This is like an updated Bravo Two Zero for we follow the first troops on the ground in Iraq in March 2003 as they are dropped into hostile territory and storm their way into Basra. It is told from the perspective of the Royal Marines and the Royal Navy who supported them, and it’s one hell of a tale.
In the dead of night on 20 March 2003, Royal Navy Marines from 40 and 42 Commando board a fleet of twenty helicopters. With faces blackened and mouths dry at the thought of what lies ahead, they have been given the job of capturing the oil pipelines and pumping stations through which 90 per cent of Iraq’s oil is exported, to seal off the whole of the Faw peninsula and hold it against any counter-attack by the Iraqi Army. They will be the first troops on the ground in Iraq, literally kicking the door down. They will also suffer the first allied casualties in the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
Operation Telic was a bold and audacious break with military doctrine, a night-time airborne assault against heavily defended positions.
With the Commandos lightly armed and isolated, the night-time landing was just the beginning. They were engaged in a series of fast-moving and hard-fought battles as they moved rapidly north until they reached the outskirts of Basra.
Finally, after a two-day battle that broke the back of the Iraqi resistance, and eighteen days after their first contact with the enemy, Royal Marine Commandos entered the presidential palace in Basra.
Told from the perspective, and with the cooperation of officers and men in the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines, Target Basra is a story of courage, fortitude and the harsh realities of modern war, fought in the context of the turmoil of the Middle East.
'Fast-paced with relentless battle action, this is the superb story of the unsung
heroes of the war in Iraq' News of the World
Author
About Mike Rossiter
Mike Rossiter is an independent documentary film-maker, whose work has been nominated ofr BAFTA and EMMY awards. He won the Golden Fleece at the Dijon Film festival for his documentary on the attempted recovery of a B29 bomber from northern Greenland. In 2001 he filmed the search and recovery of the body of Donald Campbell and his record-breaking jet boat, Bluebird, from Coniston Water. In 2004 he filmed the discovery of the wreck of the Ark Royal. He lives in North London.
