You can checkout my review of this book here: Operation Certain Death Damien Lewis

In 1999, an army of around 1000 rebels known as the west side boys took hostage 11 british army personel in the jungles of Sierra Leone. After intense hostage negotiations failed it fell to a joint taskforce of 200 SBS and SAS special forces soldiers to assault the rebel stronghold and end the hostage crisis by force.

On August 25, 2000, eleven soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment of the British Armys under authority of Major Alan Marshall and a Sierra Leone Army liaison, Lieutenant Musa Bangura were held hostage by the West Side Boys, a notorious armed rebel group led by Foday Kallay. There was quite alot of controversy about the mission. Sources maintained the soldiers were entering Freetown after a meeting with forces of the Jordanian United Nations when they were captured by the rebels, the UN commander claimed that the soldiers where never with the Jordanians. British authorities later admitted the fact that their soldiers may have strayed deep into rebel, West Side Boys, territory.

The Hostages where:

CSM Head
Major Alan Marshall
Captain Flaherty
Ranger Gaunt
Ranger McVeigh
Lieutenant Musa Bangura
Ranger Rowell
Ranger MaGuire
Sergeant Smith
Corporal Sampson
Corporal Ryan
Corporal Mackenzie

Five of the eleven British soldiers were released On September 3 2000, They where exchanged for medical supplies and a satellite phone. Further negotiations then broke down and Foday Kallay threatened to kill the remaining hostages. It was then that British Prime Minister Tony Blair authorised the mission.

Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister authorised Operation Barras after further negotiations broke down. It was reported that Foday Kallay threatened to kill the rest of the hostages if further demands where not met.

Operation Barras began with three Lynx, three Chinook helicopters headed towards Rokel Creek from Freetown airport in the pre dawn of September 10 2000. It was 6:16am. Rokel Creek, the location of the West Side Boys camp contained small villages on both sides which where also controlled by Foday Kallay and his rebel army.

The full attack force consisted of the RFA Sir Percivale, the HMS Argyll, the HMS Argyll’s Lynx helicopter, three Boeing Chinook helicopters, three Westland Lynx helicopters, one Mi-24 Hind gunship, 130 paratroopers from the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment, 40 members of the British special forces SAS/SBS, a field Surgical Team from 16 Close Support Medical Regiment RAMC Royal Irish Regiment and 3 members of the Tactical Communications Wing, Royal Air Force.

The battle began when the camp was attacked by the three Lynx helicopters whilst British special forces SAS soldiers descended on fast ropes from the three Chinooks into strategic spots around the camp chosen to maximise protection for the captured british soldiers. An SAS observation team which had been hidden in the surrounding jungle covertly watching things unfold in the camp for several days gave ground cover to the descending sas soldiers by engaging the rebel troops from the ground.

The six British soldiers and Lieutenant Musa Bangura were rescued without any further harm within twenty minutes of the beginning of the operation. By 7am that morning the special forces team and the hostages where safely aboard RFA Sir Percivale in Freetown harbour.

The operation ended with the death of special forces soldier Bradley Tinnion and 11 soldiers from the injury of 12 british soldiers, 1 seriously.  25 rebel soldiers were confirmed killed although it was thought that many more perished in the depths of the jungle and where never confirmed. 18 of the west side boys where captured including their leader Foday Kallay.

The operation was judged to be a huge success.

Priminister Tony Blair said:

The operation was authorised once it became clear to us that the negotiations for their release were not being carried out in good faith and the lives of the hostages were in danger, I cannot pay high enough tribute to the skill, the professionalism and the courage of the armed forces involved. The operation is complete and has been very successful. The hostages are safe. Inevitably in such an operation as this, there are casualties. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families.This was an operation of immense danger in the face of armed resistance.

Dont forget to checkout the excellent book about this daring special operation. You can checkout my review of the book here

Of course with all special forces operations the inevitable news stories broke:

British soldier killed in Sierra Leone

After 16 long days, free in 20 minutes

Mission in the jungle: How the raid succeeded

Timing was key to Sierra Leone raid success

Whilst alot of the special forces operations around the world slip by unnoticed there are also quite a few that are well documented in various forms and its this information that I hope to bring this blog. There will be articles, news stories, images, videos and hopefully ill throw in a few freebies also.

So..  If you are interested in special forces operations and would like to know more about what happenned then you have come to the right place. If you are interested in reading some special forces book reviews check out my other website where I will tell you the ones you should not miss and those you should avoid..

Enjoy the blog!