Black Hawk Down - The Battle of Mogadishu 1993, Part 1 - Animated

this is romeo64 to all elements irene irene irene with the launch code issued the earth rumbles as the armada of helicopters lift off the ground and head out somali spotters near the airport radio ahead to warn that the americans are on their way as they fly out over the airport perimeter towards the ocean a convoy of nine humvees and three five-ton trucks leave the base and head towards the city it's 3 35 pm the raiding force should be in and out in 30 minutes somalia is in civil war with multiple parties and clans violently competing for power un troops have been deployed to the country to maintain peace and ensure the distribution of food supplies to the people the u.n brings about a settlement between the factions to lay down their arms and move towards national unity and democracy one faction the somali national alliance or sna despite signing the agreement ignores it and attacks un troops in the area in june 1993 the us deploys task force ranger to mogadishu airport a special forces group made up of rangers seals 160th special operations aviation regiment and a company from the first special forces operational detachment delta also known as delta force task force ranger or tfr are here to find and kill or capture the leader of the sna general mohammed farah aideed the sna is predominantly made up of id'd's own clan a form of family tribal structure the harbor kadir and it is hoped that toppling id will halt the violence task force ranger launches raids into mogadishu to capture id but have so far been unsuccessful in july 1993 american cobra attack helicopters launched rockets and cannon fire into a building they believe to be hosting a meeting between id and his war council adida isn't present and an american war correspondent reports that the meeting was actually between somali elders discussing routes to peace with 200 casualties inside the building the sna sees the opportunity to promote anti-american sentiment and propaganda in the city fury of the americans presence builds in mogadishu and four western journalists covering the story are killed by an angry mob on the 3rd of october 1993 task force ranger receives a tip-off of the location of an sna meeting in the city with id's foreign minister omar salad el-min and his top political advisor mohammed hassan awali in attendance with just two hours notice tfr prepares and launches a raid to snatch them both hoping this will bring them closer to ideas himself the plan is for ah six little boats to land the delta force teams on the street outside the target building containing el meme and awali and they will storm the building meanwhile four ranger chalks squads of 15 men will fast rape down from hovering black horse to each corner of the block surrounding the target building and establish a perimeter once the prisoners are secured the humvee and truck convoy led by lieutenant colonel danny mcknight will roll in front of the target building load the entire raiding force and prisoners on board and exfil back to base before id's militia can mobilize against them all the while the blackhawks and littlebirds will circle around to provide air cover a commander control black hawk directs the forces and a combat search and rescue helicopter is ready to react to any problems should they arise for more substantial problems the 10th mountain division are on standby as a quick reaction force at their base in the west of the city the peacekeeping u.n pakistani and malaysian troops and armor are not on standby but occupy the new port area of the city in the south the whole plan should take 30 minutes to complete with an ep-3 orion and an oh-58 kiowa circling overhead providing a live video feed to overall commander general garrison the helicopters scream in towards the target building in the area of the olympic hotel to begin the assault tyres are burning around the city with u.s forces jamming radio signals the tyre burning is a signal to the sna militia throughout the city that the americans are coming six little birds armed with mini guns and rocket pods lead the way up halwa dig road to spot any armed somalis and with the coat clear the mh-6s throw up a dust storm as they land with precision in front of the target building delta force operators nicknames d-boys hop off the benches and move into the target building the time is 3 42 pm the four ranger chalks begin fast raping down from hovering black horse to the street 60 feet below the chalks form l-shaped defensive positions on each corner of the block except for chalk 4 who have accidentally been dropped a block further away this is the first time out as the leader of chalk fall for staff sergeant matt eversman and in his chalk the first ever combat mission for 18 year old private todd blackburn fresh in from high school and boot camp but having not yet been to ranger school for whatever reason likely excitement and adrenaline blackburn completely misses the rope as he exits the aircraft and falls 60 feet to the ground medics run to attend to him the raid is taking place close to the bakara market an id'd controlled area of the city with a high concentration of sna militia with the pre-warning that the raid was coming hundreds of militia are organized armed and waiting fire begins to erupt on the rangers from all directions sna runners move out across the city to mobilize militia further afield who begin to arm themselves mount upon trucks and head in the direction of the helicopters circling above the city however as the sna are only using runners on foot 30 minutes should be plenty of time for the raiding force to ex-fill from the area before the city swarms in medics stabilized blackburn but with the fire raining down on them a helicopter evacuation is out of the question they'll have to wait for the convoy rocket-propelled grenades rpgs are now being fired at the defending ranges a crowd of unarmed locals are also forming around the raid site the situation is manageable but the strength of the resistance is much higher than expected while the delta operators move through the target building the humvee convoy arrives on the street outside and waits for them to complete their work ebezman orders five men in his talk to move blackburn over to the waiting vehicles chalk 2's m60 machine gunner sean nelson can see a larger crowd numbering in the thousands forming further down the street he's monitoring he spots an armed group following a man confidently riding a cow out into the street in front of him wielding an ak he opens fire on the man and the rest of the group scatter just at that moment a blackhawk sweeps overhead and looses blistering fire on the street below with its minigun the group and the cow don't last long another group of 15 somalis approach