Operation "Eagle Claw"

"War is the realm of chance. No other human activity gives it greater scope; no other has such incessant and varied dealings with this intruder. Chance makes everything more uncertain, and interferes with the whole course of events." - Karl Von Clausewitz

When embarking on any military operation, planning is obviously important, but attention to detail should not be taken too far. If an operation is too complex, then this introduces too many chances for things to go wrong. Operation Eagle Claw is a prime example. It was a plan that seems more suited to the big screen, rather than real life.

On the 4th of November, 1979, the US embassy in Teheran was overrun by militant followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini, where they took 66 hostages as a bargaining chip. Throughout the crisis, President Jimmy Carter publicly rejected the use of force, instead assuring the US public that he would find a diplomatic solution. In reality, President Carter had ordered that a plan be drawn up for a rescue effort, but, because of the unpredictability of the Iranians allies, the Soviet Union, and the Iranians themselves, any attack would have to be covert. Carter also decided that any military action would have to be a 'surgical strike', to reduce the risk of escalation. It was reasoned that if the rescue could be carried out with minimal damage and casualties, then it was unlikely that either Iran or the Soviet Union could justify a military response. The plan they came up with is, looking at it from the outside, incredible at best.

President Carter and his top military advisors were asking combat ships, planes and troops to assemble in force (but unnoticed) in the Persian Gulf, one of the busiest stretches of water in the world. Then the assault troops would be infiltrated secretly into Iran itself. After this, the troops would then fly nearly 1000 miles in hostile airspace to land (still unnoticed) near a city populated by over 3 million people. Then the troops would move through the city, liberate the hostages from somewhere in downtown Teheran from their fanatical captors, move back through a city where every resident would quite happily kill anything American, wave down their waiting helicopters, and then fly over 400 miles back to safety, all the way unnoticed by the squadrons of Iranian fighters and air defences unit which they would have to assume would now be alerted to their presence. Of course, during this entire operation, they were to avoid inflicting any casualties on the Iranian civilians with whom they, as President Carter put it, had "absolutely no quarrel with". A sound plan if ever there was one.

Loaded into six C-130 transport aircraft at an island near Oman, they flew to a base in Iran named, imaginatively, Desert Base One, where they would meet eight Sea Stallion helicopters flying in from the aircraft carrier Nimitz. The intention was then to fly in the helicopters to a second base, and then from there to the drop off point near the city of Teheran. On the inbound flight to Desert Base One, the eight helicopters flying in diamond formation were ordered to keep 'absolute radio silence under any circumstances'. As the helicopters crossed the border into Iran, number eight developed a fault in the rotor gearbox, but because of the orders, could not inform anyone. The pilot just had to trust his luck and keep going. The next problem to occur was more serious. As the pilots flew along hugging the ground, number six was forced to land with a damaged rotor blade. Luckily, chopper number eight saw them go down, and was able to land to pick up the crew, and then follow on behind the other six helicopters.

The next incident to occur was a sandstorm. In fact it occurred right in front of them, and because they couldn't discuss options by radio, they had no choice but to fly straight on into it, and hopefully come out the other side. Surprisingly, nothing untoward happened, and all seven helicopters came out the other side. Unfortunately, another sandstorm appeared shortly after the first, and this time, they weren't so lucky. Helicopter number 5 developed instrumentation problems, and was forced to make an about turn, and head back to the carrier Nimitz. This took the force down to six helicopters, which the so-called experts said was the minimum number required for the success of the mission.

At Desert Base One, other problems were presenting themselves. The C-130's had just landed at their carefully selected covert base right next to a main highway when a bus load of Iranians came into sight. To force the bus to stop, the US soldiers had to shoot out the tires and radiator. The 44 passengers were held a small distance away, and were able to witness the events that followed. The next event turned out to be more traffic along the road. This time, it was a fuel truck, and instead of shooting out the tires again, the soldiers decided to make sure it stopped first time and fired an anti-tank weapon at it. The night was illuminated by the resulting explosion, which the driver miraculously survived.

When the remaining helicopters turned up at the secret base, they found the place in turmoil. The engines of the aircraft had been left running to reduce the risk of sand contamination, and this made any form of communication difficult, if not impossible, because of the noise. When it was reported to the senior officer that another helicopter had problems, and was unusable, he decided to abort the mission. This meant the only thing to do was to refuel and get out of Iran as soon as possible. Now another tragedy struck. While one of the idling helicopters was being refuelled, one of the turning rotor blades got too close to the refuelling aircraft, and it sliced through the cockpit. A second huge explosion ripped the night apart, engulfing both the refuelling aircraft and the helicopter. It also ignited rockets and small-arms ammunition, causing bullets and shells to fly in all directions. Many soldiers believed they were under attack, and confusion reigned once more. In the panic that followed, the remaining soldiers abandoned the helicopters intact, and, under the confused eyes of the Iranian bus passengers, evacuated on the C-130's. After the US soldiers had departed, Desert Base One looked like it had been the site of a major battle, rather than a staging area.

The cost of this mission was seven helicopters and eight US soldiers. If the mission had ever made it as far as the crowded city of Teheran, the chances of success would have been very slim. Even one of the hostages, when he heard of the aborted rescue mission, said "Thank God for the sandstorm."

So, when planning operations, remember that the simpler the plan is, the less things there are to go wrong.

Tim Still (tcs@cix.compulink.co.uk)