Mission Overview | Mission Detail | Chronology Satellite Imagery | Forces | Tactical | Weapons Multimedia | News Coverage | Discuss

Mission 2 - Chronology
Operation Anaconda

March 2, 2002: A brutal, intense day of fighting

Just before dawn, Shah-i-Kot Valley: US Green Berets plan an attack from the north to drive an estimated 200 to 400 enemy fighters toward several US blocking positions manned by troops from the 10th Mountain Division. The area where the noose is supposed to tighten is no more than 70 square miles - but the terrain is rugged mountain country, 8,500 feet high and surrounded by peaks rising to 12,000 feet. Snow on the ridgelines is knee-deep, and temperatures dip down to 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

As the troops ready themselves, many write messages of defiance on their helmets and equipment. "They started ... We'll finish!" is what Army Pfc. Joseph Borgia, an M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon gunner, scrawls onto his helmet.

0600: One hundred and twenty-five men from the 1/87th Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain arrive with three CH-47 Chinook helicopters. One Chinook flies to the northern blocking position with a platoon-sized force and two hunter/killer teams. In the south, the other two land with 82 men. What they don't know is that a heavily armed enemy force of well over 100 men is dug into fortified positions all around them. They're set up for an ambush. The US forces immediately take enemy fire from a force including two dozen black-uniformed Al Qaeda fighters located behind a small ridge. Some US soldiers scurry into a small depression, or "bowl" for cover, while others move south. Al-Qaeda has the home advantage, with all the low ground zeroed in with their mortars. At least 12 U.S. soldiers are injured. One fire-support officer begins radioing for Apache attack helicopters. Another calls for an air strike while his rifle platoon returns fire on an enemy mortar position. Within five minutes, a B-52 dumps its load and wipes out the mortar team.

0630: Within 20 minutes, Apache gunships swoop in firing cannons at the ridge. Enemy bullets strafe the aircraft, forcing them to leave. An hour later, two more Apaches make a second attempt, but they're again repelled by missiles and small arms. Soldiers on the ground ask for more close air support, but there's nothing left to send: five out of the six Apaches available have been riddled withgroundfire - - on the thin air at this altitude they can't maneuver. AC-130 Spectre gunships - - perfect for this type of operation - - are considered too vulnerable to groundfire and are grounded during daylight hours. The soldiers in the bowl are on their own.

0700: Pvt. 1st Class Chad Ryan and his crew load their 120-mm mortar tube with 40 lb. shells, and start firing at the ridgeline. The young man's crew gets off 16 rounds, before AK-47 shots begin riddling the dirt nearby. Enemy mortars begin to pounding the ground near them, and they pull the mortar back. But before they can take cover, a shell hits a nearby group, and half a platoon of men are injured in a giant flash. Back at Bagram airfield, US commanders are realizing the intelligence underestimated the enemy, and now the troops are in a hot LZ. They helplessly watch live Predator feed of the attacks.

1000: An al-Qaeda sniper harasses the Americans, jeering and making obscene gestures. They are unable to shoot him.

1400: B-52's and F-16's strike enemy positions with no effect.

1500: The airstrikes halt. The enemy comes out of hiding and begins to pound US forces with the most intense barrage of the day - a hail of grenade, rifle, and mortar fire. US forces fire back with M4 rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers. During the melee, Command Sgt. Maj. Frank Grippe takes eight to ten pieces of shrapnel in his leg. "I'll be setting off airport metal detectors the rest of my life," he now jokes.

1700: US forces run out of machine gun ammunition. Ammo for small arms is limited.

1730: For hours, Sgt. Jeffrey Grothause and his nine-man squad move around the depression, or "bowl," in the southern area, holding off al-Qaeda and Taliban forces who try to approach. Shrapnel has torn into Grothause's arm, but he's still firing round after round with his M4 and leading his squad. The enemy comes within 30 yards of the Americans, but they can't break through.

1800: Night falls. The US forces begin to realize they have the advantage. "We own the night," Sgt. Maj. Robert Healy, says, "We can see them. They can't see us."

1830: From high above, the faint whir of propellers from the lethal AC-130 Spectre Gunship is heard. An instant later, a blaze of 105-mm cannon fire pounds the mountainside, and US troops cheer. Using its infrared sensors, the gunship identifies the size and position of the enemy, and unloads on them. Sixty of the defenders are already dead on the eastern ridgeline. The Spectre kills 28 more.

1900: US forces call in an airstrike on the ridgelines, east and west. "I want Marzak and those ridges to disappear," the fire control officer says. B-52 bombers lay a string of 2,000-pound missiles that light the sky.

2000: A Black Hawk medivac helicopter approaches, and encounters sporadic fire. It's nearly hit with an RPG, but lands unharmed, and evacuates the 12 most seriously wounded men.

2245: A second gunship circles in to cover aircrafts.

2400: Two Chinooks land and evacuate the remaining forces. Seeing the birds come out of the night is "like the gates of heaven opening," says one of the soldiers, later. The completely unexpected battle marks the first battle in Afghanistan to involve regular Army troops. Operation Anaconda was the first tough, sustained close operation since the first Gulf War, and the highest-altitude battle in US history. It also marks a return to cold weather fighting the US has not seen since the Korean War.