The situation began to unravel from the start. They were trained to complete their missions against long odds, operating behind enemy lines – but when communications could not be established and their presence was apparently discovered there Bwas no choice but to abort, exfiltrate and attempt to fight another day.
The eight-man team of B Squadron 22 SAS, known as Bravo Two Zero, had deployed hours earlier into the trackless Iraqi desert, then began an incredible and tragic odyssey, the circumstances of which are still debated more than 30 years later.
Prelude to deployment
When Saddam Hussein sent the Iraqi Army into Kuwait on 2 August 1990, condemnation from the community of nations was virtually unanimous and a coalition force from 35 countries assembled to deal with the dictator’s aggression against his neighbour. During the build-up for Operation Desert Storm, SAS formations deployed to forward operating bases in Saudi Arabia. They brought with them expertise in the covert operations that were deemed essential to the offensive to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait, which began on 17 January 1991.
Denne historien er fra Issue 104, 2022-utgaven av History of War.
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Denne historien er fra Issue 104, 2022-utgaven av History of War.
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NAUMACHIA TRUTH BEHIND ROME'S GLADIATOR SEA BATTLES
In their quest for evermore novel and bloody entertainment, the Romans staged enormous naval fights on artificial lakes
OPERATION MANNA
In late April 1945, millions of Dutch civilians were starving as Nazi retribution for the failed Operation Market Garden cut off supplies. eet as In response, Allied bombers launched a risky mission to air-drop food
GASSING HITLER
Just a month before the end of WWI, the future Fuhrer was blinded by a British shell and invalided away from the frontline. Over a century later, has the artillery brigade that launched the fateful attack finally been identified?
SALAMANCA
After years of largely defensive campaigning, Lieutenant General Arthur Wellesley went on the offensive against a French invasion of Andalusia
HUMBERT 'ROCKY'VERSACE
Early in the Vietnam War, a dedicated US Special Forces officer defied his merciless Viet Cong captors and inspired his fellow POWs to survive
LEYTE 1944 SINKING THE RISING SUN
One of the more difficult island campaigns in WWII's Pacific Theatre saw a brutal months-long fight that exhausted Japan’s military strength
MAD DAWN
How technology transformed strategic thinking and military doctrine from the Cold War to the current day
BRUSHES WITH ARMAGEDDON
Humanity came close to self-annihilation with the Cuban Missile Crisis, Broken Arrows’ and other nuclear near misses
THE DEADLY RACE
How the road to peace led to an arms contest between the USA and USSR, with prototypes, proliferation and the world’s biggest bomb
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
Einstein, Oppenheimer and the race to beat Hitler to the bomb. How a science project in the desert helped win a war
