Good Friday Battle
| date | April 2, 2010 |
|---|---|
| place | At Isa Khel in the Kunduz province |
| output | 3 killed and 8 wounded on the side of the Bundeswehr, propaganda success of the insurgents |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Troop strength | |
| unknown | at least 70–80 insurgents |
| losses | |
|
Germany: |
unknown |
The Good Friday battle on April 2, 2010 was a firefight as part of the Bundeswehr mission in Afghanistan between the Bundeswehr and the radical Islamic Taliban , supported by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan , in which three German soldiers also lost their lives . As a result, there was briefly increased public attention for the mission in Germany.
background
The battle took place in the Kunduz area as part of the local ISAF operations and the German participation in the war in Afghanistan .
Course of the battle
On Good Friday 2010, soldiers of the Paratrooper Battalion 373 from Seedorf had the task of clearing up and clearing booby traps ( IED ).
At around 1 p.m. local time, the 34 paratroopers were ambushed by 30 to 40 insurgents under massive fire. Three soldiers were wounded early on, two of them seriously, including Corporal Robert Hartert. The company commander asked for reinforcements, whereupon a reserve company from the Kunduz field camp marched.
The battle was observed with Luna and KZO reconnaissance drones . Fighter jets of the US armed forces were also over the battlefield, but could not intervene because of the risk of self- fire . The wounded German soldiers were picked up by US Black Hawk helicopters under fire in a hot landing zone and flown to the German hospital in Kunduz. While trying to break away from the enemy, a dingo got caught in a booby trap around 2:50 p.m. Four paratroopers were wounded (three seriously), including Sergeant Nils Bruns and Corporal Martin Augustyniak.
In parallel, attacked about 40 insurgents at 15:35 a nearby camp of the Afghan police on; this attack could be repulsed.
In the further course of the battle between the German paratroopers and the insurgents, four other soldiers were wounded. Only after eight hours of fighting could the reserve company relieve the paratroopers, who then returned to the Kunduz field camp, which they reached around 9:50 p.m. In the course of the battle, the Bundeswehr soldiers fired over 25,000 rounds.
As part of the surgery door , the doors of the destroyed combat vehicle type Dingo was September 9, 2011 by Panzergrenadiere a combat unit of the Task Force Kunduz III ( training and protection battalion ) in Isa Khel salvaged and later in the Ehrenhain the 2nd Infantry Company in Kunduz set .
losses
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Sergeant Major Nils Bruns (35 years), Corporal Robert Hartert (25) and Corporal Martin Augustyniak (28) were killed in the Good Friday battle. Among other things, they are remembered in the Forest of Remembrance , in which the Kunduz Grove of Honor is located today. In Bielefeld-Brackwede , a square will in future be named Martin Augustyniak .
Civil vehicles carrying soldiers of the Afghan army were mistakenly shot at by a Marder armored personnel carrier belonging to the reserve company . The German soldiers had feared another attack by insurgents during the approach and had given stop signals. Since these were ignored, the shelling took place and six of the soldiers were killed.
Awards
The soldiers Mario Kunert, Philip Oliver Pordzik, Ralf Rönckendorf, Maik Mutschke, Robert Hartert and Martin Augustyniak Kadir were for their commitment to the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor for Valor awarded .
Nils Bruns, Ulrike Hödel and Gerhard haben received the Bundeswehr Cross of Honor in gold in a special version because of their outstanding achievements .
The US soldiers Robert Mcdonough, Steven Husted, Jason Lacrosse, Nelson Visaya, Jason Brown, Sean Johnson, Eric Wells, Travis Brown, William Ebel, Antonio Gattis, Steven Shumaker, Matthew Baker, Todd Marchese and Gregory Martinez received this award awarded for their outstanding achievements.
References
Web links
- Chris Helmecke: Fallen and wounded in battle: German soldiers in the Good Friday battle 2010. In: Military history: Journal for historical education. February 2018, accessed April 6, 2020 .
- Ulrike Jenssen: Five years of the “Good Friday Battle”: the memory very close. bundeswehr.de, December 15, 2017, accessed June 27, 2019 .
- T. Wiegold: Good Friday battle five years ago: the turning point for the troops? augengeradeaus.net, April 2, 2015, accessed June 27, 2019 .
- Editorial office of the Bundeswehr: Forest of Remembrance - personal insights - Bundeswehr. Bundeswehr channel on YouTube , April 2, 2015, accessed on June 27, 2019 .
- Editorial office of the Bundeswehr: We will never forget it: Memorial at the memorial - Bundeswehr. Bundeswehr channel on YouTube , November 15, 2015, accessed on June 27, 2019 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Video report from WELT, approx. 2 min.
- ↑ ZDF documentary about the Good Friday battle, approx. 11 min.
- ↑ based on the forces in strength 34 - 3 + 4 failures with 3 MG and 31 G36 an average number of rounds of over 700 rounds
- ↑ Marcel Bohnert & Andy Neumann: Panzergrenadiers in combat in Afghanistan , in: Freundeskreis der Panzergrenadiertruppe (ed.): Panzergrenadiers. A branch of service through the ages , Munster u. a. 2016, ISBN 3-933802-35-0 , p. 43ff.
- ↑ Alexander Menden: Place for a Fallen , Süddeutsche Zeitung August 28, 2020, p. 6
- ↑ BMVg.de: Crosses of honor for bravery and combat medals awarded. In: .bmvg.de. Retrieved March 26, 2016 .
- ^ Bundeswehr medical service: handing over the cross of honor. In: .sanitaetsdienst-bundeswehr.de. Retrieved March 26, 2016 .
- ^ Fought together: German-American reunion after surviving danger. In: deutschesheer.de. Retrieved March 26, 2016 .
- ↑ Fourteen US Army Europe aviators to receive Bundeswehr medal for valor. (No longer available online.) In: www.eur.army.mil. Archived from the original on September 11, 2015 ; accessed on March 26, 2016 .