Destruction of the dam would have significantly affected the functioning of the country's electrical grid and could cause major flooding downstream from the dam. This narrative retelling of the real life tragedy in Haditha is gripping and immediate but . The roots of the Haditha Dam seizure date to long before the start of OIF. Four more AH-6 Gunships and two MH-6 scouts were coming in to relieve Chiefs team. We all conduct realistic training in all terrains throughout the year. Yet, nobody exited the eastern side of the dam.6, Finally locating a door into the administrative building, White brought up two squads to clear the facility and search for demolitions. Colonel Farouk held firm. All of the Iraqi Army soldiers in the film are seen wearing the "three-color" DCU uniform, although in the time period that the movie takes place in (late 2005), the Iraqi military wore the "chocolate-chip" DBDU uniform. During the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, most Coalition troops entered the country from the south. Taking advantage of the bright daylight, he directed his platoons to concentrate on clearing areas skipped during the frenzy of the initial assault. Hearing the attack on SPC Alan and CPL Gale to the south, SFC Lauder called his platoon leader for reinforcements. This new line, stretching over a distance of 223 kilometres (139mi) with 504 towers, has a capacity of 400 kV and allows 350 MW from the Haditha Dam to be added to the national electrical grid. This story was first published in its entirety in The Year in Special Operations; 2006 Edition. Tony knew Chief had his back with his six-guns. CSM Alfred Birch and SFC Duncan decided that they could not leave the wounded men to die. They were augmented with a Delta Force sniper/reconnaissance team from C Squadron, while the elite pilots of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the "Night Stalkers," would provide air support. Visit his website www.darack.com or follow him on Twitter @EdDarack. The same thing happened to 5th Green Berets and some British Special Boat Service pipe hitters on the first night of the war; both were hit and both retreated. Along with providing flood control and a third of Iraq's electrical generation capacity, the dam provided the only other crossing of the Euphrates River west of Baghdad. The Rangers pushed it the final fifty meters to safety. THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING VETERAN JOURNALISM - JOIN SOFREP+ Russ was a very energetic man of immense courage and always sporting a positive attitude. Feb 29. Rangers have put up their own welcome sign to follow-on forces. Using a hooligan toola combination axe and crowbar used by emergency personnelthe Rangers pried open the heavy metal door. At one point during the four-day battle, the Iraqis attacked Serpent in an attempt to cut of the Rangers' support. Cowed by beheadings, rapes, murder and general intimidation, the locals of the area remained rarely emerged from hiding. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), The Battle for Haditha The U.S. Marines Greatest Untold Victory of the Iraq War, Raid on Los Baos The WW2 Prison Camp Rescue That History Forgot , Huzzah! Military Historys Ten Most Famous Battle Cries, The Battle for Haditha The U.S. Marines' Greatest Untold Victory of the Iraq War MilitaryHistoryNow.com | CENSORED.TODAY. The days seemed to pass very quickly. These attacks would continue to come every 30 minutes for the next two days. Star Jared Shaw As the battle rages on, a young medic must face his fears when his skills are put to the test in order to save the life of a teammate. I think I just laid down in the corner of the position and stayed there for a while; how long I just dont know. Securing it was one of the first objectives of US special forces . That night, the Night Stalkers fired ordnance as close as 12 meters from the Rangers. Barrett products are used by civilians, sport shooters, law enforcement agencies, the United States military, and more than 75 State Department-approved countries around the world. A hidden battery of Iraqi 155 mm howitzers also pounded the beleaguered Rangers for hours, prompting brief memories of the artillery barrages of World War I. The rest of 3rd/C continued to take heavy Iraqi fire from a pair of buildings, which would continue to be a problem for the next three days. Local government began functioning again. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Doyle pulled 3rd Platoon back to the dam and positioned it between 2nd and 1st Platoons. Praesidus brings homage to the military watch tradition. Despite grave threats to him, his family, and those serving under him, Farouk agreed. Eight US Marines faced charges in the deaths, but only one was convicted of a crime, that of negligent dereliction of duty.. As the section moved into blocking positions, they suddenly heard gunfire.5, While 1LT White was walking across the road and searching for an entrance to the western administrative buildings, he heard a Ranger shout, Hes got a gun! SSG Smith had observed someone dive under a piece of sheet metal, and then spotted the barrel of a weapon. The terrain grew more treacherous as they neared the dam, with barren desert giving way to scrub-covered hills and dry wadis (gravel streambeds). The choppers carried so much ammunition that they could barely hover and had to be constantly moving to keep from crashing. They had all been killed, wounded, or rudely spanked into a state of little or no desire to fight the small American Special Operations force any farther. They were outnumbered and outgunned, and still stayed in the fight. Best of all, reinforcements, initially in the form of a pair of M1A1 Abrams tanks, finally began to arrive. Battle of Haditha Dam: The saga comes to an end. One round struck Alans left foot, and then penetrated the trucks oil filter. However, the Iraqi high command were not ignorant of the dam's strategic value, and they had stationed a powerful defensive force in and around the Haditha Dam. 