A meeting engagement, a term used in warfare, is a combat action that occurs when a moving force, incompletely deployed for battle, engages an enemy at an unexpected time and place.
Wow.
The French are fully engaged in Mali now. From almost a brigade of troops on the ground to at least a few dozen airplanes providing air support with helos and an unknown number of ground vehicles involved this is turning into something fierce.
The way that this developed seems to caught many off guard. Myself included. As a matter of fact this has all the hallmark of a meeting engagement that turns into a savage furball.
The UK is rushing to assist as is the US and reportedly Canada. What other members of the EU are doing is beyond me but I would be surprised if they didn't become involved soon.
One thing is certain though. It puts this story in a whole new light.
On July 8 the Washington Post reported the story of the April 20 death of three U.S. Special Operations Forces service members in Mali, a North African country known for a growing Islamic insurgency, and more recently the scene of a coup in March. The soldiers’ deaths are believed to be the result of vehicle accident, as their rented Toyota Land Cruiser went off a bridge in the pre-dawn hours, and plunged into the Niger River.While tragic, what is curious is that this accident and these deaths came a full month after the Obama administration officially suspended military relations and humanitarian assistance with Mali’s unstable government. Even more curious, along with the bodies of our soldiers found in their vehicle were the bodies of three dead women, all of whom have been reported to be Moroccan prostitutes.I don't know what really happened and we probably never will. I'll bet there was alot more to this story than meets the eye though.
But the subject of this post is what's really causing me the most heartburn. What is the enemy strength? How were they able to gain enough strength to scatter government forces? And how were they able to mount this offensive without us detecting them?
Check this out.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegram.com/article/20130114/NEWS/101149896/1116
Makes you wonder if we're doing any good in Africa.
Combine the heavy weapons flowing out of Libya, the combat experience the Tuaregs got in the Libyan campaign, and the training the US gave certain units and you have much greater resistance than the French were expecting.
ReplyDeleteThe equipment their deploying has been limited because the French are significantly lacking in heavy air transport at the moment which is why the UK has two C17s operating on its behalf (at least one has been carrying trucks and armour, and there's a lot going round that they'll use one to deploy Tigers.
ISTAR is another area the French are struggling in. I know the US has been helping in that regard and the UK is sharing intelligence and considering deploying Sentrys, Sentinels and Reapers. A nice of example of the UK utilizing some of its niche capabilities that the rest of Europe lacks somewhat.
As for other nations, I know the Danish have been supporting (small but always willing to help, gotta love 'em over most of the Europe), but I can't see the Germans getting involved, they have little to offer and little or no will to fight.
Time to break out the snake and nape tactic.
ReplyDeleteThe Soviet doctrine on meeting engagements has no planned retrograde maneuver.
From the start to finish it's a war to the death and defeat in detail for the losers.
Also known as an encounter battle in NATO much like Gettysburg it becomes a magnet that sucks every unit into the fray.
Some call it a spoiling attack but that would depend on whether the Mali-hadi's had the intel. to ambush the French force.
If the Haji's had that intel then somebody screwed the pooch long before the first shot was fired.
Sympathizers of the Mali-hadi in NATO may have leaked the plans.
Live leak had pictures of the dead French Paras they appeared to be armed with some type of submachine gun with silencers and those weapons appeared to be some derivative of the MAC 10 frame.
ReplyDeleteanybody know what those bullet spitters they were?
Zebra,
ReplyDeleteLooks like an MP7 to me.
Canada's huge support for this mission is a lone transport plane, with a 1 week deadline. It was headed to France today, but there is talk it may also help fly in some of the African forces which are showing up. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteAs for the enemy, the day after the air campaign started there was one commander claiming to have actually prevented an airstrike by French jets just by making a show of force with the anti-air capabilities he had mounted on his vehicles. Obviously to be taken with more than a grain of salt, but if its true, that seems like a huge change to how we fight Islamist forces.
You can take the boy out of the Maghreb, but you can't take the Maghreb out of the boy.
ReplyDeleteYou'd think the US military and the CIA would be smart enough by now to know you can't train loyalty into foreign troops. Had they vetted these guys? I wonder how many defections by Iraqi, Afghani and Malian forces there have been in the last ten years? How pathetic.