It was supposed to be a half hour operation, it became one of the most bloody battles that the US army has faced since the end of the Vietnam War. We are talking about the ‘battle of Mogadishu’, the story told by the documentary Black Hawk Down: true story on Netflix.
Black Hawk Down, the true story of the battle of Mogadishu told in the documentary
It is October 3, 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia. The United States are part of the United Nations Mission UNOSOM II. At 1.50 pm the Intelligence informs that Omar Salad Elmi, one of the key men of Mohamed Farrah Aidid, one of the lords of the war who competed for the capital of Somalia, is located in a building in the center.
Thus the American command decides to act: the helicopters bring the special teams to the spot and a column of vehicles starts from the base outside the capital to recover the soldiers and prisoners. The building is taken in a short time and the minister captured.
But Aidid’s troops answer quickly. Barricades on the street, rockets and shots against the trucks on march. The “column” reaches prisoners and special departments and tries to return to the base. It is at this point that 6-1, one of the Black Hawk helicopters in flight on the city is shot down. The convoy changes its way and tries to help the soldiers who survived the crash, but the situation worsens. The convoy remains trapped and Somali sniper reap victims from the buildings. A second Black Hawk is knocked down. Two selected shooters of Delta Force offer themselves to defend the crew of the second helicopter shot down and are made to land near the 6-4 carcass. Meanwhile, a second convoy started from the base, but the situation seems unresolved. The two convoys meet in the center of Mogadishu, invert the route and return to the base only with the prisoners. A hundred American soldiers advances on foot in the streets of the city to recover the comrades. The destination is the place of the crash of the first Black Hawk. For the second crew there was nothing to do: after an hour of combat, the two chosen spiings of Delta Force were massacred by the crowd together with the other soldiers and the pilot was captured by the militants.
At the fall of the sun 99 American soldiers, many of whom were injured, they took place in some buildings around the crash of the first Black Hawk. The United States had to ask for help from other nations on the pitch. A convoy of tanks and armored vehicles Pakistani and Malaysi reached the American soldiers around 2 in the morning. They too suffered losses. Around 6 in the morning the resolution of the battle, with the return convoy to the American base.
The budget was 18 dead, 73 injured and a prisoner (which was released 11 days later) US. A Malaysian soldier and a Pakistani were killed in the last rescue operation and seven Malaysian soldiers and two Pakistani were injured.
