The Battle of Takur Ghar was a short but intense military engagement between United States special operations forces and al Qaeda insurgents fought in March 2002, at the top of the Takur Ghar Mountain in Afghanistan. The Battle proved to be the deadliest entanglement of Operation Anaconda, an effort early in the war in Afghanistan to route al Qaeda forces from the Shahi-kot Valley and Arma Mountains. The battle saw three U.S. Helicopters landing on the mountain top, each greeted by direct fire from
Introduction The Battle of Takur Ghar, or Roberts Ridge, as it’s more affectionately called by members of the US military, occurred on March 3-4th 2002. Takur Ghar translates from Pashto as “Tall Mountain”. The battle became the most memorable part of a much larger operation called Anaconda. The battle started when Navy SEAL, Petty Officer First Class Neil Roberts fell from a MH-47E Chinook, on an attempted landing to an unknowingly hot LZ, when he lost his footing due to a combination of RPG
many arduous battles that had to be fought in order to secure victory. One of these battles in particular stands out due to the sheer number of difficulties and setbacks that occurred during the engagement. This battle has become known as the Battle of Roberts Ridge. For the purpose of this Battle Analysis the Battle of Roberts Ridge will be analyzed with regards to the characteristics of an offense, in particular Surprise, Tempo, and Audacity. The Battle of Roberts Ridge The Battle of Roberts Ridge
The mission was to kill or capture Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the Shahi-Kot valley located between Khowst and Gardez in Eastern Afghanistan. The battle occurred between the 1st and 14th of March, 2002. After the initial success of US Special Forces Detachments and the Northern Alliance fighters, the Taliban and Al Qaeda had all but left Afghanistan. Reports were coming from Afghan sources that
the enemy was likely to retreat as they have in the past when driven back by fierce opposition. They estimated would be a three day battle. While the end state of this battle was a United States victory, it wasn’t achieved by the preplanned means. Instead, this battle lasted 17 days long and served as a learning point to the U.S. military. The mistakes seen in this battle did not reappear when later missions took place in the invasion of Iraq in 2003. This short analysis will go further into depth of