some are armed and using the unarmed amongst them as human shields he first tries to aim just at the militia but with nelson and the rest of chalk 2 taking fire from the group he weighs the decision and decides he has no choice but to open fire on all of them the group scatters leaving armed and unarmed dead seeing this a larger group of militia and unarmed locals charge at chalk 2. this time without time to think about it the chalk returns fire at that moment a little bird maraudes down the street above their heads and inflicts a devastating minigun run on the crowd the display of awesome firepower disperses any survivors all four chalks are now being forced into the tough decision to open fire on militia who are using unarmed people as human shields from the perspective of the locals who are just arriving at the scene they see the americans indiscriminately firing on civilians and the fury of the citizens grows further the hornet's nest has been stirred lieutenant colonel mcknight sends three humvees to carry critically injured blackburn back to base immediately the journey should only take five minutes but they've driven into the storm they turn onto national street to find militia on both sides firing into them with stray rounds into each other as they drive through paulson manning the 50-caliber machine gun on the lead humvee fires right and pillar in the second fires left in the furious torrent of fire pillar is killed instantly by a round to the forehead in that moment fighting for their lives and with rpgs now flying down the street at them a call comes over the radio from sergeant gallagher a platoon sergeant with the main force at the target building how are you guys doing taking heavy fire striker shouts i don't want to talk about it unsatisfied gallagher calls again have you got any casualties yeah one striker replies deliberately short who is he and what's his status it's pillar and what's his stasis he's dead the busy radio network falls to silence the first but not the last tfr trooper has lost his life sustaining further injuries struck as hundies continue to fight their way back to the airport the delta boys have apprehended the two targets and a further 22 sna prisoners and are loading them into the trucks it's now nearly 40 minutes after the first boost landed the process of clearing the building and processing the prisoners is taking longer than expected there is also confusion with the delta team waiting for the comms from the convoy to leave the building and the convoy waiting for the delta team to let them know that they've apprehended the prisoners every minute the mob grows stronger but the rangers and circling helicopters are so far keeping them at bay chalk 4 rangers galentine and berenson take non-critical hits with galentine losing a finger chief warrant officers cliff elvis wolcott and donovan bull briley pilots of super 6 1 continue to maneuver their helicopter at low level above the action their crew chiefs discharging thousands of rounds from their miniguns at the militia below and four delta snipers picking off the enemy through the open doors on the first day of the ground war of desert storm walcott had been one of the pilots to fly special forces deep into iraq to recon saddam's forces he is a legend in the special operations community during a turn to port starboard gunner staff sergeant warren spots a militiamen with an rpg below him hey i've got a guy with an rpg he's at five o'clock moving to six o'clock sergeant randy the port side gunner can't spot the man as the helicopter continues the turn is he by a building or something you can describe before warren can respond the rpg round flashes skyward and hits the tail of super six one the blackhawk enters an uncontrollable spin the rangers of chalk 2 hear the impact and watch in horror as one of their own helicopters spins erratically around the sky smoke trailing from its tail the radio net erupts in panicked calls we've got a black hawk going down we've got a black hawk going down delta operator sergeant smith isn't wearing his seat belt and desperately holds onto a crew seat the spin pulling his legs outside the door of the aircraft as it descends he took an rpg six one is going down in the cockpit walcott cooley and in a banterous fashion asks his co-pilot hey bull you're gonna pull the pcl's offline or what a procedure to attempt to control the spin it's no use and still maintaining his composure walcott makes one last radio transmission 6-1 going down the blackhawk clips a roof and plows into the street below rolling over onto its side in a ball of dust and debris both pilots are killed instantly it is later deemed likely that walcott deliberately pitched the helicopter's nose down at the last second ensuring that the pilots absorbed the impact saving the lives of the crew in the back the command and control bird above orders all available nearby rangers to push to the crash site chalk 2 is nearest so 8 of the 15 rangers in that chalk move out on foot into the city the convoy is ordered to prepare to move to the crash site immediately a message is sent to the quick reaction force of the 10th mountain division to mobilize for the massive fight that is about to take place id is not to be underestimated he was educated in rome before post-graduate study in military science at the franz military academy in the soviet union he has carefully studied the soviet campaign in afghanistan in the 1980s and found that guerrilla forces were successful in bringing down soviet attack helicopters with shoulder-launched rpgs his battle plan with the americans is to draw them deep into his territory in the city and then swarmed the area with rpgs bring down a helicopter and then collapse the city around the troops on the ground overrunning them in the chaos super six one shoot down is no accident of the surviving two crew and four delta operators only two are not seriously injured having just survived a brutal helicopter crash sergeants bush and smith emerge and defend themselves and the rest of the survivors from the now arriving locals little bird star 4-1 is the first help to arrive at the crash scene they land near the alley and are immediately charged at by somalis the two pilots warrant officers jones and maya defend themselves from the cockpit with pistol fire jones hops out and moves to the wreckage just as lieutenant d tommaso arrives with the seven other members of chalk 2 to form a defensive perimeter they find that bush has been killed defending the survivors they move his body into the little bird and sergeant smith also hops on board super six one pilots walcott and briley are dead and the rest of the survivors require medical attention before they can be evacuated littlebird star 4-1 lifts off and heads back to base the