operation thunderbolt-best sf op in history

[nausea]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe

@commander_zoidberg

The operation took place at night. Israeli transport planes carried 100 commandos over 2,500 miles (4,000 km) to Uganda for the rescue operation. The operation, which took a week of planning, lasted 90 minutes. Of the remaining hostages, 102 were rescued. Five Israeli commandos were wounded and one, unit commander Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed. All the hijackers, three hostages, and forty-five Ugandan soldiers were killed, and thirty[5][6] Soviet-built MiG-17s and MiG-21s of Uganda's air force were destroyed

Operation Entebbe, which had the military codename Operation Thunderbolt, is sometimes referred to retroactively as Operation Jonathan in memory of the unit's leader, Yonatan Netanyahu. He was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel

 

[Deleted member 776]

One of the most daring special forces operations of modern times (since the second world war). I dislike and distrust the Jews, but fuck me if I don't respect Israel for its hard line ethno state policies and military capabilities. What an operation. Made possible by the agricultural minister of Kenya too who arranged for the Israeli planes to be able to refuel.

The only other operation I've seen anywhere near as daring was Operation Barras. Known in military circles as Operation: Certain Death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barras

Rebels in Sierra Leone captured a patrol of the Royal Irish regiment in Sierra Leone while they were on routine patrol. Negotiations had limited success but the rebels were absolutely off their heads on drink and drugs and seemed to think that they had the British just where they wanted them. The decision was made that they would have to be recovered by force. They were being held in a stinking horrible village in the jungle. The only way to get a sizeable force in was to rope in from helicopters right on top of them. It was an insane risk and the SAS and the Paras were heavily outnumbered but the operation was an astounding success.

Also while it wasn't really an "operation" the battle of Mirbat in what is now Oman in July 1972.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mirbat

Several hundred PFLOAG gurilla fighters attacked the SAS camp at BATT house in Mirbat. This strategy had been inspired by the communists to mirror the 1968 Tet offensive in Vietnam. They would gather overwhelming force to try and drive the British out of Oman. The British had been assisting the Sultan of Oman to keep a lid on the Communist rebellion in the country for a better part of a decade but had been very hesitant to allocate resources because the Sultan was a lunatic and the last thing they wanted was a British Vietnam. In 1970 the minister of defence and general of the Sultans Armed Forces who were British officers on secondment had staged a coup against Sultan Said bin Taimur and placed his son Qaboos bin Said Al Said in power as Sultan. He had a plan to rapidly modernise the country and get the rebellion under control.

The SAS went into the rebel held areas and engaged the rebels while the Omani armed forces and various British support units went to work on a hearts and minds campaign. Most of the SAS operation was over when the rebels attacked Mirbat. The SAS units were in country mostly as a liaison and reconnaissance unit at the time and providing medical assistance to the locals (Oman didn't even have a hospital till the British built one at RAF Salaleh). The 9 SAS troopers fended off the attack for hours. Trooper Talaiasi Labalaba fired a 25 pounder artillery gun (typically manned by a crew of 6) single handedly while shot in the face firing at the charging hordes of rebels point blank over the open sights of the gun. He was killed in action. Eventually the air force Strikemaster jets (flown by British pilots) arrived and bombed and straffed the rebels until reinforcements arrived by helicopter later that day.

It was the beginning of the end for the rebellion. With the help of Jordan and Iran the rebellion was finally defeated in 1976.

 

[nausea]

One of the most daring special forces operations of modern times (since the second world war). I dislike and distrust the Jews, but fuck me if I don't respect Israel for its hard line ethno state policies and military capabilities. What an operation.

they sure know how to conduct military ops and wars eh

thx for the info about the other ops, didn't know about them

it's a fucking pleasure to have met you man, tons of stuff we shall talk about

 

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@blickpall