Afstan: Two very different military situations
The British seem to be trying to achieve this year what the CF appear to have achieved last year:
1) UK:
1) UK:
Afghanistan approaching 'all-out war'2) Canada:
British troops in Afghanistan have fired almost as many rounds in the last two months as the Parachute Regiment shot last year, military sources have revealed.
In a short period the 1st Bn Royal Anglians battlegroup has fired almost 400,000 rounds of small arms ammunition that is very soon expected to exceed the 450,000 bullets that the Paras fired over six months of intense fighting last year.
In what many officers regard as all-out war, the Anglians have accounted for 600 Taliban dead since April as they attempt to push the insurgents away from populated areas of Helmand province in the south of the country...
Canadian Forces “caught by surprise” in Afghan warHmmm.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Canadian Forces have been “caught by surprise” in recent months by a dramatic shift in the Afghanistan war that has seen the Taliban melt into the civilian population and spread into a far wider area, a top officer admitted Wednesday.
The new enemy activity has prompted the kind of rapid “sea change” in tactics that used to be unheard of in the Forces, said Col. Mike Cessford, second in command of the Canadian mission here.
Last year, troops were engaged in fierce fighting with large clumps of insurgents in a single, 20-square-kilometre area west of Kandahar, he said.
Now the Taliban have dispersed among the province’s civilians and into a “multiplicity” of different districts, Cessford said in a frank assessment of the operation.
“This mission is evolving dynamically and dramatically,” he told a group of Canadian journalists. “We trained hard for a mission that did not materialize … Here you change on a dime and you have to change on a dime.”..
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 1:42 p.m.
2 Comments:
I fired up the old Windows Calculator and came up with some interesting stats. Assuming (which I probably shouldn't)that the 1st Bn, Royal Anglians has around 500 troops and given they've fired 400,000 rounds and killed approx 600 Taliban, that's:
1. an average of 800 rounds of small arms ammo fired by each trooper.
2. an average of 667 small arms rounds fired for every Taliban killed.
That seems a low ratio until I remembered that the Brits do have their own artillery, helicopter gunship and close air support, plus being able to call in USAF air support.
This is in no way a denigration of the Royal Anglians' grit and achievements but I'd guess that the artillery, helicopter gunship and close air support likely accounted for a significant percentage of the kills. Half?
But I'm an ex-Air Force ground tech. What the heck do I know? :-)
Any infantry types out there want to add a much more expert opinion on this?
Another thought:
"...Last year, troops were engaged in fierce fighting with large clumps of insurgents in a single, 20-square-kilometre area west of Kandahar, he said.
Now the Taliban have dispersed among the province’s civilians and into a “multiplicity” of different districts, Cessford said in a frank assessment of the operation."
That change of deployment strategy (and excuse me for applying honorable military terminology to actions of scumbag terrorists-no respect intended) suggests a tacit acknowledgement of strategic defeat on the Taliban's part. One concentrates one's forces for strategic and tactical purposes when on the offensive.
Contrarily, one disperses formations when in retreat or when they cannot be sustained or even survive in concentration. And terrorists hide behind civilians when in dire need of "life insurance".
That's what been happening. In the last year, whenever the Taliban attempted large unit maneuver and attack against any Allied forces, they got slaughtered wholesale. Keeping that up would only exhaust their supply of cannon fodder and morale.
What I get out of this is that the biggest dangers to Allied and Afghan forces in that region will now be suicide bombers, IEDs and assassins. Of course, nothing should be taken for granted, but we appear to have the Taliban on the ropes.
There is an end to this that can now be seen in the distance. That's been brought by Allied combat forces, not UN and other NGO talking shops and defeatist/appeaser Western politicians.
Comments, anyone?
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