Commando: On the Front Line: Episode 7 - Dawn Assault

[Music] second leftenant mercy car walks right into the teeth of battle under heavy enemy fire his troop takes its first casualty and back in England nine to four recruit troop on the verge of being deployed to Afghanistan themselves start their final exercises the most realistic they will face before war itself having a fire fighter you watch and two and a half hours are gone and it felt like ten minutes [Music] Bertie Carr and his men of 11 troop are on the eve of a major company attack on a Taliban stronghold tomorrow morning at dawn 11 troop will be point troop first into the attack because we've been given a point point tree in a company group assault on this [ __ ] feature which we've been receiving incoming from for the past two weeks Bertie car is only three and a half weeks at our training but he now has to lead his men mostly rookies themselves to assault an enemy position a hill codenamed the shrine again it's very imperative that you remain quiet and don't shine any lights or whatever because we're completely exposed to the shrine and the cave complex if they hit us here we're pretty much [ __ ] I suggest we be for all of them it will be their first offensive action against the enemy in Afghanistan still last note guys this is a [ __ ] good op we've got tomorrow we've got the meatiest part of it I don't see any [ __ ] unprofessional attitude anything on the ground whatsoever okay professional Marines will do the job properly [Music] at the commando training base of Lim Stern only 11 recruits of the original 50 are still with 1940 they are now practicing for the final commando tests that they must pass to win their green beret [Music] you know because we all relaxed around jar and you're all doing the same stuff so you think that everyone's that fit what I turning you into turning into machines only be diagnosed except one around you turn into a machine as well but you may be back on city street your video super commanders have to attain what's called battle fitness a physical and mental strength that equips them to operate in extreme conditions and often with injury 94 troupe are doing the grueling 12 male on carrying 80 pounds and this is just a taster of the commando test secona should not bear 12 mala you just get free you did a bad boy on a 12 mile really dehydrated that fell down a pothole was hallucinating but I installed that mental thing and you know they doesn't matter it does man you have to be physically fit but it's a mental game as well splitter my mistake mind you that's best for you I teach it here and they can only teach you that here before dawn and in sub-zero temperatures Burtie cars troop starts to climb these steep slopes of the enemy stronghold codenamed the shrine not only are the Marines carrying up to 100 pounds per man but they're doing so at altitude with much reduced oxygen 11 troop advance silently communicating only through their personal headsets [Applause] observation posts on surrounding mountains using heat sensitive telescopes have confirmed that enemy are present on the shrine that's one your phone go know there's enemy out of that [Applause] as the Sun comes up over the mountains just after 5:00 in the morning Bertie's troop reaches their first objective green one with no opposition if you do I'm making a break in one now the enemy have withdrawn but to where no longer under the cover of darkness the Marines advance to the top of the hill as they must try to command the high ground let's be aware we are on the high ground hello Steel's our alpha this is still to turret offer can i push my section on to the shrine over so far so good but with no cover on top of the hill this is a very dangerous place to be [Applause] [Applause] the Taliban waiting after all have opened up with a hail of fire we can tell the bullets are coming in close to our heads because of the ominous whistling sound they're making Marines call them to fight back hard I pinned down on the rings on the slide is pinned down but Fresa consolidated fire that's machine gun as well we haven't secured the shrine yet so we need to get away from there the incoming fire is so intense the order to withdraw the essential thing is to launch a counter-attack as soon as possible especially as the enemy have now given their position away so to do that Bertie leads his men around the hill to attack from a different direction on Dartmoor nine-two-four troop continue with the concluding exercise of their training called final thrust themselves just one step now from Afghanistan like so we won't be worth it go through 20 hours of [ __ ] sheer hell just to get you doing this I love this bit I love this bit very much man the mouth [ __ ] you are nothing away no sleep muster the energy from somewhere not a good time yeah leading Sibley from the legatus gunshot wound to the left eye bleeding heavily going out of consciousness what you do start reassuring in there's a castle - there it's just been [ __ ] shot this is we're doing more interesting stuff now harder proper soldiering was command I live of soldiering help switched on you gotta be constantly taking over in your brain all the time they know it you know it is a way of thinking you know it probably takes over not just training about general juries and a bit of experience together on top of the shrine 11 troop establish a firing line from which they take the fights back to the enemy 11 troop has consolidated on the high ground above green one we have good arcs on the enemy positions over once Berta's men have suppressed enemy fire they'll make a move to green to the objective in which they will launch yet another attack down below on the plane the armed Land Rover's