SAS Soldiers Infilitrate Iraq During The Persian Golf War | Special Forces S1 EP3 | Wonder

[Music] during the Persian Gulf War an elite team of British SAS commandos infiltrates Iraq their mission to disable a network of mobile scud missile launchers the team is compromised deep behind enemy lines with 120 miles to the border and the Iraqi army at their backs the men of Bravo two zero faced a new mission to survive [Music] in an era of global violence a new breed of warrior has emerged to counter the threat superbly trained fearless and equipped with massive firepower these men are an elite few their teams are hand-picked their operations covert their missions deadly from around the globe these are the untold stories of the Special Forces On January 17th 1991 a us-led coalition launched a massive air war in response to the Iraqi invasion of PA Operation Desert Storm had begun [Music] laser and satellite guided missiles dramatically reduced the risk of allied casualties it promised to be a clean high-tech Iraqi president Saddam Hussein vowed to retaliate the Unleashed wave after wave of Scud missiles at cities in Israel and Saudi Arabia air strikes proved useless against the scuds the missiles were mounted on mobile launchers and eluded aerial surveillance [Music] the coalition would have to fight the scuds the old-fashioned way with men on the ground all right let's carry on but listen up the information a mission this dangerous required a high level of training team Bravo to zero of the British SAS was briefed at a Forward Operating Base efforts by the coalition air forces to suppress the Iraqi launches of Scud missiles against Israel and Saudi Arabia have been a failure that's far formed in world war ii the SAS or Special Air Service is the most experienced special forces unit in the world the eight men of Bravo to zero would be dropped behind enemy lines for ten days their mission to track mobile Scud launchers along a major supply route or MSR and II kind of what sergeant Andy McNab would lead the dangerous operation [Music] he and his men were also ordered to destroy a fiber-optic cable running alongside the MSR fiber-optic cables wait it was a crucial target the cable linked scud missile launchers to Iraqi command and control to sever that link they first had to find it Andy McNab's identity is protected for security reasons the problem was there was no information very little mapping and no satellite imagery or the area that we're going to operate you've just got to get out there and the argument is what that's what Special Forces do sometimes they go in without any information whatsoever because they're there to gather it when you land find a layout position with close proximity to the main supply route you're gonna have to dig into the sand to create your Lu P the flat desert terrain would offer little cover the squad would have to dig trenches or lie up positions to hide in once we got on the ground our biggest weapon would be concealment we're not going to be moving in the daylight what we're going to be doing is hiding up in a lie up position and Lu P in the daylight hours during the night we would then go out and operate if we haven't heard from you within 48 hours make your way back to the rendezvous point right here and whatever helicopter they're ready to come and meet you the way that we operate is in small groups maybe four eight twelve men going in for a surgical strike to hit a target and get in there quickly and come out even quicker Bravo two zero geared up and prep the mission every body and net patrol all eight of us get in we start and plan and prepare the operation because of everybody's background being so different teamwork is so important at twenty-four bob was the youngest member of the team he had been in the SAS six months [Music] Chris Ryan a six-year veteran was the unit's medic might join the SAS from New Zealand Stan an Australian was a demolition expert from a commanders point of view you'll get in a lot of different types of experiences everybody feels that they're part of the job Vince brought 20 years of experience to the team dinger had specialized training as a paratrooper Steve Lane known as legs was Bravo two zeroes communications expert the team would use a short burst radio to stay in touch with headquarters in Saudi Arabia this radio is designed to prevent enemy eavesdropping as a backup they also carried a TAC be a limited range emergency radio for navigation they packed a global positioning satellite device or GPS [Music] On January 22nd the SAS boarded a helicopter for the flight into Iraq Chris Ryan had no illusions about the nature of the mission was quite an emotional event because I think everybody had a fair idea that this was going to be a one-way ticket so we set off farewells got on board the helicopter and then flew into Iraq looking out the windows you know you could see quite far and the ground was very flat the ambient light was was very good the helicopter race 20 yards off the ground to avoid enemy radar the helicopter didn't have any armaments on I mean the crew were very brave if we don't the aircraft that they will just to attach themselves to us and we would we would bring them out these lads hadn't been trained in escape and evasion or anything so you know they were they were taking a huge risk as soon as we got touchdown the drill is you get off the back and just lie down and wait till the helicopter takes off will the noise dies down and you get your hearing back your night-vision everything [Music] so we've got to the guys with the guns left and right and then once we settle down and basically there was nothing around it still we hadn't been compromised and II used the GPS and a map to plot their position they were the team had landed just over a mile from their destination right a major of Iraqi supply water or MSR single