"It's a game of cat and mouse" - Coldstream Guards take on the Taliban: Part 2
4 Mar 08
After repelling a week-long attack from Taliban insurgents when they arrived at Forward Operating Base Keenan, 3 Company Coldstream Guards have since been undertaking daily patrols to weed out the remaining pockets of enemy in the surrounding area. Report by Neil Weddell.
Checking out possible enemy movements on 'Hamburger Hill', a prominent local feature
[Picture: Steve Lewis]
You don't have to look too hard to find evidence of the ferocious fighting that has taken place around Forward Operating Base (FOB) Keenan since it was captured by The Mercian Regiment last year.
The mud and stone walls of the former farmer's compound, which lies in the village of Zumbelay, about 15km from Gereshk, bear the scars of erratic small-arms fire and Rocket Propelled Grenade attacks and the surrounding terrain is pitted with the telltale pockets of scorched earth and bullet casings of Taliban insurgents' firing positions.
The attacks peaked last October when enemy fighters tried to take advantage of the arrival of 3 Company, Coldstream Guards, by launching a week-long assault on the FOB.
But despite throwing everything they could muster at Keenan, the Taliban were beaten back and the Guards have spent the ensuing months gradually pushing the insurgents out of the area.
Repelling an attack from Taliban insurgents at the isolated Forward Operating Base Keenan
[Picture: British Army]
Company commander Major Tom Charles, Welsh Guards, explained that Operation PALK WAHEL - the initial push into Zumbelay, was designed to drive the Taliban out of the area to the east of the River Helmand:
"PALK WAHEL was very successful and we came here in the consolidation phase to try and bring a degree of normality to the area."
This has been reasonably successful and as local villagers begin to move back to their homes, the Coldstream Guards, having created a degree of security, have now embarked upon reassuring the civilian population that they are there to help. See Related News >>>
But the fighting around the area is far from over:
"Straight after we took over, the Taliban hit to test our tactics and see what firepower we had available," explained Major Charles. "We were attacked four or five times at this location.
Troops on patrol take a break
[Picture: British Army]
"That happened for about a week, but they kept on getting hit with our more substantial firepower. After that we got into a routine of normal patrolling to dominate the ground and disrupt the Taliban's movement."
Since the initial onslaught on Keenan proved ineffective, direct Taliban attacks on the heavily-fortified base have become much rarer. Contacts now most frequently occur in the form of hit-and-run ambushes on the Guards' fighting patrols, which cover a radius of approximately six kilometres of the agricultural land that makes up the fertile strip of Helmand's green zone:
"It is a game of cat and mouse with us both trying to find each other," continued Maj Charles. "What we are now encountering is small pockets of enemy, using insurgency type tactics, that hit and leave quickly.
"They are very agile and know the ground, which makes it difficult to pin them down.
The soldiers regularly have to clear compounds during their patrols
[Picture: MOD]
"During the rain the irrigation ditches filled with water and got wider and wider. It became an ambush paradise, but because there's no high ground the only way to get through it is to clear through on foot."
Working under a Danish battlegroup, the men of 3 Company have spent their entire deployment to date working in the relative isolation of FOB Keenan where, despite the basic living conditions and the soldiers undertaking patrols on an almost daily basis, their mood remains extremely positive:
"Morale is most high when they get back from fighting the Taliban," concluded Maj Charles. "When you watch a patrol coming in, there's a big smile on everyone's faces. It's what they trained for and they really love it."