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Weather, including sandstorms, began reducing visibility and interfering with the Night Stalkers' flying, but on the third day, an MH-47 Chinook helicopter braved enemy fire and resupplied the Rangers, who were approaching 72 hours under fire on what was planned as a 24-hour operation. Chief Greg Gravy Coker, Night Stalkers, 75th Rangers, and Delta Force held off a vastly superior force of Iraqi Republican Guard and Fedayeen fighters for seven days. [1] The Battle of Haditha Dam: Mowing Iraqis down like bowling pins. They were a pitiful sight to be sure, the prisoners were; just ordinary men, they two. positions. Combat stress trauma is hardly a new phenomenon. At that point, news also came in that Delta Forces Master Sergeant George Andrew Fernandez had been killed at approximately the same time in a gunfight in a different part of the country. You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article. Chief cleared the way for Tony and watched him offload his Ranger and drone. Headquarters and Services Company, known as H and S, went to the Haditha Dam, just north of the city. All of this was further augmented with personal ID badges for friendly civilians. Iraq's Battleground Dams Are Key to Saving the Country from ISIS. The Rangers were beginning to flag from the grueling work when they made an adrenaline-producing discovery.7, On the sixth floor, the Rangers found twenty-five startled civilian dam workers. But for that, I would almost certainly be dead.. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, United States Army Rangers seized the Haditha Dam on 1 April in order to prevent it from being destroyed. The lead Rangers in Duncans element dismounted their vehicles near the western entrance of the dam, and paused to get their bearings. According to the Coalition Provisional Authority, the inauguration of this turbine on 3 June 2004 signified the first time since 1990 that the power station operated at full capacity. Tribal fighters seen during a battle with ISIS militants, in Haditha, Iraq, Aug. 25, 2014. The Iraqi dictator's claims that the US would target and destroy the dam complicated matters further. Destruction of the dam would have significantly affected the functioning of the country's electrical grid and could cause major flooding downstream from the dam. Relating the incident later, Cpl. The 160th is constantly training with Army SOF units Rangers and Delta. It was a routine they would conduct many times over in the week ahead. Our medic worked on George but there was just nothing he could do. The Battle of Haditha Dam: The beer is on us! After several coordination delays, the Rangers ultimately moved out at 2240, two hours later than planned. Dawn brought new conflict on the dam. While several of the four Ranger casualties had been serious, helicopters from the 160th SOAR (some flying in broad daylight) had successfully evacuated them back to safety. Mission complete, CPT Thompson consolidated his platoon atop the dam and hunkered down for the night.16. The 2nd Squad Rangers repositioned their vehicles on the north side of the road and responded to the enemy fire with MK19 grenade launchers and heavy weapons of their own. The Delta operators conducted reconnaissance of the dam before the main assault. The bomb obliterated the attackers, and shattered every window in the dam complex. An investigation of the massacre of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq allegedly shot by 4 U.S. Marines in retaliation for the death of a U.S. Marine killed by a roadside bomb. A Battle For Haditha Dam Aired on Jan 24, 2016 Iraq 2003: A group of U.S. Army Rangers fights to seize control of Haditha Dam - a strategically key location in Operation Iraqi Freedom - when. Maj. Greg "Ironhead" Birch, a Delta Force operator who had returned to the Rangers, received the Silver Star, the third-highest award for valor under fire, for his inspirational leadership and for saving several wounded Iraqi soldiers who were stranded in no-man's-land after a failed attack a moment of humanity amid the fiercest of battles. As they approached the six-mile-long dam, the Rangers recognized the spillway, the dam crane, and the tall entrance towers on either side of the spillway.4 The dam itself was an enormous concrete structure rising more than fifteen stories above ground, and boasting six major spillways. By Regrettably, another artillery round did explode, this time directly on a Ranger mortar position.17, SFC Lauder raced to the impact area with medics and his driver. Buy HD $2.99 More purchase options 4. B Squadron came and relieved us. But then I began to fight my way back. With First Lieutenant (1LT) Graham White on point, the convoy headed northeast into the night, following a route designed to avoid enemy troop concentrations. Seeing that I had not been hurt, I got back onto my weapon and helped get us out of there. The time: 1730 hours. By midday of the 1st, CPT Doyle felt that the Rangers effectively controlled the dam. Rangers