follow me the commandos were heavily armed they carried m16s outfitted with grenade launchers and powerful anti-tank weapons their belt kits were packed with enough ammunition to less than two weeks the other essentials food water and digging equipment were carried in heavy burdens on their backs we were using an Allied bombing raid that was going on in an airfield about sort of 15 kilometers away as cover to get us in it's not our problem christmas is killing me all right by 4:45 a.m. the patrol reached the main supply route instead of soft deserts and they found solid rock and II want bedrock all you had was a couple of inches of sand and then underneath was bedrock it was a nightmare but again that's tough you're there you still got to get on with it you stand doing a mark on me and II took a small group to scout for another hiding place the others stayed behind a guard the gear the recon team located a dry riverbed it wouldn't provide much cover but with dawn approaching it was all they had this will do let's go get the other the man hunkered down and tried to stay warm despite all the gear they carried they were not prepared for bad weather that was the worst winter Iraq was having in 30 years it was very very cold it was a high wind chill factor also at dawn Bob scanned the perimeter for potential threats the area was clear and he needed to contact SAS headquarters [Music] legs sent the message via short burst radio the signal the radio wasn't working in the rush to deploy had been encrypted with the wrong frequencies alright boys I said if the radio has nothing to do with us we'll do it exchange all right Andy was unconcerned the team had planned for contingencies if they failed to establish communications within 48 hours headquarters would send a helicopter to a pre-arranged rendezvous point the plan was that four o'clock the following morning a helicopter would be there so that was no problems we're still gonna be operating we'll get a new radio and we'll carry on the communications breakdown was a nuisance but the mission plan was intact they had to find the fiber-optic cable the problems that we had was that we didn't exactly know how it was marked we didn't know if it was above ground in concrete piping or buried underground with markers we didn't have a clue at nightfall and II led a small reconnaissance patrol to search for the cable [Music] along the way they encountered an Iraqi anti-aircraft position it was a tempting target but our job is not to go in there and take them on it's not to go in there and find out what they are a job is to find the optic cable so anything animal or human we avoid let's box around they move carefully around the Iraqis near dawn the recon patrol found what they were looking for there were some white stakes that were stuck into the ground which we assumed might be the markers for the cable but as the night goes on we were starting to get to first light again so we had to get back into the hide before daylight it was too late to try to destroy the cable they would return the following night the next morning the SAS ad company about 400 meters away the other side of the MSR the main supply route there was a anti-aircraft site and what we presume it was the guys we met the night before that are driven to their position it didn't present a problem to us at that time purely because we were hidden they're not going to send out clearing patrols they're so far in their their own country so there was no change to the plan they would wait out the day hit the target that night and then pick up the new radio we start to hear goats moving across the high ground and you know just about five meters above us [Music] then after a few minutes the head goat with a bill you know avoid every other goat sort of follows came over and looked over the dip on the ground and looked down at us and then we clear a small child's voice you know make another note five six seven eight of the in I don't know [Music] and it's then will he saw us and we should have stopped we looked at him he looked at us and he sort of eyes opened up like saucers and then straight away just started to run and shout running towards the guns their position had been compromised the commandos prepared to move out they removed all non-essential gear and loaded up on water they would have to move fast if the Iraqi soldiers discovered them it was prison torture or death in early 1991 a us-led coalition launched Operation Desert Storm three days later an elite team of British SAS commandos infiltrated Iraq their mission to disable the enemy's scud missile system but within 24 hours the team's hiding-place was compromised a platoon of Iraqi soldiers was camped 200 yards away the commandos had extensive training an escape-and-evasion a dry riverbed or wadi provided an escape route Chris Ryan the team's medic took the point and we kept to the left-hand side of the wadi whilst we're walking out in single file to keep out of view of the anti-aircraft positions and what we've done is we put our mags over our faces to cover our faces thinking that we could possibly Bluff them they're probably the last people to think that those coalition forces this this deep inside of a Iraq sergeant Andy McNab was commander of the unit and then all of a sudden to our left coming from the area of the of the of the MSR we heard track vehicles what are we going to do are we going to keep on moving and outrun them that's not going to happen or we're going to stand our ground and the commander kid was stand your ground because there's nothing else to do and then it kicked on everybody's then in their own world they know what they've got to do they know that everybody's depending on everyone else you've got well trained troops they get on with it the only way to get out of an ambush is face it and go for it the fire was coming in quite