humvee convoy rolls up to sergeant eversman's chalk 4 and under heavy fire they get in people now lined the streets roofs and windows firing down into them they turned right towards the crash site but disoriented the lead humvee then turned south now heading away from the crash site ranger commander captain steele orders the remaining chalks and delta operators to move on foot towards the crash they encounter heavy resistance delta sergeant fillmore is killed on route with one less blackhawk in the low orbit role covering troops on the ground the commander control bird radios chief warrant officer mike durant in super six four loitering to the north of the city super six four this is alpha five one come up and join super six two in his orbit six four is inbound durant heads south towards the city the combat search and rescue blackhawk super 6 8 arrives at the crash site and the team of rangers and d-boys begin to fast rape down to the street below with man still on the rope the helicopter is hit by an rpg in a display of superb airmanship pilots dan gelotta and herb rodriguez holds the helicopters steady while the men complete their fast rope they ascend from the area and successfully managed to put their stricken aircraft down at the friendly newport area in the south under heavy fire the cser team moves the two remaining wounded crew chiefs to a nearby shelter they then move to strengthen the perimeter set up by chalk 2 at the intersection just west of the crash the convoy is lost under heavy fire they can't afford to slow down but it's taking time to relay directions to the crash site from the aircraft above mcknight the locals are now building makeshift roadblocks throughout the area using tables chairs and general debris fearing bombs planted inside the roadblocks the humvees can't simply drive through them they make several wrong turns and loop around the area of the target building ten minutes after walcott's super six one went down durant super six four is on station over the rooftops providing mini gun fire support for the humvees below at 4 40 pm durant's blackhawk takes an rpg hit to the tail section he pulls the aircraft out of the orbit and points southwest towards the airport it's leaking oil but the controls are still responding and he believes they can make it back all of a sudden the tail wrote a gear box and most of the tail itself completely disintegrates the blackhawk enters a violent spin he radios super six four going in hard we're going down just before hitting with the ground the pilots managed to level off the chopper and as it impacts with the earth the helicopter lands flat on its belly this is crucial and as a result the crew survive blackhawk supersix ii circles the crash site and immediately spots a mob of people moving towards it from all directions they can see the convoy still driving around lost in the city to the west strzoker's three humvees that had earlier evacuated private blackburn back to the airport have now re-armed and with a volunteer force of cooks clerks and injured rangers are attempting to fight their way back into the city but are pinned down snipers sergeants randy shugart and gary gordon on board super 6 2 can see for themselves that super 6-4 will shortly be overrun and that both convoys are nowhere near they volunteer to deploy on the ground to defend the crash site at first harold and matthews in the commander control board reject the request but after discussion they agreed that they have no choice and if anyone can hold off the mob delta force operators the elite of the us military might be the only chance to save the crew of super 6-4 sugat and gordon are inserted on the ground nearby and make their way to the crash site they find that all four crewmen have survived the crash the delta operators carefully moved durant to a tree next to a shack on the right side of the downed helicopter his back and leg are broken they hand him his mp5k submachine gun before moving to the other side of the blackhawk to face the incoming mob to his left is an alleyway durant covers their backs by firing on any somali that emerges super 6-2 the helicopter that had dropped sugar and gordon on the second crash site is now circling overhead opening fire on the armed crowd bearing down on the crash site the rpg fire up at them is intense and nearby helicopters warn super six two of how close the explosions are getting with snipers on nearby little birds also firing down on the crowd the mob is being kept at bay but it doesn't last on the ground durant hears gary gordon cry out in pain from the other side of the helicopter after a few seconds shugart brings gordon's weapon to durant loaded and ready to fire above them super 62's pilot mike gaffina sees gordon has been killed and radios a desperate plea this is super six two ground element crash site number two has no security right now they have one guy on the ground are there any nearby ground forces moving to crash site two at this time negative not at this time rpgs continue to flash up towards super 6 2 and finally one connects on the starboard side of the aircraft his co-pilot and one of the delta snipers in the back are heavily wounded in the blast gafina has almost no control over the aircraft and somehow manages to crash land it in the newport area to the south [Music] the miniguns of supersix 2 are no longer raining lead from above and after an hour of desperate fighting shugart runs out of ammunition the mob finally overruns super six four three of the four crewmen and snipers gordon and sugart are all killed the angry locals are in the process of beating durant to death when his life is spared by an sna member who decides to take him to id as a prisoner sugart and gordon would later be awarded posthumous medals of honor the convoy is taking a hammering in the city with 50 of the troops inside the vehicles now having suffered gunshots or shrapnel wounds struckers humvees are unable to fight their way back in two blackhawks have been shot down another two have been damaged by rpg hits and most of the others are riddled with bullet holes chalks one two and three are taking casualties on foot fighting two and defending crash site one the mission launched at 3 35 pm and was supposed to take 30 minutes the fight will continue throughout the night and the troops on the ground are running out of water and ammunition and didn't bring night vision equipment the situation is bleak but the 10th mountain division is mobilizing if the rangers and delta operators on the ground can hold out into the night 100 malaysian and pakistani tanks and armoured vehicles with u.s humvees can launch a large-scale armored assault into the city the time is now 5 40 pm the rescue convoy won't move out until 11 30 pm they're in the fight of their lives you

