Operation Certain Death

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On cue 'Flyco' delivered the navigation data as practised many times during our training sorties, but this time it was for real. I fixed our position in TANS and all three aircraft launched into the darkness. Operation Sutton was underway.' You're so focussed on what you had to do, you didn't have much time to think about the other aspects of war." Prior to the Falklands War, all flying at night had to be done at a height that was safe above the highest piece of ground on a particular route, so typically it was 1,000 feet above the ground. Tim Collins, late of the Royal Irish Regiment, was serving as operations officer under the DSF during Barras. Officers serving with special forces usually return to their parent regiment after their tour of duty, and Collins' next duty was as commanding officer of 1 R IRISH.

Connaughton, Richard (September 2001). "Operation 'Barass' (sic)". Small Wars & Insurgencies. London: Routledge. 12 (2): 110–119. doi: 10.1080/714005388. S2CID 220390148.

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The bomb-maker has bigger plans in place, designed for maximum destruction. Plans that are personal to Riley - and his family. And he has no qualms about how many innocent bystanders are caught in the firestorm.

Although that offer was politely declined on behalf of the aircrew by the British Embassy, they did face the world's media. COBRA is a British government committee convened to handle national crises. The committee is named after the room in which it meets—the Cabinet Office Briefing Room—and usually known as "COBRA" or "Cobra" or sometimes "COBR". Similarly to the SAS, COBRA first became known to the public during the Iranian Embassy siege. [29] [30]

As the SAS operation concluded, the Chinooks ferried prisoners and bodies from Gberi Bana to the Jordanian battalion of UNAMSIL. From there, the bodies would be identified and buried, and those prisoners identified as West Side Boys would be handed over to the Sierra Leonean Police. [38] [39] Operation Barras also freed 22 Sierra Leonean civilians who had been held captive by the West Side Boys—the men were used as servants and put through crude military training by the West Side Boys, possibly with the intention of forcing them to fight in the future, while the women were used as sex slaves. Planners had been concerned that West Side Boys might try to conceal themselves among the civilians and so the civilians were also restrained and taken to the Jordanian peacekeepers' base to be identified. A 23rd civilian was caught in the crossfire and killed during the assault. [37] [40] Magbeni [ edit ] An RAF Chinook with underslung Land Rover, a procedure used to retrieve the Royal Irish patrol's vehicles from Magbeni Fowler, William (2010). Certain Death in Sierra Leone– The SAS and Operation Barras 2000. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781846038501. On 29 August, Fordham demanded proof that the captive soldiers were still alive, and Kallay brought with him to that day's meeting the two officers from the group—Marshall, the company commander, and Captain Ed Flaherty, the regimental signals officer. During the meeting, Flaherty shook hands with Fordham and covertly passed him a sketch map of Gberi Bana which detailed the layout of the village and the building in which the soldiers were being held. [14] The capture of the Royal Irish patrol had undermined the confidence of the Sierra Leonean population in the British operation, which they hoped would help to bring an end to the country's civil war, and embarrassed the British government, which had been critical of similar previous incidents involving UNAMSIL personnel. [2] [15] Operation Barras restored confidence in the British forces, prompting military historian William Fowler to call the operation "a necessarily spectacular endorsement of the rule of law and the elected government of Sierra Leone". [53] I felt something of how a condemned man must feel in the hours before his execution; the minutes seemed like hours.But despite “suicidal” odds, they rescued their comrades, a local army officer held in a latrine pit and 22 civilian hostages in a firefight lasting just 30 minutes. Not wishing to appear in anyway ungracious or churlish, and recognising that I would not be flying for another 12 hours, I duly accepted his kind offer and sat in bed enjoying a pint of lager. This gave cause for much merriment amongst the officers who were in the wardroom at the time, with several of them offering to change places with me.' During that short time, a war had been fought and won over 8,000 miles from home.' State of the art technology An investigation into the capture of the patrol was launched by Land Command and a senior officer was despatched to Freetown to debrief the members of the patrol. The report was critical of Marshall, stating that he "made an error of professional judgement in diverting from a planned and authorised journey to make an unauthorised visit to the village of Magbeni." [55]

Dorman, Andrew M. (2009). Blair's Successful War: British Military Intervention in Sierra Leone. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9780754672999.Fremont-Barnes, Gregory (2009). Who Dares Wins: The SAS and the Iranian Embassy Siege 1980. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 9781846033957.