intense and I can we were looking down at my chest expecting to see a halt appear or you know body partly taken off at some point during the contact we've moved into view of the anti-aircraft positions and then they start to open up on us after that it was a matter of taking control what we're doing is trying to stop these people from killing us so we can run away use the cover of darkness to hide us so it was literally moving as fast as we can out of the area the SAS decimated the entire Iraqi petula superior firepower they were now fugitives in a hostile country we got over the high ground I can't believe had put the threat that it was the eight members there were all there nobody been injured when we got across there I was half-expecting one of at least one of the lads to have being hit by nightfall the team had covered eight miles to make distance between us and the Iraqis after that firefight and the contact we ditched our bergen's our equipment all we had left was our belt kit and that you know carries the most important things which is ammunition and water throughout the night Iraqi patrols methodically searched the desert Andy McNab intended to throw them off course the fact that we've had this contact the Iraqis will naturally think we're going south we're going to all Saudi and that's where the emergency RV was so even if the helicopter did get him will it be able to pick us up if we're getting pursued south during the night do we have to try to get extracted whilst having a firefight if that happens helicopter won't come in it's as simple as that a helicopter rescue was now impossible it was too dangerous to land the team's only hope was to escape into Syria according to the map the border was 110 miles northwest of their position and he estimated it would take them three nights on foot once we realized we were in an escape-and-evasion situation our mindset just just changed and we all accepted that we are now on the run we were probably in the worst place in the world to escape it was a flat bedrock there wasn't any cover there was no foliage to disappear into there was no water and the ground was very hard to travel over and to navigate over as well 30 miles into their journey and II noticed that Vince and Stan were falling behind Vince had injured his leg during the firefight Chris yeah Vince's weapon it was too weak to carry his weapon Stan started dehydrate we stopped we rested got fluids down him helped Vince and then the leg injuries as much as possible I put them in front of me and Anna put Chris out in front as the lead scout [Music] as the SAS headed north they encountered a new threat hypothermia during that night the weather became horrendous absolutely horrendous there was that there was a fearsome wind that was blowing and stylee get extremely extremely cold as the temperature dipped below zero the men were in danger of freezing to death a hands mustiness freeze up and assume eggs that we wore to cover us from the from the wind started freeze up we're a moisture was coming through with breathing over the world and he barely made out the sound of Allied aircraft overhead he told Vince to stop and to pass the message down the line he wanted to use their emergency radio to contact a passing jet Bravo two zero Bravo two zero we are a ground call sign to LA we're in trouble turn back no and then the signal faded at that time it was great because what it meant was that they were aware that this call sign Bravo two zero they could work out where we roughly were and that we existed and we're in trouble and II turned to tell Vince but he was gone visibility was poor they could see nothing but blowing sand Chris Stan and Vince had vanished two of them were injured that would be lost without the GPS as the temperature dip below zero and II knew they had to be found and quickly during the Persian Gulf War eight members of the British SAS were trapped behind enemy lines pursued by Iraqi patrols battling icy winds the team struggled to make it to the Syrian border sergeant Andy McNab lost three of his men when he stopped to use the emergency radio the patrol was splitting - and it was my fault what I done I told Vince that we were going to stop expecting him to pass it on the line so everybody knew what was going on but what it didn't appreciate was how bad a condition he was and he didn't confirm that he was going to pass it on he just carried on moving a search for the missing man proved futile visibility was extremely low and II couldn't risk the lives of the rest of the team the three guys that were script from us five they knew the bearing that they were going on they knew what the plan was to get to Syria they're all professional soldiers two of them are injured but they're still alive then they know what they got to do it took Chris Ryan nearly an hour to realize they had separated from the group all three soldiers were delirious with hypothermia all I know he turned round how had Stan and I had Vince and the rest the Patrol had disappeared Chris the medic was now responsible for two injured soldiers I had a night sight which I could view where we come from but couldn't see any of the guys couldn't could make out anybody I was quite worried and frightened now because there's three of us with two two weapons the other group of five had a GPS and had the machine guns Chris urged Vince and Stan on the Euphrates River was 70 miles northwest a two day hike there they would refill their canteens and cross the border into Syria but for now they needed a place to hide just before daybreak we came across an old tank firm and it made an indentation in the ground which was like a little ditch so he got in there and used that as cover had a look around as daylight came up and I could see a box bodied vehicle with at least two Iraqis around it all they could do was keep still and hope they