended up putting our men in danger to get this one HVT (high value target) and we ended up losing 18 men lives out
After that U.S. Army Rangers fast roped down and secure the perimeter around the compound like what would be in a cordon and search. While Delta Force entered and secured Aidid and anyone there who had any importance, but unfortunately Aidid was not at the compound. At the same time a convoy was making its way through the streets in order to pick up the prisoners. The mission started to go to hell around 16:20 when Black Hawk Super 61 piloted by CW3 Cliff Wolcott and Donovan Briley got shot down by a RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade). The crash ended up killing both pilots and severely wounding the two crew chiefs. There were two Delta Force snipers that were in the crash and survived and immediately started to defend the crash site while they were waiting for backup. At around 16:40 Black Hawk Super 64 that was piloted Michael Durant was shot down by another RPG. During the scramble to get to the down Black Hawks most of the ground forces that were a part of the assault unit headed to the first crash site under heavy enemy fire were able to take control of a few buildings around the crash site. LT Col McKnight (Rangers’ CO or Commanding Officer) radioed in for help. Sgt Lamb got the message. He said in an interview, "We pulled all our guards off the perimeter and launched a platoon-size [contingent], about 40 guys. The team consisted of cooks and other assorted rangers, including Lamb, an …show more content…
One article states, “The attack force left the airport at about 2:30. There were risks, of course. Conducting the maneuver at midday instead of at night left the commandos exposed to ground fire as the choppers hovered over the rooftops of Mogadishu's teeming slums. Still, "when somebody nibbles on the line, you have to pull the fish out of the water, even if it is daylight," says a senior Defense Department aide involved in the plan.” (Post, Tom, and Daniel Pedersen. "Fire Fight From Hell. (Cover Story)." Newsweek 122.16 (1993): 39. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.) This shows you the situation of how desperate we were to try to capture General Aidid. That we took the risk of doing a mission in the middle of the day and we ended up putting our men in danger to get this one HVT (high value target) and we ended up losing 18 men lives out