Ministerio de Defensa Ejército de tierra
Ministerio de Defensa Ejército de tierra
Ministerio de Defensa Ejército de tierra
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Winding back the clock

Operation ‘Estaca’ in Afghanistan

Lieutenant Gerardo López-Mayoral

‘Ortiz de Zárate’, III Paratroopers

 

Lieutenant López-Mayoral and Sergeant Puche attend to the wounded. It’s 10:16am. Meanwhile, the entirety of the squad’s staff is attacking new sources of fire in an attempt to beat them back and allow the company to retreat. Paratrooper Fraile, who provided the MG42 machine gun, has been hit in the legs three times by projectiles from the insurgents’ fire. The chief of the first squad, Sergeant First Class Montesinos, throws a cannister with red smoke up high, as a visual warning about the incident, as was agreed in the plan, whilst also radioing the chief of the company to inform him.

 

Winding back the clock 

The wounded soldier is immediately helped by his comrades from the 2nd squad: Puche, Fructuoso, Moyano and Montesinos. They quickly carry out the relevant first aid, using their individual first aid kit, whilst waiting for the medical staff, who are with the leaders of the company, to arrive to help him. Whilst he waits for the helicopter to arrive, the lieutenant remembers how they got here.

15 minutes before, at ten o’clock, they were being fired at from the north, north-west and west of the positions, without being able to judge the distance between them and the fire. Because of this, the lieutenant changes the platoon’s deployment, turning the 1st Squad further west, therefore allowing them to better face the new threats. The attacks and conditions are changing all the time, and they must adapt to every new situation.

Winding back the clock

Ten minutes before, at 9:50am, the Spanish soldiers who were defending the 925 elevation (the most dominant position near the village) began to pull back. The position is occupied immediately by insurgent personnel. From there they begin to harass the leaders of the company and the 3rd Platoon’s retreat. The 2nd Squad responds by firing back, with the aim of helping the others to retreat as much as possible.

It is a game of elevations, winds, attacks, advances and retreats, and lots of fire, which nobody is able to deal with better than the Spanish soldiers. They have been training for this for a long time: training to fight for the freedom and peace of the civilians, who see that the safety of the roads is going to change hands, at last, although it will take a lot of hard fighting. Whilst they are helping Fraile, the clock winds back: at 9:30am the break down in contact ends so that they can reach the 924 elevation from where they can see the town, and López-Mayoral deploys the platoon to help support the rest of the Task Force’s retreat. The retreat movement is carried out in a precise and ordered manner, demonstrating the great deal of training and motivation from those who make up the movement. “They are the best,” thinks the lieutenant, whilst he watches them carrying more than 40kg between their vests and rucksacks in temperatures which have risen above 40 ºC.

Winding back the clock 

Fraile is conscious and calm. The clock keeps on winding backwards, bringing memories from all the combats they have experienced. Around 8:10am, they see that the most significant fire is now coming from the west, forcing some of the unit to redeploy to take advantage of the protection provided by the terrain. The 2nd Squad is forced to take shelter inside the cemetery which is just next to them, taking advantage of its small wall, only 80cm high, to protect themselves. A short while later, the 60 millimetre mortar, a weapon which has proven itself to be extremely effective and precise, runs out of ammunition.

The hands of the clock which turn anti-clockwise when casting the mind back into the past, stop at 7.45am. The members of the 1st Platoon have to open fire on the first motorbikes which begin the attack. The insurgents respond with rifle and machine gun fire, receiving two missile shots from scarcely 50 metres from the platoon’s position. The insurgents start to move west, pivoting around their position and trying to surround or flank them from the right.

 

The 2nd Squad is forced

to take shelter

inside the cemetery

 

Memories keep taking them further back, to 6:20am. The chief of the 2nd Squad, Sergeant Puche, has told them about some people acting suspiciously around 800 metres south-west of their position. After observing this area, they detect a motorcycle with two riders. The figure riding at the back is carrying a gun. Once this information has been confirmed, the lieutenant authorises direct fire at them, and the 2nd Squad opens fire with their machine guns. After being fired upon, the insurgents hide behind a small hill from where they wave a white cloth. At this point they tell the higher ranks, who order them to stop firing and take charge of the prisoners.

Time is like smoke when you look back. It’s 5:25am when they see personnel in the area near the cemetery acting in a hostile manner, causing them to order that the insurgents be fired upon as a warning, forcing them to retreat. At 5:20am, whilst they continue their advance, the platoon receives word that they are going to carry out mortar fire on the personnel who were previously detected in the area near the cemetery.

Winding back the clock

The clock, which has changed direction and looks backwards, stops between four and five in the morning, when they are stopped in position C. From here they see movement of both personnel and motorbikes to the south and south-east of the village. The chief of the 2nd Squad, Sergeant Puche, is informed that voices can be heard in an unknown language and that an individual has been detected on the hill up which the road climbs. “It seems like the man called to someone or asked who we were”. The 1st Platoon comes to a stop and deploys in a wedge shape, approaching the road. After roughly one minute like this, they start to be violently fired on from the top of the hill and from another position slightly to the left, according to the direction of their advance. The whole platoon responds to the fire with great precision, using rifle-fire and grenade launchers and, after evaluating the situation and circumstances, they are ordered to stop the contact and exit towards a river bed which runs alongside.

In the mind’s eye, time keeps moving backwards, whilst Paratrooper Fraile, who has three gunshot wounds, receives medical attention. The same clock which previously moved forwards now moves back, and takes them to where the mission started, where everything began with the 1st Platoon of Task Force 13 proving their worth.

Memory takes him back to 1:52am. The platoon, which is ready and deployed in the meeting point of the M8 Departure Base, starts its movement at the order of Captain Del Castillo, chief of the Company. The platoon is leading the deployment and the staff is tense because everyone is aware of the risks and the conditions of the area, but they are very focused.

Their mission is to establish a siege of a small village, objective W1, where, according to their information, the insurgents have an important weapons store. They make up part of the 1st Platoon of Task Force 13.

The movement is scheduled to begin at 2am. It is the 29th of August 2012.

The clock has been winding backwards whilst they respond to the insurgents’ fire and help Paratrooper Fraile with his injuries. Soon, they see the medical evacuation helicopter land.

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