Schajetet 13

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Flotilla badge 13
Shayetet 13 soldiers during an exercise in March 2012

The Shayetet 13 ( Hebrew שַׁיֶּטֶת 13, German  Flotilla 13 ) is a combat swimmer unit of the Israeli Navy for littoral and asymmetrical warfare . Along with the Sajeret Matkal of the Aman Army Intelligence Service and the Jechidat Schaldag of the Israeli air force, it belongs to the command units of the Israeli armed forces . The shayetet 13 has existed since 1949 and has its headquarters in Atlit south of Haifa .

history

Lineup and the first few years

The Shayetet 13 has its roots in the Ha'Chulya , a special group of the Palyam for acts of sabotage against the British mandate government . With the establishment of the state of Israel, the Palyam was dissolved and taken over into the Israeli Navy, two special units were installed: The underwater sabotage under the direction of Yossale Dror , and the explosive devices under the direction of Yohai Ben-Nun , who later became the sixth commander of the Israeli Navy. On January 1, 1950, the two special units were merged and the Schajetet 13 was founded. In the first few years, the necessity and existence of a separate maritime special unit within the Israeli military were viewed critically, which meant that it initially had only a small budget .

Six day war

The outbreak of the Six Day War in 1967 hit the unit relatively unprepared and with a rather mediocre level of training. As a result, a whole series of operations failed, most spectacularly on May 6, 1967, when six soldiers from the Shayetet 13 were captured by Egyptian forces during a covert operation in Egyptian-controlled territory. The soldiers were only released six months later, in January 1968.

Attrition war

In 1969, during the so-called War of Attrition , the unit suffered another heavy defeat when six soldiers were killed and ten seriously wounded in a mission. This led to a rethinking and realignment of the tactical deployment concept and the training focus. From 1970 the focus was now on a classic deployment profile of maritime command units, on the landing and infiltration from the sea. From then on, the Schajetet 13 was responsible for the maritime transport of other special units to their locations and the reconnaissance and removal of underwater safety devices such as barriers and sea ​​mines , but no longer intervened in the fighting on land.

Operation Spring of Youth

On April 9, 1973, five months before the Yom Kippur War , the Shayetet 13 provided the maritime component in Operation Spring of Youth , the successful night infiltration of a team of the Sajeret Matkal from the sea to Beirut , which was supported by Mossad -Agents on site who attacked and killed those responsible for the Olympic attack by the terrorist group Black September . The exfiltration then succeeded without any losses of its own. Although it was possible to kill all of the target persons, a number of uninvolved civilians and Lebanese security forces were killed in the battle.

Yom Kippur War

In the Yom Kippur War from October 6 to 25, 1973, 13 Shayetet units infiltrated the Egyptian ports in Hurghada and Port Said and sank five Egyptian warships.

First Lebanon War

From the 1980s onwards, tensions between Israelis and Palestinians increased and Israel marched into Lebanon on June 6, 1982 ( Lebanon War 1982 ) and advanced to Beirut, which then escalated in 1987 in the First Intifada . In the period up to then, the Shayetet 13 had achieved excellent operational statistics in a number of successful operations on both Israeli and Lebanese territory, in which it had suffered no losses. Typical patterns of operation were successfully preventing the maritime infiltration of Hezbollah , locating and digging several of its command centers, and mining its preferred routes to Israel. On September 8, 1997, the unit suffered its greatest defeat to date, when it was caught by a violent counter-attack by Hezbollah during its own raid and lost 11 soldiers, including the group's commander.

Second intifada

During the Second Intifada , soldiers from the Shayetet 13 were deployed in pure land operations for the first time, even without a maritime connection, primarily in anti-terrorist operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip . In countless operations, they carried out targeted killings of Hamas leaders or abducted them. At the same time, they fought in the same way the groups Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades , which were largely responsible for the promotion and use of suicide bombers . Despite this density of operations, they continued to work in their traditional sector and managed, among other things, to arrest the freighters Karine A and Santorini , which had large quantities of smuggled weapons on board for the Palestinian fighters. The hijacking of Karine A ( Operation Noah's Ark ) was made possible by a tip from the CIA and was the most difficult operation of its kind that Shayetet 13 had to carry out, but which it successfully completed. In 2002 and 2003, the commander of the Shayetet 13 won the Chief of Staff Award due to the numerous and successful anti-terrorist operations .

Second Lebanon War

During the Second Lebanon War , the unit undertook, among other things, the attack on the southern Lebanese city of Tire in 2006 .

Controversy

In recent years, a noticeable number of veterans of the Shayetet 13 have contracted cancer, probably caused by contamination of the Kishon River , which flows into Haifa Bay. A commission of inquiry was set up to investigate the allegations and concluded that there was no statistical evidence that diving in the river was carcinogenic. However, the Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofas granted compensation to the families of those affected.

