A terrific start to a new series . . . Light the blue touch paper and retire to a comfortable chair’ The Times The enhanced A Company group—approximately 130 troops in total—arrived in the country in several groups and joined the SAS, who had already established a base in Hastings, a village 30 miles (48 kilometres) south of Freetown, where several of the paras recognised former colleagues among the troopers from D Squadron. At Hastings, the paras focused on live firing exercises and rehearsed various scenarios in a scale replica of Magbeni which had been constructed at the camp. [27] [28] Be strong. A people that is not ready to die for its liberties loses them … Believe passionately in the ideas and in the way of life for which one is fighting. Liberty deserves to be served with more passion than tyranny.’ André Maurois, Memoirs

Several members of A Company were new recruits who had only completed basic training two weeks prior. Lowe decided that replacing them with more experienced soldiers would risk undermining the cohesion and morale of the company, but several specialist units from elsewhere in 1 PARA were attached to A Company to bring the company group up to the required strength, including a signals group, snipers, heavy machine gun sections, and a mortar section. [18] [19] The additional firepower was included to maximise the options available to the planners, given that the West Side Boys had a numerical advantage and that additional resources would not be immediately available should the operation run into difficulties. [20] The commander of an SAS raid dubbed Operation Certain Death is to be the new supremo of Britain’s special forces, reports the Sunday People. Negotiators secured the release of six of the soldiers, but were unable to gain the freedom of the remaining five and their SLA liaison officer before the West Side Boys' demands became increasingly unrealistic. Negotiators concluded that these were delaying tactics rather than an effort to resolve the crisis. By 9 September, the soldiers had been held for over a fortnight. Fearing that the soldiers would be killed or moved to a location from which it would be more difficult to extract them, the British government authorised an assault on the West Side Boys' base, to take place at dawn the following day, 10 September.The two villages were to be assaulted simultaneously—Gberi Bana, where the Royal Irish were held, by the SAS and Magbeni by an SAS team and the paras. In addition to the remaining Royal Irish soldiers, the SAS were also tasked with extracting Lieutenant Musa Bangura—the patrol's SLA liaison, whose extraction was given the same priority as that of the Royal Irish—and a group of Sierra Leonean civilians who were being held by the West Side Boys. [34] Assault [ edit ] US Marines fast-roping from a Sea Knight—the same insertion technique used by the SAS at Gberi Bana

This is the point in the operation where dog sees rabbit, and dog is most definitely going to go for it. It is at this moment that Operation Certain Death has become Judgement Day for the West Side Boys.’ The day before 846 squadron left the UK, they took delivery of seven sets of NGV's which worked with a system called ANVIS. The West Side Boys derived their name from New York gang culture and were known to themselves as the "West Side Soldiers" or sometimes the "West Side Niggaz", which they changed to "West Side Boys" as the latter would not be acceptable for use in news reports. [6] [2]It lasted 74 days and resulted in the deaths of 255 British and 655 Argentine servicemen and three Falklanders. Operation Certain Death The ground operation was conducted by D Squadron, 22 Regiment Special Air Service, reinforced with a Troop from C Squadron, Special Boat Service — who assaulted Gberi Bana in a bid to extract the Royal Irish—and elements of 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment (1 PARA), who launched a diversionary assault on Magbeni. The operation freed the five soldiers and their SLA liaison officer, as well as twenty-one Sierra Leonean civilians who had been held prisoner by the West Side Boys. At least twenty-five West Side Boys were killed in the assault, as was one British soldier, while eighteen West Side Boys—including the gang's leader, Foday Kallay—were taken prisoner and later transferred to the custody of the Sierra Leone Police. Many West Side Boys fled the area during the assault, and over 300 surrendered to UNAMSIL forces within a fortnight. Perfect for fans of Ollie Ollerton, Andy McNab and Mark 'Billy' Billingham - a breathless, edge-of-your-seat thriller from Sunday Times bestselling author and bomb disposal expert, Kim Hughes GC. The three of us managed to get past this base and we were about to walk around the corner of this quiet side street when a car pulled up alongside us," said Richard. An investigation into the capture of the patrol was launched by Land Command and a senior officer was despatched to Freetown to debrief the members of the patrol. The report was critical of Marshall, stating that he "made an error of professional judgement in diverting from a planned and authorised journey to make an unauthorised visit to the village of Magbeni." [55]

Confirmed to have died in the operation were 25 West Side Boys, although the true figure is probably higher, possibly as many as 80. The gang's resistance was stronger than expected and there was speculation that more bodies lay undiscovered in the jungle. [47] [48] Several other West Side Boys were captured, while others fled into the jungle. Many of those who fled later surrendered to Jordanian peacekeepers. The Jordanians had received 30 by the end of the day, and 371—including 57 children—had surrendered within a fortnight of Operation Barras, to which Julius Spencer, Sierra Leone's Minister for Information, declared that the West Side boys were "finished as a military threat". [44] [49] You get this feeling of phwoar, I'm glad to be alive," he explained - though he admitted there was also a little guilt as some of his mates didn't make it. His book is called "Special Forces Pilot: A Flying Memoir of the Falklands War" and is published by Pen and Sword Books. Some parts of the book where hard going when he was trying to capture the different accents by writing like they sound but once your used to this it becomes easier to understand.One of his deployments was in the Falklands War, as a pilot which involved taking SAS and SBS patrols to the Falkland Islands and Argentine mainland. You haven’t seen these people in action. I have. Believe me, if British forces have to come in and rescue us, this place is finished. There won’t be a building left standing.’ ‘Then that, Major, will be a very good thing.’

Some West Side Boys had served as soldiers or junior officers in the Sierra Leone Army, but they styled themselves with grand titles and awarded themselves inflated ranks. [13] Connaughton, Richard (September 2001). "Operation 'Barass' (sic)". Small Wars & Insurgencies. London: Routledge. 12 (2): 110–119. doi: 10.1080/714005388. S2CID 220390148. I was so busy doing the job, most of the time your mind was focussed on planning the next flight, flying it, debriefing from that flight, and sleeping. I became pretty much a nocturnal creature.Forgotten the title or the author of a book? Our BookSleuth is specially designed for you. Visit BookSleuth