Zero Six Bravo (41 page)

For the MV
Nisha
assault the SBS were joined by a troop from the SAS, fast-roping from Chinooks on to the ship’s deck to take it by surprise. Such joint SBS–SAS missions set the tone for M Squadron’s Iraq mission to come.
John Doe

An SBS Troop formed part of the SAS-led force that went in to rescue soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment held hostage by the rebel group the West Side Boys, in the Sierra Leone jungle, in 2000. Here they pose after the operation’s successful conclusion.
John Doe

Joint SAS and SBS selection over the notorious Pen y Fan, in the Brecon Beacons, terrain that has been known to break many a man. Selection is designed to be incredibly tough both physically and psychologically, so that those who pass can survive the incredible rigors of Special Forces operations—and few tests would prove greater than M Squadron’s mission into northern Iraq.
Andrew Chittock

American Special Operations Forces like these trained with M Squadron in Kenya, in preparation for deployment on their Iraq missions. US Special Forces often deploy alongside their British counterparts, but in the Iraq War none would secure a mission of such scope and daring as M Squadron’s into northern Iraq.
Dan O’Shea

Tier 1 Special Forces—SAS or SBS—are distinguished by their weaponry and equipment such as their lightweight C7 Colt assault rifles (fitted with silencers). They have a SIG Sauer 226 pistol as a secondary weapon, slung on a chest rig for ease of access, and to avoid it catching as they debus from a vehicle or helicopter. They’re wearing US camos, which are harder wearing, and body armor with two ceramic plates to front and rear, for extra stopping power. They’re also carrying Blue Force Trackers, plus secret satellite and image-feed technology, to facilitate fast-moving operations.
John Doe

The M Squadron operators were flown north to leapfrog over the Euphrates River by RAF aircrew piloting Chinooks. This is typical of the terrain M Squadron ran into at the northern end of their mission, as it approached the Jabal Sinjar—the Mountain of Eagles.
Corbis

When M Squadron deployed on its Iraq mission outriders on quad bikes scouted routes ahead and kept watch for the enemy. An entire Squadron numbering some thirty vehicles was a real force to be reckoned with, but it threw up a massive dust cloud when moving through the open desert, which was visible for miles around. It was like an invitation to the enemy:
come and get us. Andy Chittock

No matter how heavily camouflaged and dirtied-up they were, in the billiard-table-flat terrain of the Ninawa Desert M Squadron’s vehicles stood out like the proverbial dog’s bollocks. It would take them days to cross the desert, for all of which time the enemy could be tracking and hunting them.
Andy Chittock

With Iraqi civilians always seeming to be present it was impossible to keep tabs on the enemy. The Iraqi forces used such “dickers”—enemy watchers disguised as civilians—to track M Squadron’s progress, and plan and launch the devastating series of attacks that followed.
Andy Chittock

M Squadron’s objective was to take the surrender of the Iraqi 5th Corps, some 100,000 infantry, equipped with a fearsome array of weaponry including Lion of Babylon main battle tanks, an upgraded version of the Russian T72. British intelligence reported the 5th Corps as being ripe for surrender. Events were to prove otherwise.
Getty

Die-hard for Saddam. Fanatical Saddam loyalists, the Iraqi Fedayeen militia were known to use Saddam’s hometown, Tikrit, and neighboring Bayji, as bases from which to mount roving operations. When M Squadron was sent into the Ninawa Desert, it was on a collision course with this fanatical and trigger-happy paramilitary unit.
Getty