conducted a rare combat jump on Serpent and captured it, allowing the rest of the force to be transported in and letting the Night Stalkers use it as a forward arming and refueling point. SPC Watson fired several hundred .50 caliber rounds into the vehicle, stopping it cold. Coker, a Night Stalker pilot and author of "Death Waits in the Dark," spent 30 years in uniform and completed 11 combat tours. RecPak is a meal replacement for the outdoors that saves you weight, space and time in the most challenging environments, just add water. The movie follows the story of the Marines of Kilo Company, an Iraqi family, and the insurgents who plant the roadside bomb. The Marines fought back hard. Faircount Media Group. AQI set up a shadow government in the region and increased both the frequency and viciousness of their attacks. As darkness fled, the Iraqis attacked both flanks of the dam with squad-sized elements of ten to twelve men. Spotting two armed Iraqi guards with his night vision devices (Nods), lead vehicle gunner Specialist (SPC) Watson aimed his M2 .50 caliber machine gun at them. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider The explosion had sent an artillery fragment into SPC Jeremy Feldbuschs face, penetrating the right orbital lobe. The Read allAn investigation of the massacre of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq allegedly shot by 4 U.S. Marines in retaliation for the death of a U.S. Marine killed by a roadside bomb. By their eighth day on the dam, Doyles remaining 150 men were finally relieved and being transported back to H-1. He directed 1st Squad to suppress the guards, while 3rd Squad flanked from the left and entered near the gatehouse. Jesse Ragan, 3rd/C moved down a steep access road into the objective area. 3rd Battalions mission was to draw the Iraqi Armys attention way from the dam, so that special operations forces could cross and secure the facility. Battle for Haditha. 1st Platoon continued working two buildings dubbed CAS 1 and CAS 2, from which the bulk of the enemy force had rallied and attacked. Based on their Afghanistan experience, the Rangers knew that a guy with a weapon did not actually indicate combatant status; everyone carried weapons, both militia and civilians. The crucial battle for Baghdad may have begun on Wednesday with invading US forces launching a pincer attack on Republican Guard units and were reported to be just 35km away from the Iraqi capital. The three Iraqis were similarly dealt with. Iraq's Republican Guard was an elite force that reported directly to Saddam, while the Fedayeen was a paramilitary force outside the regular military. Soon after 1st Platoons firefight, CPT Doyle repositioned his troops and prepared for the next phase of the once-uncomplicated mission. The pace of the combat was surprising. While it took time, the Americans eventually wound up destroying 24 Iraqi mortars, 28 155 mm artillery pieces, and 23 AAA guns while on the dam. In the early days of the war, American forces never managed to establish an enduring presence in the region, which allowed AQI to lay down roots there. In the same year, a new power line was established between Haditha and Baghdad with the help of the USACE to restore a line that had previously been destroyed. When Lauder and his team arrived, Feldbusch was not breathing and his face was turning blue. As the fire support officer and two troops neared the vehicle, the Iraqi couple detonated an improvised explosive device, killing themselves and all three Rangers. 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Located northwest of Baghdad, the dam was built during the Cold War to provide hydroelectric power for central Iraq, including Baghdad. However, it took the Rangers many hours to clear the dam complex due to its huge size and the hundreds of rooms it contained. Duncan radioed CPT Doyle, relayed the situation, and requested permission to recover the wounded Iraqis. Thompson quickly adjusted his attack. George was hit in the side where he had no plate, and an Air Force CCT man was hit in the jaw. Soon after daybreak, the Rangers from the 3rd Company on the western side of the dam started taking RPG fire where Staff Sergeant Ronnie Jones, a Ranger sniper killed three Iraqi soldiers equipped with RPGs. Captain Timothy Donald (pseudonym), A Company, 2nd Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, interview by Dr. Charles H. Briscoe, 12 September 2003, Fort Campbell, KY, tape recording, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC. Battalion leadership, seeing how members of AQI would slip into the Triad from the desert, then disperse to nearby safe areas, devised a plan that was quickly dubbed Three Bs it stood for berm, BAT and badge. Box 378 Red Hook, New York 12571 United States. Thank you. See production, box office & company info, Very skillful exploration of the Iraq war. We were racked out just a few hours when one of our men on guard reported a truck approaching with a DShK heavy machine gun mounted on it. Once everybody was refueled and positioned, the convoy of seventeen vehicles and 140 Rangers penetrated the moonless night. Later, the Iraqis tried to infiltrate some personnel near the bridge in a kayak and several small boats, which were promptly sunk. Support Veteran Journalism . Almost 5 miles long and 200 feet high, the dam is one of the largest in the world and can provide electricity to hundreds of thousands of homes, even reaching Baghdad more than 150 miles away. 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