Stand and Deliver

Late in the afternoon of October 3rd, Task Force Ranger was in serious trouble. Two Black Hawks were down and several more had been forced back to the airfield with significant damage. The Rangers had no fixed-wing air support, no …

1993-10-03

DH04

Late in the afternoon of October 3rd, Task Force Ranger was in serious trouble. Two Black Hawks were down and several more had been forced back to the airfield with significant damage. The Rangers had no fixed-wing air support, no armor support, and very few options. What they did have was Alpha Company, 2-14 Infantry of the Mountain Division. Alpha, the on-call reserve for the operation, had been directed to muster at the airfield, and from there to move north to relieve the beleaguered Rangers and Delta operators. Unfortunately for the Americans, a large group of Somalis had gathered just north of the K-4 traffic circle to block Alpha Company's path. In the past the Somalis had been satisfied to harass and attrite the Americans, but on this day they decided to stand and fight them.

Mogadishu, Somalia

The Battle of Mogadishu, also known as the Black Hawk Down incident, was part of Operation Gothic Serpent. It was fought on 3–4 October 1993, in Mogadishu, Somalia, between forces of the United States, supported by UNOSOM II, against the forces of the Somali National Alliance (SNA) and citizens of south Mogadishu. The battle was part of the broader Somali Civil War that had begun in 1991. The United Nations had initially become involved to provide food aid to alleviate starvation in the south of the country, but in the months preceding the battle, had shifted the mission to establishing democracy and restoring a central government. Seven months after the deployment of U.S. troops to Somalia, on June 5, 1993, the U.N. would suffer the worst loss of its peacekeepers in decades when the Pakistani contingent was attacked while inspecting an SNA weapons storage site. Mohammed Farah Aidid, head of the SNA, would become a fugitive after UNOSOM II blamed his faction for the incident and a hunt for him would begin that would characterize most of the U.N. intervention up until the Battle of Mogadishu.

Wikipedia: Battle of Mogadishu (1993)

American

Mogadishu Militia