Landing of the ship Klos-C in the Red Sea

On March 5, 2014, in a secret operation, the unit seized the Panamanian flagged ship Klos-C in the Red Sea off the Eritrean coast and confiscated the cargo. According to Israeli information , the cargo ship coming from Iran via Iraq contained cement, modern surface-to-surface missiles of the Syrian type M-302 with a range of around 160 km, which were intended for the Gaza Strip .

assignment

The Schajetet 13 can be used on land, on water and from the air. Their range of operations includes reconnaissance and defense against enemy reconnaissance, direct combat missions , asymmetrical warfare, counter-terrorism and hostage rescue, as well as rescue and rescue operations .

Asymmetric warfare includes numerous covert operations in enemy-controlled or politically difficult environments, including guerrilla warfare against important targets behind enemy lines, psychological warfare and sabotage . The Schajetet 13 is primarily designed for maritime and coastal surroundings, for undetected movement to the target through the water, raid-like operations and rapid retreat on the waterway. This is intended to give them access to objects that larger units cannot reach, or can only reach after heavy fighting.

Since the Schajetet 13 mostly only operates in small teams, they have little firepower and can easily be worn out if they are discovered by larger units. It is therefore important that they remain undetected during the mission and that their route of retreat is secured.

organization

The Schajetet 13 consists of a reinforced battalion , which is composed of three operational companies and a few support units for training, planning and supply. The exact structure is secret. The three mission companies each specialize in a specific mission profile.

Command company

She specializes in raids, sea infiltration, maritime counter-terrorism and hostage rescue.

Combat divers company

She specializes in all types of underwater combat, such as underwater reconnaissance of possible landing sections and their securing, mine laying and defusing on the seabed, but also for attaching sticky mines to ship hulls and port facilities as well as maritime intelligence reconnaissance.

Overwater Company

She controls the fast attack boats of the Zodiak type and also all other surface craft from which the other two companies operate, and specializes in the dropping of emergency services on land.

Recruitment and training

The training lasts about 20 months and is extremely strenuous because of its maritime aspect, which is in addition to the usual command skills that the Schajetet 13 has in common with comparable units of the other branches of the armed forces. The training program is divided into five different phases:

Phase 1

Phase 1 lasts six months, takes place in a normal infantry unit of the Army and, in addition to basic training, includes advanced training in infantry combat management.

Phase 2

In phase 2, the three-week jump training takes place at the parachute jump school of the 35th Army Paratrooper Brigade .

Phase 3

Phase 3 is the so-called preparation phase and lasts three months. It encompasses all aspects of advanced infantry combat, weapons training and the basic elements of maritime warfare, such as piloting small boats, long-distance swimming, as well as forced marches and blasting techniques .

Phase 4

In phase 4 the recruit goes through training to become a combat diver. This course lasts four weeks. In it, the basic elements of combat diving are learned, such as dealing with cold, currents, diving and orientation in dirty to opaque water, as can be found in docks, and dealing with diving-specific risk situations such as pressure and depth.

Phase 5

Phase 5, also known as the consecration or dedication phase , lasts almost a whole year. In this final training stage the recruit is familiarized with advanced diving techniques such as the use of rebreathers , with underwater sabotage -sprengtechniken and the attachment of mines and their disarming, infiltration and Exfiltrationstechniken via air, land and sea. Phase 5 also includes a three-week course at the IDF Counter Terror Warfare School , the school for military counter-terrorism, where the recruit internalizes all aspects of hostage rescue and the fight against terrorism. Then he goes through courses in boarding techniques and combat management in confined spaces on ships, drilling rigs and in typical coastal buildings. In this final phase, in which all the previous skills are not only repeated and deepened in combination, it is decided, depending on the performance shown, but also on the personal wishes of the recruits, which company he will be assigned to at the end.

equipment

TAR-21 assault rifle

The unit uses the self-loading pistols Glock 17 and Glock 19 , assault rifles of the type Tavor TAR-21 , submachine guns of the type Micro Uzi and Micro Para Uzi, sniper rifles of the types IMI Galati , Mauser 86Sr , M24 and Steyr SSG 69 and pump action of the types Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 .

Web links

Commons : Shajetet 13  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Palyam.org (English)
  2. ↑ a b isayeret.com - The Israeli Special Forces & Special Operations (Sayeret) Database ™ . Archived from the original on October 14, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 8, 2008. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.isayeret.com
  3. ^ Doron Geller: Operation Spring of Youth . Retrieved on February 8, 2008.
  4. ↑ The Special Forces of the Israeli Army In: Israelnetz.de , September 14, 2018, accessed on September 16, 2018.
  5. ↑ Santorini at waronline.org (English)
  6. ^ Israeli commandos stage Tire raid . In: BBC , August 5, 2006. Retrieved February 8, 2008. 
  7. ↑ Michael Borgstede: Elite unit prevents arms delivery to Gaza. In: welt.de. March 5, 2014, accessed April 20, 2018 .