Operation Trent: The largest S.A.S. operation since 1945 | November 2001

in mid-october 2001 just after the start the US said invasion of Afghanistan British troops from ang squadrons the 22nd SES regiment arrived in theater under the codename of Operation determine initially expecting their mission to be focused on high intensity operations against the Taliban and al-qaeda the SAS instead found themselves conducting unopposed long-range reconnaissance patrols in the northwest of the country and eventually as the tempo of these patrols decreased the two squadrons was drawn to their garrison in Britain and the 8th for November 2001 however following the intervention of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the SAS a greater role in the war in Afghanistan ang squadron to warn that there be heading back to the country a week later on their return on the 17th of November the troops received the first indication of their expanded role when a briefing came through from the Ministry of Defence the Italian an al-qaida target in the southwest of Afghanistan the target in question was a large fire building Factory which have been identified by US and British intelligence has been a storage facility for opium that was guarded by up to 100 al-qaeda fighters who had turned the area into a mini fortress with an array of entrenched positions in the vicinity of the factory in the context of the broader mission in hunting down Osama bin Laden the Americans designated it a low priority objective as it was assessed that there were no high-value targets on the site the British on the other hand believed the fracture may contain a substantial amount of intelligence and whatever to commence their US counterparts to get troops on the ground to seize the area those troops had to be the men of ang squadrons the 22nd SES regimen who had asked for salt in a season the factory under the codename cooperation trend the plan for operation trends was free fold with phase one beginning with the drop of an eight-man team from G squadron on sub patch a desert 150 kilometers away from the target this team was to conduct a halo jump for an American c-130 hercules transport aircraft amok our temporary landing zone onto which the remainder of ng squadrons a total of 120 operators was be inserted onto by over six c-130s this airlift was be carried out in two waves once most quadrants have formed up on the t LZ they were then to drive the 150 kilometers to the target used in 38 Land Rover 110 H CPUs eight kawasaki dirtbikes and two logistic vehicles carrying on the supplies for the ground force on their arrival at the objective phase two was to begin with for us f-18 Hornets and two f-14 Tomcats conducting a preliminary bombing run on the target which would act as a signal for a squadrons begin the main assault angel securing the factory itself while Steve squadron provided fire support from a distance once the factory was secured the third and final phase would commence with a squadron collecting any valuable intelligence from the site before linking back up with G squadron and extracting themselves from the region unfortunately faces turned free were to be conducted in broad daylight as the United States Central Command may declare that a six u.s. fighter aircraft could anyone station for a one-hour period at 1100 on the day of the operation this was far from ideal but given the rarity of these type of missions and the possibility of the operation being canceled together with our air support the SAS reluctantly agreed to this timetable by late November 2001 with the preparations complete the 120 men of a new squadrons the 22nd SAS regimen were given the greenlight execute operation Trent the largest missions be carried out by the SAS since the end of the Second World War [Music] on an undisclosed date and late November 2001 the eight-man halo team from G squadron boarded their US c-130 hercules transport aircraft i took off from Bagram Air Base for the temporary then in zone flying for two hours the team made their jump into remote areas Southwest Afghanistan conducting the first Halo insertion into enemy territory in the history that SAS on their land in the team began testing the furnace of the ground to make sure is capable of holding the weight of c-130 before sending a signal to the rest of the task force stating that they had arrived safely now the temporary landing zone was suitable to be used approximately fourteen hours later G squadron arrived in the six c-130s driving their vehicles off the ramps and out of the rear of the moving aircraft prior to the Hercules taken to the skies again to collect a squadron who arrived in a similar fashion several hours later by zero 1:30 on the morning of the undisclosed date in November the ground force was assembled and driving the 150 kilometers to the target during which one of the Land Rovers suffered a breakdown and was forced to be left behind with his three-man crew nonetheless the remainder of the two squadrons pressed on and reached the rendezvous point in the mid morning from where they got eyes on the objective just below them however immediately on their arrival the SAS became engaged by small arms and RPGs far materialising from the factory as al-qaeda fighters who had observed Sam being thrown into the air from the British vehicles in the distance but fully alerted to the impending a Seoul in response to SAS brought their vehicle mounted general-purpose machine guns into action disaster for f-18 Hornets and two f-14 Tomcats arrived overhead at 1,100 and carried out their preliminary bombing run destroying over 50 million pounds worth of opium and the buildings they were stored in as soon as the bombs detonated the men of a squadron started the engines to their Land Rovers and drove at full speed towards the factory under the cover of G squadron who remained outdistance suppressing the enemy defences using snipers mortars machine guns and anti-tank rocket launchers racing across the desert a squadron reached the point a couple of hundred meters away from the objective dismounted from their vehicles and began advancing on food during which several al-qaida bunker positions opened up on the British troopers and temporarily stalled their sole realizing that a was pinned down the senior SS commander on the ground made the decisions moved G squadron forward several hundred metres to better engage the enemy in addition to calling air strafing runs by the Hornets and Tomcats on to the bunker positions these runs which came in danger close to the SAS amount the final action of the US air support was successful neutralized in these strong points and able in a squadron to resume its a sole moving up to the edge of the objective the squadron dissolved into a dozen small teams some of which began clearing out the enemy trenches whilst others penetrated into the factory and the gamma follically securing that outbuildings a process that saw a large number of the enemy be killed or captured a fourth SAS operators become wounded in the firefights although none of their wounds proved to be fatal and all four were safely extracted for that area without further incident meanwhile as soon as two outbuildings were cleared half of a squadron fought their way forward to the main compound which have been identified by British intelligence has been the al Qaeda headquarters for the facility with teams sending off potential exit routes from the structure a couple more move forward and breached into the single-story compound whereupon storming inside they found no enemy fighters when instead lost quantities are paperwork and electronic devices related to the Taliban and al-qaeda once the building was declared clear of hostiles to SAS began clicks in every bit of intelligence they could or small pockets of al-qaeda fighters they were holding out for either area were dealt with by the rest of a squadron by 1500 with their mission complete and received the news of possible enemy reinforcements enroute to the region the troopers of a squadron ratted on the fringes of the factory and returned to their land rovers where alongside their colleagues in G squadron they began to withdraw back to the temporary Thanon zone arriving here in the late evening they were greeted by US ch-47 Chinook helicopter which have equated the four wounded SAS operators to an American military base in Pakistan whilst the rest of the task force reports into c-130 Hercules transport aircraft were transported back to Bagram Air Base for mission debrief you you

Channel: Liveth For Evermore

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Keywords: British, Military, History, Education, Army, Air Force, Navy, Soldier, Sailor, Airmen, Liveth For Evermore, LFE, Special Forces, S.A.S., SAS, Special Air Service Regiment, UKSF, UK Special Forces, Afghanistan, F/A-18 Hornet, F-14 Tomcat, Operation Trent, Operation Trent: The largest S.A.S. operation since 1945 | November 2001, November 2001, Factory, Trent, A Squadron, 22 S.A.S., 22 SAS, 22, G Squadron, C-130 Hercules, C-130, Bagram Air Base, HALO jump, HALO, special air service, british sas, US

Id: x3VKiCsvBMc

Length: 9min 45sec (585 seconds)

Published: Tue May 12 2020