The Battle of Mogadishu occurred in Somalia in October 1993 under the Operation Gothic Serpent and it involved the ground and air United States Forces such as the Army Rangers Regiment, Delta Force and Aviation Regiment. The United States Forces attempted to overthrow the rule of the self declared president of Somali Mohamed Farrah Aidid with the assistance from UNOSOM II against the Somaliland militias loyal to Aidid during a gathering in the city of Mogadishu. The battle resulted in high causalities among the U.S. forces and the Somali civilians and the eventual withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Somalia (Eversmann and Dan 231).
After the battle began, Somali militias and heavily armed civilians shot down two Black Hawk helicopters and the resulting rescue mission gave rise to an overnight standoff in Mogadishu. The Somali militias had numerous tactical advantages over the U.S. Forces during the battle as they were battling on familiar grounds and were skilled in the urban battle. The Somali militias understood the U.S. strategy mainly in offering air support in assisting the ground forces while the Army Rangers cordoned the outer regions of the battle zone and the Delta Forces cleared the structures within. As a result, the commanders of the Somaliland militias drew effective tactical plans in response to the attack from the U.S. forces (Drysdale 76).
The Battle of Mogadishu offered the U.S. Forces numerous lessons particularly in fighting militias in urban environments such as Mogadishu. Consequently, the U.S. forces were ill-equipped in coping with the urban guerrilla warfare that was widespread in the city Mogadishu and this in due course resulted in the failure of the mission. The battle is considered as one of the bloodiest that involved the U.S. forces since the devastating and bloody battle in Vietnam.
Works cited
Drysdale, J G. S. The Battle for Mogadishu: Root-causes of the Conflict. Hove, UK: Global- Stats, 1994. Print.
Eversmann, Matt, and Dan Schilling. The Battle of Mogadishu: Firsthand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger. New York: Presidio Press, 2006. Print.
