OP Medusa*
*
Sept. 3, 2006*
*
Panjwai District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan*
*
Canada assualt vs Mujahadeen defend*
*
Repeated fierce contacts by NATO patrols in this area have revealed that the Taliban/insurgent 
forces have built up a 400+ force of combatants here and they are attempting to hold this 
ground conventionally. Rarely has the insurgent force offered open battle, relying instead 
on hit and run guerilla attacks, IEDs mostly.*
This insurgent force is a prime target and must not be allowed to escape and melt away back 
into the population.*
The Canadian BG formed by 1RCR and commanded by LCol Omer Lavoie was the obvious choice for the task. The 
Canadian BG was the largest and best equiped NATO formation in the area. However, 1RCR had 
only just arrived in country, having just taken over from 1PPCLI a week ago.*
The NATO commander, Canadian Brigadier-General David Fraser, decided that the battle group (3 LAV companies+) was too small to conduct 
an all out assualt on the area, so a strategy of a cordon and prolonged fire plan(2-3 days) 
would be used.*
"Charles" company would deploy on the high feature of Ma'sum ghar and move into the objective 
area from the south, Bravo company would deploy along highway #1 and move in from the north, 
A coy(seconded from PPCLI) would form the reserve and protect the rear of "Charles" by occupying 
the village of Bazaar e Panjwai.*
*
THE GAME*
Use the time, drone and massive fire support that you have to find and destroy as many insurgents 
as you can before you move your ground forces in. Your primary objective should be to keep your 
troops out of harms way. If you lose more than 2-3 LAV IIIs you will earn yourself a draw.
*
*
AFTERMATH*
After 1 day of constant fire preparation without a visible result LCol Lavoie was pressured 
into advancing "Charles" coy toward the white school house. 7 platoon was badly mauled 
(WO Nolan and WO Mellish were killed) and withdrew. The following morning while preparing for 
the days operations "Charles" coy was mistakenly strafed by an A-10 causing many casualties 
(5 dead, 40 wounded in 48hrs). "Charles was declared combat ineffective and withdrawn back to KAF. 
Bravo and Alpha coys took over the offensive and slowly, over 5 days, cleared the area. It 
was estimated that more than half of the insurgents escaped the area. This was the first real
battle NATO had ever commanded.*
*
NOTES*
Bocage Hedgerows were used to model the network of adobe walled compounds of this green zone.
There is a large system of irrigation canals that the insurgents used like communication 
trenches to move around.*
*
REFERENCES*
Map:Globe and Mail Sep 4,2006 and Google Earth*
Events and OOB:"No Lack of Courage" Col. Bernd Horn*

