The Road to Hell (Michael Yon)

Michael Yon Online ^ | 10/13/08 | Michael Yon

[Dawnsblood]

Since leaving the British embed, I’ve gone unilateral. I flew back and forth between Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, drove around and talked with people down south, then flew up to Kabul. In Kabul, I met Tim Lynch and Shem Klimiuk (a retired USMC and ex-Aussie paratrooper, respectively), and we drove in an unarmored truck east to Jalalabad. The canyon-filled drive would be dangerous even if there was no war, but there is a war – a rapidly growing one — and Tim pointed out burnt spots on the road where ambushes had occurred. I was unarmed, and counting on the military experience of my two guides as well as their combined seven years experience in Afghanistan. In the weeks that I would spend with Tim and Shem, we drove more than a thousand miles up and down Afghan roads without the slightest drama, except that Tim scares me with his driving. If you are rich and want the adventure of a lifetime, contact Tim Lynch. You might die. But if you live, you’ll come back with a new perspective on Afghanistan.

On our first trip, we drove from Kabul to Jalalabad. The road passes through a village called Sarobi. Sarobi has become known as the place where ten French soldiers were killed on 18 August, 2008, although they were not actually killed in Sarobi, but near Sper Kundy. The French soldiers were on a reconnaissance patrol in the Uzbin Valley, about 40 kilometers east of Kabul. At approximately 15:00 local time, they were spread out over a steep slope and started taking fire from the ridges above. The gunfire was fierce and accurate. After 90 minutes, the French vehicles ran out of ammunition, and they abandoned a counterattack.

[2banana]

The French soldiers were on a reconnaissance patrol in the Uzbin Valley, about 40 kilometers east of Kabul. At approximately 15:00 local time, they were spread out over a steep slope and started taking fire from the ridges above. The gunfire was fierce and accurate. After 90 minutes, the French vehicles ran out of ammunition, and they abandoned a counterattack. They fought for four hours without reinforcements, which were slow to come because the French troops lost radio contact and could not call in air support or reinforcements. According to a secret after action report that I have read and was quoted extensively and accurately in the Canadian Globe and Mail newspaper, the loss of radio contact was probably due to the fact that they only had one working radio. Soldiers from the Afghan National Army (ANA) had accompanied the French patrol, but they were apparently worse than ineffective, “lounging on the battlefield” until they finally dispersed, leaving their weapons and equipment, according to the report.

Going into bandit country with 1 working radio is not a good technique.

Mohamood said that the Taliban were trying to capture some of the wounded French, but they kept fighting so the Taliban killed them.

FYI to some of you French bashers...

[SeeSharp]

Not to hijack this thread but the article mentions Tim Lynch, who also reports directly from the war zone. His website (with pics) is Free Range International and is also worth a checking out.

[sandboxshooter]

Michael Yon is an American icon, the new Ernie Pyle....if you aren’t reading him, you should be. He “gets” it and gets lots of respect from the guys over here.

[Jacquerie]

Most of the troops were from the Eighth Paratrooper Regiment . . .

Possibly of the Foreign Legion?

[BlackVeil]

Soldiers from the Afghan National Army (ANA) had accompanied the French patrol, but they were apparently worse than ineffective, “lounging on the battlefield” until they finally dispersed, leaving their weapons and equipment, according to the report.

Since 2001, so many millions of dollars have been spent developing that Afghan army. And in all the recent clashes, they were never in sight. The Afghan local police actually do more fighting.

[Thunder 6]

The 8th is a Regular Regiment from Metropolitan France.
Regards,

[LSUfan]

Hekmatyar had a close relationship to Saddam and received aid from Iraq, according to the Center for Defense Analyses report. Of course you will never see or hear anything about that from the MSM.

[happygrl]

Reminds me of the opening scene from We were Soldiers Once and Young where the French are ambushed and fight valiantly.

Honors to these brave soldiers, they acquitted themselves well.

[happygrl]

Wow, these guys DID have connections to Vietnam:

The Sarobi ambush was the worst single day toll for the French military in a quarter century. Most of the troops were from the Eighth Paratrooper Regiment, which had been nearly wiped out in the siege of Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam in 1954.