How many vehicles were involved in Operation Gothic Serpent (Mogadishu, October 3-4, 1993)?
score:3
Some of the information that you are interested in is available directly from the Wikipedia page on Operation Gothic Serpent. However, other details do seem to be rather more elusive.
US Forces deployed on 3 October included US Army Delta Force, Rangers, an air element from the 160th Special Operation Aviation Regiment (the "Night Stalkers"), four Navy SEALs from SEAL team 6, and US Air Force Para-rescue Combat Controllers.
I've pulled together the information that I can find to answer your specific questions below:
Aircraft and their models.
- The Air assault force was delivered by four MH-6 Little Bird helicopters & two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters
- Ranger blocking force was delivered by four MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters
- Four AH-6 gunship helicopters for CAS
- One MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter with combat search & rescue (CSAR) - designated Super 68
- Air observation force comprising 3 surveillance helicopters (one OH-58 and two OH-6) and one Navy P3 Orion surveillance aircraft
Giving a total of 19 aircraft:
- 4x MH-6 Little Bird helicopters
(Click to enlarge)
(image source Wikimedia)
4x AH-6 gunship helicopters (attack variant of the MH-6)
7x MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters
(Click to enlarge)
(image source Wikimedia)
(Click to enlarge)
(image source Wikimedia)
(Click to enlarge)
(image source Wikimedia)
- 1x Navy P3 Orion surveillance aircraft
(Click to enlarge)
(image source Wikimedia)
Vehicles and their models
October 3
- 3rd Platoon of B Company, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel McKnight, operated the ground convoy of 9x High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs or 'Humvees') and 3x M939 5-Ton Trucks
- Later in the day, Ground reaction force 2 (GRF2), consisting of 27 Rangers commanded by SSg Strucker led a relief force of 2x M939 5-Ton trucks and 6x 'Humvees'
- Also later in the day, Company C, from the 10th Mountain Division Quick Reaction Force (QRF) - 150 soldiers (including an engineer squad and a medical team with the battalion surgeon) in 12x 'Humvees' and nine M35 2½-ton trucks
October 4
Sources are unclear about the exact breakdown of US vehicles dispatched with the relief convoy on 4 October. The total number varies between 70 and 100 vehicles depending on the sources consulted.
However, it is clear that a large American force of 'Humvees', M35 2½-ton trucks, and M939 5-Ton trucks was accompanied by 32x Malaysian Condor Armoured Personnel Carriers and 4 Pakistani M48 tanks.
Rangers involved
Three platoons of Company B, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment were deployed on 3 October plus 7 Ranger para-rescue specialists deployed with CSAR.
Two platoons of Company B, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, commanded by Captain Mike Steele loaded into four MH60Ls to form the blocking chalks.
- 1st Platoon of B Company, commanded by First Lieutenants Larry Perino (Chalk 1 & Chalk 3)
- 2nd Platoon of B Company, commanded by First Lieutenant Thomas Di Tomasso (Chalk 2 & Chalk 4)
- 3rd Platoon of B Company, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel McKnight, operated the ground convoy to exfiltrate the prisoners (and potentially all of the Rangers and Delta)
A further 27 Rangers would subsequently be deployed with Ground reaction force 2 (GRF2).
Delta operators involved
- An initial 'impact force' of 16 men from the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta force) (one four-man team carried by each MH-6)
- The initial force was supported by 30 men from the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta force) carried by two MH-60 Black Hawk helicopters
The Delta force detachment included at least 8 snipers.
How many Pakistani and Malaysian infantry were involved on the rescue.
More than 100 Malaysian soldiers of the 19 Melayu Diraja Mekanise troop accompanied the relief convoy on 4 October. Malaysian Corporal Mat Aznan was killed and nine other Malaysian soldiers were injured.
At least 16 soldiers from the Pakistan UN detachment also accompanied the convoy. However, as far as I can ascertain, these were tank crews, and not infantry. One Pakistani soldier was killed and two were wounded.
Sources
- Major Roger N. Sanviv, Militray Intelligence, Battle of Mogadishu: Anatomy of a Failure, School of Advanced Military Study, USAC & GSC, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
- Thomas Di Tomasso, The Battle of the Black Sea: Bravo Company, 3rd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment 3-4 October 1993, USAIS Library, Ft Benning, GA
- US Senate: Review of the Circumstances Surrounding the Ranger Raid on October 3-4 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia, 1995
- Denver Meyers: Battle of Mogadishu, USASMA Digital Library
- Bryan W. Olsen: Battle of Mogadishu, 3 Oct 93, USASMA Digital Library
- Craig D. Owens: Operation Gothic Serpent, USASMA Digital Library
- Mark Bowden: Black Hawk Down, New American Library, 1999
- Fred J. Pushies: Night Stalkers: 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), Zenith, 2005
- Shaun Joseph Edge: The growing role of Special Forces in modern warfare with specific reference to the United States of America. Pretoria, 2010
- Clayton Chun, Gothic Serpent: Black Hawk Down Mogadishu 1993, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012
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