were not discovered the windchill was severe Chris and his men were in danger and I've worked and so the coldest places on this earth and that day was the longest day in my life we were freezing we're freezing to death Andie's group wasn't very much better a burial mound provided minimal cover Iraqi troops were everywhere [Music] it was obvious it was far more enemy activity then we initially fought and what was happening was that vehicles were stopping and troops were getting out now whether they were looking for us or whether it was it was speculative searching we don't really know I personally was getting quite concerned because it was after the weather or the Iraqis were gonna kill us it was going to be one or the other and II spotted a paved road a half mile from their position if they could make it that far without being seen they could try to hijack a vehicle at nightfall they would sneak down to the road [Music] but for now they had to survive another day of sub-zero temperatures Chris and his team left the tank berm as soon as it got dark there was no let-up in the storm [Applause] Stan had recovered from serious dehydration but Vince seemed to be getting worse the bitter wind kept their body temperatures dangerously low during that night and kept falling falling behind he went through all the classic signs of hypothermia from being shouting screaming to wantin to lie down and sleep chris knew they couldn't survive these conditions much longer the men were already disoriented it was a struggle to stay on course Andy and his men reached the road the storm had finally passed over them after hours of waiting they saw headlights in the distance if they wanted to get out of Iraq alive it was Now or Never during Operation Desert Storm free British SAS commandos were separated from their unit behind enemy lines a winter storm hampered navigation hypothermia quickly set in Vince the most experienced of the three commandos had been injured in a firefight now he struggled to keep up by the time Kristen Stan realized their teammate was missing it was too late there was no sign again the situation was desperate with Iraqi patrols closing in Chris Ryan had a difficult decision to make we called off the search Vince because we were walking back into enemy territory Vince may have walked off to the left or right and he could be wandering anywhere I know in my heart of hearts that man probably laid down and went to sleep and he died that night Chris and Stan had to go on it was 54 miles to the Syrian border out of range of the storm the rest of the units take out a road sergeant Andy McNab and his men were in bad shape but they had a plan if they could hijack a vehicle they could drive across the border so go out on the road and start to wave the vehicle down as the headlights approached what it was was a 1960s New York taxicab I can believe it the SAS drove Northwest they were now just 35 miles from the border not far away Chris and Stan were in trouble both men were dehydrated and exhausted an Iraqi Shepherd approached their position [Music] in desperation Stan blew their cover the commandos needed a vehicle this lot couldn't speak English and we couldn't speak any Arabic and Stan was asking did he have a vehicle and our tractor how far to walk he's just saying yes to everything Oh Stan insisted on taking the Shepherd in search of a vehicle I was against it because it was breaking up a piece Stan left his weapon and webbing with me and I said I'll be leaving this location at 6:30 if you're not back you know I'm going hold on to its dad and I said you change your mind just shoot this guy in come back by now Andy and the rest of the team were approaching the border with no Iraqi patrols in sight it looked as if the carjacking had paid off Chris's situation was grim it was nearly dawn and Stan had not returned he needed a place to hide I looked over my shoulder and there was a set of lights and I feel crazy must have get in a vehicle and you know he was right and I was wrong and within a short period of time there's a second set of lights Chris knew he was in trouble first vehicle came to within about probably no more than 100 meters I moved forward and put a burst into each vehicle and then just basically turned around and then started legging it back in the direction that I'd be there was nothing came out of them and there's no returning fire no like Chris Ryan was now on his own sergeant Andy McNab and his men were seven miles from Syria and safety we had no definite sort of road system so basically we were heading Northwest so as we drove along the road if we came to a junction whatever was going Northwest or in that general direction we'll take it and just keep on trying to get to that border [Music] we eventually got within 11 kilometers of the of the border where we got caught in a line of traffic for a vehicle checkpoint Iraqi soldiers were moving down the line of trucks and oil tankers and vehicles eventually they will come to our taxi [Music] and then we just started running and we started running west to get out of the area and get towards the border well you know who almost tastes the border standing between the SAS and the border was the Euphrates River [Music] as we get out the confusion stop consolidate so we can get over the border that night exactly thank you to the border look Ricky on me let's go Andy and Mark recon the river looking for the narrowest point because we knew if we didn't cross it but I far too much activity far too much they discovered an Iraqi patrol on top of their position at the sound of gunfire the rest of the team scattered [Music] legs and dinger ran out of ammunition they decided to swim for it bob was forced into the open legs and dinger made it to the opposite bank of the Euphrates the half-mile swim in freezing water nearly finished them both [Music] Andy