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 1,041,240

Rating: 4.9623837 out of 5

Keywords: time lapse, time-lapse, animated, special forces, delta force, us army, black hawk down, black hawk, little bird, mogadishu, somalia, humvee

Id: 1ApfDyeP7Zk

Length: 22min 46sec (1366 seconds)

Published: Sat May 29 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Chreiol]

This was absolutely fantastic. Assuming the other videos on this channel are similar?

Should have more upvotes.

[u/zurnout]

I can't believe Im at the edge of my seat watching simplistic animated top down helicopters and troops. Im not familiar with the details of this incident. Based on how terribly wrong this operation went in this part one video, I would not want to be the commander figuring out how to salvage the situation. Can't wait for part 2!

[u/oneluv_hug]

Black hawk down is one of the best military operations book I've read. Highly recommend.

[u/DogmaticNuance]

Interesting. I didn't know there was a Historia Civilis for modern conflicts.

[u/somaliaveteran]

Actually been there done that. Survived.

[u/fuk_ur_mum_m8]

This was absolutely amazing. Great work by the creator!

[u/Curb5Enthusiasm]

The trick is to not commit war crimes on behalf of the fossil fuel industry.

[u/TTV_TSC0BRA]

Not gonna dox myself to heavy but one of those delta force snipers was a pretty close family relative. Really well done video thank you for showing so much respect.

[u/Towelie5]

Next time you go to Mogadishu, don’t forget to bring a towel!