provides 11 troop with extra cover and try to pin down the Taliban in one place [Applause] moving away from across the green - not yet when the boss says the word we're gonna move on to green it's time to change the point of attack the Marines like the Taliban need to keep moving to stay one step ahead of the enemy the enemy could be hiding anywhere in the ruined compounds so the order is given to fix bandits in your section knows you can yeah we've been attacked from the West yesterday so soon as they wake up eleven troop make it to their second objective green - a well known Taliban firing position it's deserted the enemy had melted into the lands still Tuesday awful green - clear Bertie heads over the brow of the hill to join a forward firing line who spotted enemy fighters it's now estimated that there are about 100 Taliban spread around the shrine 11 troop comprised just 20 Marines as we call forward to join mercy the enemy opened fire again and the ak-47s have found a new accuracy we are pinned down as the incoming bullets kick up the rock and the sand all around us the forward firing line exposed and outnumbered is doing its best to provide cover as half their section make a break for dead ground the news spreads that a Marine has been shot no one is clear as to who it might be but I'd noticed at my own radio link to Bertie car hey free section distant artillery fire mortars over the Marines heads to establish a wall of smoke to cover the gun team withdraw the troops sergeant runs in with a wounded marine Richard Mason a single shot has shattered his wrist he will now need to be evacuated to a hospital as soon as possible before he loses too much blood this is called the golden hour the most critical time when most battlefield casualties could die and then I heard the crackle of my radio link to Bertie car as he comes back into range yes sir we got a gun team in right now that was drawing back to use oh there's a casualty in yeah that's uh that's it yeah I saw it I probably in hitting the chest [ __ ] grim and I run over around to Kalibak now on the other side of the body so I extraction across straight down that way down that way [Applause] some enemy have fled and the rest are taking cover from the continuous barrage that had been unleashed by eleven troop and has now been continued by ten troop down on the plain an Apache attack helicopter has been called in [Music] eleven troop remains in cover whilst the helicopters attack yeah they've almost down and there's good suppressive fire that they gave to extract off that flank off the top that was a pretty hairy situation but across back across the body and assault Kalibak which is our knowns of enemy we're point truth because we know the route back at limps turn the recruits of 94 troop continue their final exercise practicing exactly the room clearance drills they'll have to execute in Afghanistan in just a matter of weeks [Music] Masen aggressor drill small ads grenading each roman triphala for the trip flares so majority retreat we act the fruit themselves really really well actually in the attack and as a whole three exercise to prove themselves through some horrendous weather through sleet rain snow gusty winds up to salvation 90 miles an hour middle of Tours and Dartmoor and then still been able to fight at the end of it which is what it's all about if they can do that here in the UK and you can pretty much do it to anywhere in the world you could be in theater in Afghanistan so that's a last attack they'll ever do for the next time it'll be alive in a war zone for real so yeah this is basically a test exercise to show that they can go on to and operations keep saying in your head I'm up I'm moving he's seen me down three seconds is that that takes to say it in your head three to five stay alive five meters you're going to become a casualty guarantee right because it doing he and his troop arrive at the deserted town of Callaway one of the main firing positions the Taliban used in this morning's action but he must now move through its scattered compounds to search them and it's still morning so they caught past 11:00 yes nice day for it now the compounds are surrounded by thick mud walls and sometimes the only way through them is to blast a hole with dynamite [Music] blowing a bar might break into compound to the north wines get batteries and bits of cloth eleven troop moves through color whack methodically the enemy seems to have fled leaving behind bomb-making equipment Russian ordinance and some ancient weaponry when there are no bar mines to get through wolves the largest marine in the troop Tom Curie known to everyone as vendors does the job just as well [Music] [Music] [Laughter] maybe up to 20 Taliban have been killed today it's impossible to know exactly as fellow fighters whisk away bodies almost immediately by early evening Bertie after his first direct action counts his men into a temporary shelter for a ration break until I get back I think it says I'm just worried because that if you tell them that you've done some like that they'll think it happens every day and it doesn't it's not something that happens Harry Mason it got shot in the arm but good joe said live stipulation return fire suppress the enemy no one else was hurt but Jim there's Palmer a little bit apart mainly yeah just good pills on that one only it's greater Pella tube which yeah like that [Music] you

Channel: Royal Marines

Views: 3,321,696

Keywords: Royal, Marine, Marines, Commando, Commandos, On, the, Front, Line, Green, Beret, Berets, Military, Royal Navy (Armed Force), Royal Marines (Armed Force), Chris, Terrill

Id: k_KOx8zO09s

Length: 23min 3sec (1383 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 04 2012