The most intense fighting Canadian troops have been part of since the civil wars in Cyprus or the Korean War involved virtually the entire 1st Battalion Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry and the big guns of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, as well as U.S. fighter jets, attack helicopters and armed airborne drones.
The Battle of Zharei/Panjwei tailed off at dusk yesterday in the village of Pashmol with at least 20 Taliban dead, 20 seriously wounded and six captured, according to General Ahmad (who goes by one name only) of the Afghan Army.
“This was by far the biggest engagement since we got here. The intensity level was dialled up to 11 for a while,” said Major Nick Grimshaw, commander of Bravo Company, which spent about 15 hours fighting its way out of an ambush early Saturday and had further gun battles with Taliban insurgents on Sunday.
“This is my usual area of operations and we are used to the ground to a degree, but the enemy has always been changing tactics. They were very cunning.”
When interviewed at a forward operating base near the site of the fighting, the 35-year-old major from Kingston said the Patricias had repeatedly called for air and artillery support because “this is complex terrain that can only [be] dominated if you use a combined arms approach.”
Among the prisoners seized was a Taliban dubbed “the Man Who Wouldn’t Die,” because he had eluded multiple attempts by Canadian troops and coalition aircraft to kill him. The insurgent was finally captured yesterday in a tunnel complex underneath the compound where Corporal Anthony Boneca of Thunder Bay was shot and killed on Sunday.
Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Hope, the Patricias’ commander, praised Cpl. Boneca — the 17th Canadian soldier to die in Afghanistan.
“We know it will cost in the lives of our soldiers and we will pay that cost,” Lt.-Col. Hope told a news conference held for Afghan and Canadian journalists at the forward operating base, which was crowded with weary and dirty soldiers returning from battle in LAV (light armoured vehicle) III and Bison armoured fighting vehicles.
After about 1,000 Canadian and coalition troops paid their respects at a ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield at dawn yesterday. A C-130 Hercules carried Cpl. Boneca’s flag-draped casket on the first leg of the long journey back to northwestern Ontario.
Three other Patricias infantrymen were hospitalized with injuries suffered during the fighting. Four other Pats were treated for severe heat stroke after daytime temperatures touched 60C.
“It was really hairy, for sure the heaviest firefights since we’ve been here,” said Master Corporal Donald Haley of St. Lawrence, Nfld., one of several medics who returned fire when his armoured ambulance was ambushed.
“Our troops did really well. There would have been a lot more injuries except for our superior training and equipment.”
The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery of Shilo, Man., joined the fight by firing 40 rounds of high-explosive, illumination or rocket-propelled shells at places where the Taliban were believed to be hiding.
“It got pretty hot and hectic, but so far, so good. We’ve been very effective,” said Sergeant Eldon Seawood, of Stephenville, Nfld., who worked with the 155-millimetre howitzers.
“With three companies in the fight area, it was very hard to keep track of where everyone was because Zharei/Panjwei is nothing but compounds where it is so easy to hide behind a wall.”
Despite the lopsided casualty figures, Lt.-Col. Hope did not describe the Battle of Zharei/Panjwei as a triumph.
“We will have victory when we no longer have to fight in places like Pashmol,” he said. “We can have victory when I can bring my children here as visitors.”
The Canadians had already defeated the Taliban several times in Zharei/Panjwei. The reason the Taliban kept returning was because they needed to control the local poppy crop to sell for heroin in order to buy weapons, Lt.-Col. Hope said.
