Operation Glacier Two: The Rescue of Royal Marine Lance Corporal Mathew Ford | January 2007

in mid 2002 a year after the start of the us-led invasion of Afghanistan Operation Herrick commenced which was to be the operational codename under which all British military operations in Afghanistan were to be conducted four years later in January of 2006 British defense secretary John Reed announced that British Task Group would be the point Helmand province as part of the expansion of the NATO mission in Afghanistan the 16th era saw Brigade who arrived in the country in April that year they did in the first troop rotation the 16th Romanian theater in October 2006 when it was a place by the third commander Brigade which had as his principal infantry units the Royal Marines of 42 and 45 commandos reinforced by the Scimitar light tanks to see squadron that I dragoons in addition to supporting artillery engineer medical and logistical assets two months into its deployment in December of 2006 the first commander Brigade launched the first of five offensives aimed at maintaining pressure on the Taliban over the winter months which had to be collectively known as Operation Glacia the planning for the second such offensive known as Glacia ii began on the 10th of January 2007 with the target be in the Taliban Hill position then his drug room for which has been used as a staging area from which the Taliban lost attacks against both British and NATO forces preceded by an aerial night's heavy bombardment the plan called 100 Royal Marines a Zulu company for five commando to conduct an assault crossing over the river Helmand and a small canal using Viking armored vehicles while Scimitar tanks the Light Dragoons lay down suppressing fire once across the waterways the Marines would enter disembark from the Vikings storm into the fall destroy any Taliban infrastructure in the area for this engaging and returning to their Ford Operating Base unfortunately third commando brigade had insufficient troops available in the theater to hold the fort if it was taken and as such operation Glacia too was restricted to a large scale raid beginning at midnight on the 14th of January 2007 the 105 millimeter artillery guns the 29 commando regiment rotary opened fire and Jagran fall then as there were 300 on the 15th a US b-1 Lancer heavy bomber flew overhead and dropped 22,000 pound bombs into the target area with one creating a breach and the fort's outer perimeter wall the conclusion of the preliminary bombardment was meant to act as the green light for Zulu Company to move off from their start line but the lace mentor would not been to a zero 630 as they'd like against break that the ground assault got underway mounting up onto their Vikings the Royal Marines began their attack across him first to River Helmand and later the canal for this embarking from their vehicles on the open ground to the south of the fall at the same time the Scimitar light tanks or C squadron the Light Dragoons opened up in the Taliban positions which are inflating the open ground with small arms machine-gun and RPG fire was often in five of the British troops becoming wounded despite this the Romans pressed on with scattered groups roots in the hole that been created in the outer wall by the b-1 bomber from here elements of zulu company stormed into the fall itself where over the next four to five minutes they fought against stiff Taliban resistance and directed Apache helicopters onto the enemy strongpoints until the decision was made with draw back across the river after breaking contact with the enemy reaching the west bank of the river Helmand the senior officers conducted a headcount to ensure everyone was accounted for during which all has realized that marine lance corporal Murphy Ford was missing in action [Music] consequently a desert Hawk free surveillance drone was put into the sky to try find the missing marine and it was not long before heat signature was spotted sat up against the outer wall at the fore and identified speed the Lance Corporal on receiving his location Zulu company organized a force of four Vikings and it doesn't roll Marines to go back across the river and recover their colleague just as a Nimrod mr2 which had been fighting over head surveillance during the raid reported that last concentrations of Taliban reinforcements were converging on the fall subsequently the Apache helicopters were toss provide an air cover for the rescue however I'm being briefed on the mission the air crews realized that they had insufficient fuel to remain of the target for the duration of the recovery and instead Warrant Officer Mark Rutherford the pilot of one of the Apaches performed an alternative plan to the commanding officer of Zulu company sir I've got a different idea we will land at your location give me four men and I'll strap them to two Apaches who will go over land by the fall and strap the casualty to the base of my helicopter and come back all you need to do is find four volunteers after assessing his options the commanding officer accepted this new plan and found four volunteers to carry out including captain Dave reeked of our engineer of the 28th Engineer Regiment Marines Chris Frazer Perry and Gary Robertson and Warrant Officer class one Colin Hearn captain Dave regulator record his reaction to the task it seemed an extraordinary almost unbelievable plan for one thing I the idea you can put passengers on an Apache whether they're going to be hanging underneath it sit on the side of it no one knew at this stage how there's a pair now regardless of these concerns as Warrant Officer class 1 Colleen Hearn stated there was no way we were going to leave him or anyone else on that battlefield with the for volunteers proof to their task they grabbed their equipment made their way over to the two Apaches climbed on board and took off for jagran fall but on their score provided by further two Apaches and to us a 10 from the pole aircraft lost a u.s. b-1 bomber carried out second bomb run to suppress any Taliban resistance flying out just off the zero 9:30 the four Apaches made their approach to the for the escort helicopters one of which was flown by captain shot at Madison the first female patchy pilot in the British Army breaking off to provide fire support to the rescue mission simultaneously either to rescue Apaches flew into the target area with the first mistakenly landed inside the fort itself whilst a second touchdown on the correct LZ enabling captain Dave Rick and marine Christopher ASA Perry to disembark and move off to recover lance corporal Matthew Ford rushing over to the outer perimeter wall captain rig located the wounded lance corporal and began to drag him back to the helicopter with marine Frazer Perry coming to his assistance moments later as they neared the Apache the two pilots jumped out and helped strap that answer corporal to the aircraft or the wall under constant Taliban small-arms fire until the four embarked on to the helicopter and go into the air once again meanwhile Warrant Officer class 1 Colin Hearn and Marine Gary Robertson had become disorientated during the landing and unknowingly began heading towards the inner wolf to fall realizing he had overrun the LZ the part of the Apache left ow and warned the two Marines that they were heading in the wrong direction leading to the free moving off to the outer wall from where they got eyes on team two strapping Lance Corporal Ford to the second helicopter where the mission completed the free return to their aircraft and got back into the air linking up with the second helicopter and the two escorts who over the course of the rescue had the only used their 30 millimeter cannons but also expended off their onboard ammunition hey patches rot to death the secret was platforming now should imagine our Sun lifting off let's hope they've got the Arab there's a one-pot chicken through the cloud he's aware and someone [Applause] [Applause] sitting on one of the wings of the second Apache captain Dave Rick recounted the return into Zulus position as we flew over the river orders oudy company were lined up in the West Bank waiting and hoping there's a pretty solo moment for everyone seconds later we landed and put Lance Corporal Ford on the ground but then moved into an awaiting ch-47 chinook helicopter was flown back to camp Bastian [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Liveth For Evermore

Views: 663,083

Keywords: British, Military, History, Education, Army, Air Force, Navy, Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, Liveth For Evermore, LFE, Special Forces, Afghanistan, Britain, Royal Marines, 45 Commando, Zulu Company, Apache Helicopter, Lance Corporal Mathew Ford, Apache Rescue Afghanistan, Apache Rescue, Operation Glacier Two: The Rescue of Lance Corporal Mathew Ford | January 2007, Operation Glacier Two, Jugroom Fort, Helmand, Helmand Province, British Helmand, 3rd Commando Brigade, 42 Commando, commando raid

Id: r8gXyaUjeAQ

Length: 11min 0sec (660 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 05 2020