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Operations PALLISER & BARRAS (Sierra Leone) - Part 1
School destroyed by the Civil War
Featured Author:
Peter Padley
Former Warrant Officer Class One (Garrison Sergeant Major) Peter A Padley MBE
Served in the British Army from 1962 until 2000 as a member of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME).
Served with a variety of units including Parachute and Commando Forces on active duty and operations in many theatres around the world.
Former Parachute Instructor and founder member of 3 military Parachute Teams.
HMForces.co.uk
February 16, 2010
Op PALLISER – 7th May to 15th June 2000
Civil War started in Sierra Leone in March 1991 and within a few months over 100,000 refugees had fled the country. The Military Wing of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by Foday Sankoh, conducted a reign of terror over the next 11 years where mutilation and murder became the norm. Before the civil war came to an end in January 2002 over 2 million people had been displaced with tens of thousands killed.
Op PALLISER was the name given to the operation tasked with the evacuation of non combatants of UK, Commonwealth and EU Citizens from Sierra Leone at a time when rebel activity close to the capital city, Freetown, was increasing.
British troops deployed to Sierra Leone in May 2000, from a Forward Operating Base in Senegal, as part of Op PALLISER were 1st Bn Parachute Regiment (1 Para), less ‘A’ Coy but reinforced with elements of 2 Para, along with The Parachute Regiment Pathfinder Platoon and elements of 22nd Special Air Service Regiment (22SAS). Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Harriers embarked on HMS Illustrious, which had been diverted from an exercise in the Bay of Biscay in company with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort George, provided Combat Air Patrols (CAP) with the LPH, HMS Ocean, accompanied by the Type 23 frigate HMS Argyll and the Type 22 frigate HMS Chatham and four Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels providing offshore naval support to the land operation.
‘C’ Coy 2 Para, flown in by an RAF C130 Hercules aircraft, secured Lungi Airport for use as a Forward Operating Base and assembly area for the non combatant evacuees. They were reinforced the following day by ‘D’ Coy 1 Para, flown in by two RAF Chinooks of 7 Squadron’s Special Forces Flight, but they soon moved away from the airport to secure the Aberdeen Peninsula and main road linking Freetown to the airport.
The first real firefight came on 17th May when the Pathfinder Platoon were engaged by members of the RUF at Lungi Loi village, some 15 miles from the airport. With reinforcements needed ‘C’ Coy 1 Para, and a mortar team, were inserted by Chinook and eventually defeated the rebels. The Para Coy Gp was assisted in this operation by a blocking force of Nigerian UN troops located towards the rear of the village. The rebels, eventually forced to withdraw, left behind 4 dead with the rebel leader, Foday Sankoh, being taken prisoner and detained.
The Para Battle Group was relieved by 42 Cdo RM and returned to UK at the end of May 2000, and although Op PALLISER ended on the 15th June the Royal Irish Regiment deployed to Sierra Leone tasked with providing training support to the Sierra Leone Army as well as foot and vehicle mounted patrols designed to ensure the security of areas where training bases were located. It was the capture of one of these vehicle mounted patrols that was to lead to the execution of Operation BARRAS in September 2000.
Next: Operation BARRAS (Sierra Leone) – Part 2
Back To: British Military Conflicts Reviewed – The Nature of Conflict
