In 2011, Afghanistan's Vatapur gradually became a guerrilla base, this deep mountain valley has always been isolated from the world, the US military has launched many clearance operations in this area since 2004, the US military infantry in this ravine for years and years, basically not even a rabbit, but from here to attack more and more guerrillas, more and more well-trained, the US military can not tolerate this area to become a strong base for the enemy, So it was decided to form a task force led by the US 25th Division to launch a large-scale attack.
The 2nd Battalion of the 35th Regiment of the 35th Brigade of the 25th Division provided 8 platoons of infantry and 4 platoons of heavy weapons operators for this operation, in addition to the support of the Afghan security forces and the brigade-affiliated reconnaissance unit, and in order to prevent accidents, another battalion of the 35th Regiment served as a reinforcement reserve in the rear, the operation code name "Drop Hammer", the task force code name "kirkti", the U.S. Army hoped to hammer down, hammer the entire valley into a flat, and rest easy, in order to ensure that the operation was lost, The 2nd Battalion of the 35th Regiment conducted exercises at the Fort Owen National Training Center on the mainland and in the Rocky Mountains, which are very similar to Wattappur, so that the soldiers of the 2nd Battalion could master the entire combat process and familiarize themselves with the battlefield environment before being sent to Afghanistan.
After the 2nd Battalion came to Afghanistan, how to enter this area is a big problem, this area is steep and dense, rocky, almost no road, the US military is good at riding maneuvers are completely unfeasible, want to sneak in on foot, the long-distance walking ability of the US infantry is almost zero, and dare not go deep into the enemy-controlled area with complex terrain without heavy weapons support, the only alternative means of transportation is helicopters, but the use of helicopters can not achieve the suddenness of action, the two sides have been fighting for ten years, The guerrillas are already quite familiar with the US military's combat methods, all kinds of internal lines, spies are all around the US army, the number of observation posts like the ancient Chinese beacon tower is spread throughout the US military every direction that may attack, almost the US army has not yet set off, the guerrilla team has received early warning, but the US military has no choice but to use helicopters.
On the morning of June 25, the B Company of the 2nd Battalion of the US Army took the lead, under the protection of satellites and various reconnaissance and surveillance platforms, after confirming that there was no enemy in the relevant areas, took a ch-47 helicopter into the ridgeline on the east side of the Vatapur Valley, where the B Company would establish a landing field, and then launched an attack on the village suspected of being a guerrilla base from top to bottom, occupying the periphery of the village to build support points, and then sending the following Afghan security forces into the village to search the house. The other two companies of the 2nd Battalion chose to build support points under the condescending terrain to support the B Company, and after the B Company landed, it was found that the terrain was far more complicated than the satellite pictures, and the way down the mountain was extremely difficult, in Afghanistan in June, the temperature was as high as 30 degrees or more, and before it had gone out of a few hundred meters, several soldiers were paralyzed by heat stroke and could not move.
The others continued down the hill, down to the middle of the mountainside, suddenly thirty meters away from the sound of gunfire, B Company encountered the guerrillas placed in the middle of the mountainside of the close fire attack, fortunately halfway down the mountain is densely wooded, the guerrilla guard post fire did not cause any damage, the U.S. troops while returning fire, while calling for air support,
Two "Apache" attack helicopters flew over quickly, strafing a cannon at the target instructed by the company commander, whether the guerrilla guard post was destroyed or not, but because the distance was too close to the front of the several AMERICAN troops into serious injuries, the company commander scolded continuously, while calling for an ambulance helicopter, the ambulance helicopter arrived and was about to transport the wounded, a rocket flew over the fuselage, fortunately did not hit, the helicopter quickly pulled high and flew away, until the ground personnel swept away near the landing site to prove safety, so the delivery time was delayed. Two wounded people who could have been rescued were killed
A group of people carefully took a few steps to take a look, there is nothing to take a few more steps, so that the grinding and rubbing took nearly ten hours to complete this mountain road of more than a thousand meters, down to the bottom of the mountain has been afternoon, there is still about 1 kilometer from the village, the company commander is very worried about whether there is an enemy in front, so he called a US OH-58 reconnaissance helicopter using a thermal imager to carefully scan every inch of the front, after getting a reply from the reconnaissance helicopter pilot absolutely safely, the b company advanced again, only to advance less than a hundred meters, the guerrillas hiding underground began to come from the north Under the attack of the crossfire net in three directions, a platoon leader of the b company was killed, and the company commander and the fire support officer were also seriously injured.
Oh-58 reconnaissance helicopter immediately joined the battle, but when firing rockets at the other side, one of the rocket propellants failed, only to fly out of the launch nest and fall, smashing on the head of the US troops on the ground, but fortunately did not explode, oh-58 reconnaissance helicopter after the rocket to take over the work of the fire support officer, guide the "Apache" attack helicopter and air force fighters to bomb the guerrilla positions,
But the guerrillas fired a shot to change a position, oh-58 reconnaissance helicopter is difficult to accurately locate it, and when the newly located bombs fly, the other side has moved to another position or retracted into the tunnel, the bombs in addition to throwing a large amount of dust to hinder the reconnaissance helicopter observation, almost no effect on the enemy, the US troops on the ground do not dare to advance, the guerrillas insist on fighting until nightfall, may be worried that the US military will use the night vision goggles to launch a night raid, and quietly retreated. At the same time as B Company fought hard, two other companies were also attacked, and one CH-47 crashed.
The next day, the whole day, the guerrillas did not have a task to move, the b company was also motionless in place, busy building a defensive line, the original attacker became a defender, on the 27th, the guerrillas some took advantage of the steep slope cliffs that the US army could not see to touch the US position, some wore the uniform of the Afghan security forces to approach the US position in a generous way, but once they approached, they fought with the US army at close range, and the US fighter plane was useless in this kind of twenty or thirty meters battle, and could only let the infantry and the guerrilla fight. The continuous gunfight quickly depleted the drinking water and ammunition of the US infantry, the transport helicopter did not dare to fly close to the firefight area, the US military was forced to use parachutes to airdrop, but the transport aircraft did not dare to fly too low, coupled with the complex air flow in the mountains, the parachutes flew with the wind, most of them fell into the hands of the guerrillas, and the US troops who could not get supplies were hungry and black-eyed.
After two days of fierce fighting between the two sides, the B Company finally approached the village, but there was no one inside, and the US troops who had no target had to withdraw, but the bad weather made the evacuation operation fail, until the weather turned better on the 30th, under the cover of various types of fighters, the US troops were able to withdraw in batches, during which the guerrillas continued to send small groups of personnel to pursue the US troops, from this evacuation point to the next evacuation point, under the continuous delay of the guerrillas, the US troops did not evacuate all the personnel of the 2nd Battalion until July 1. The original planned 48 hours hammered the whole valley into a flat for seven days, and found nothing,
In this battle, in the face of the powerful air firepower of the US army, the guerrillas "you fight yours, I fight mine", make full use of the weather and terrain, to disperse multiple roads, close combat, and quick retreat to attack the US army, specializing in the weak seven-inch "infantry and transport helicopters" of the US army, so that the US army has a well-equipped infantry battalion that has also been specially trained to flee, effectively deterring the combat confidence of the US soldiers. The two sides attacked and defended, the US army no longer led the large-scale clearance operation, the guerrillas switched from passive defense to active attack, and gradually recovered a large number of lost land, it can be said that in the eyes of the Afghans, the status is equivalent to the turning point of the Stalin Campaign.