and Mark were now low on ammo themselves they made a break for the treeline and as we came over the lip and started to move forward we was opened up up from about five meters away and his clear and empty mark was hit now Andy's only defense was the darkness i box round the position and then just carried on for the for the border on the opposite side of the river dinger dragged legs lane to an old farm shed [Music] he could go no further a few minutes later several Iraqis approached the shed some of them carried ak-47s there was only one thing dinger could do to save them oh he tried to escape drawing the Iraqis away from the shed despite dingers sacrifice legs was too far gone he died later that night Chris struggled to keep going I had this Stila m16 with two or three rounds and the ammunition basically from that point I was just legging it I need a new I need to get some water hadn't drank in in two days and this the vast majority of that night was spent just heading towards the euphrates daylight forced Andy McNab into hiding just one and a half miles from the Syrian border I got under a drainage culvert which was basically a ditch with a half-inch steel plate across it which made a bridge and and all day there were vehicles moving over last night's firefight had the Iraqis scouring the desert for miles around they searched every possible hiding place [Music] you could see boots come down and why Falls poking in the in the culvert two guys dragged me out and they dragged me I was on my back [Music] as I looked I could see the high ground of Syria which I couldn't see because obviously I found the hiding place at last light so I didn't see it so so close I could almost taste it [Music] [Applause] [Music] and II was taken to him Baghdad Iraqi intelligence had that over the last five days British commandos had killed 250 of their soldiers now they wanted Rocky's would stop at nothing [Music] sergeant Andy McNab of the British SAS had been captured behind enemy lines he was taken to a military camp deep inside Iraq he learned that two other members of his squad were also there Stan had been caught trying to commandeer a vehicle dinger had risked capture to save his teammate legs lane now all three commandos faced torture by Iraqi interrogators during the time in the interrogation centre certainly after the first four or five days I fought there's no way we're gonna get out of this where we're dead his training had prepared him for physical and psychological torture you've got to accept what's ever happened to you physically what you're trying to do is be the gray man not be any obstruction not trying and be aggressive you know you're just finally she's just trying to go with the flow and keep that mental integrity we're not making much progress Andy Andy finally offered interrogators a cover story they were medics separated from their unit the Iraqis weren't satisfied Chris Ryan was the only member of the team who had not been killed or captured u.s. fighter jets were bombing a military installation near his position the young medic was running out of time at this point I knew I was in trouble the way my body was I mean I've smelled dead bodies before and I've been on exercise where I haven't washed for three months and your body gives it a particular smell now when I squeezed my fingernails there was pus coming out of them as I said more my teeth were loose now there was bleeding my feet were in a in a dreadful State the sores were open on my body I was quite worried I didn't know how far I could actually go on at dawn Chris approached a small farm Syria Syria sorry at all Chris Ryan had achieved the impossible without food or clean water he walked 180 miles in seven nights to reach the safety of Syria at the same time three of his teammates were being held in a prison near Baghdad their situation was Grambling God the cells were filthy and freezing I want to speak to officer the beatings came more often what did speak till office out after eight days of torture Andy decided his men had held out long enough I'm a member of close observation to tune Andy told the officer a modified version of the truth they already knew much of the information he gave them and this helped verify his story [Music] myself dinger and Stan were put into the same cell for me it was it was fantastic it was good as we had time to to sort of debrief and work try and work out what had happened he late January Saddam Hussein revealed he was using US and British POWs as human shields he hoped to protect his military installations against air attacks the us-led coalition countered with the most intense ground war since Vietnam [Music] in two short days coalition troops demolished what was left of Hussein's army [Music] the Iraqi dictator quickly conceded defeat on February 26 1991 he agreed to withdraw his troops from Kuwait completely the Coalition demanded the freedom of all POWs the imprisoned SAS commandos were released ten days later at the Red Cross station in Baghdad and he was surprised to find mark alive he had only been wounded in the firefight five members of the team survived three did not Bob consiglio Vince Phillips and legs lane were killed in action the men of Bravo two zero risked everything to accomplish their mission their courage and their sacrifice will never be forgotten [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Wonder

Views: 1,820,916

Keywords: Battlefield Stories, Close Combat, Combat Leadership, Combat Tactics, Combat Veterans, Global Threats, Hostage Rescue, Infantry Warfare, Infiltration Techniques, Israeli Defense, Military Brotherhood Bonds, Military Courage, Military Strategies, Satellite Imagery, Scud Missiles, Special Forces, Super Soldiers, Survival Skills, Unit Cohesion, Warfare Technology, Wonder

Id: 9njIrrJBlE8

Length: 49min 58sec (2998 seconds)

Published: Tue May 12 2020