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War in Afghanistan · 2002 Members · from $3

Takur Ghar, 2002

Early on 4 March 2002, two days into Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan's Shah-i-Kot valley, a U.S. Navy SEAL reconnaissance team tried to land on Takur Ghar, a 3,190 m peak at the valley's south-eastern end, not knowing al-Qaeda fighters were dug in on it. Their MH-47E helicopter was hit and Petty Officer Neil Roberts fell from the ramp. Attempts to rescue him drew in the SEAL team and their combat controller, TSgt John Chapman, and then an Army Ranger quick reaction force whose lead helicopter was shot down on the summit. After a day-long fight in deep snow the Rangers took the peak, and the survivors were lifted out after dark. Seven Americans were killed and about a dozen wounded. Chapman and Senior Chief Britt Slabinski received the Medal of Honor.

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TSgt John Chapman
TSgt John Chapman — U.S. Air Force — public domain

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 2–3 March 2002

    Operation Anaconda

    Operation Anaconda aims to trap al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters gathered in the Shah-i-Kot, a high valley about 9 km long in Paktia province, south of Gardez. Afghan militia of Task Force Hammer, advised by U.S. Special Forces, are to drive in from the west around the long ridge the planners call 'the Whale', while U.S. infantry of Task Force Rakkasan (101st Airborne and 10th Mountain) air-assault into blocking positions on the eastern ridges. Instead of a few hundred fighters in the villages, the troops landing on 2 March meet many more dug in on the heights. Takur Ghar, about 3,190 m, towers over the south-eastern end of the valley; special operations planners want an observation post on it.

  2. 4 March 2002, about 03:00

    Razor 03 on the summit

    After delays, MH-47E Razor 03 of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment lifts from Gardez carrying the Navy SEAL reconnaissance team Mako 30 and Air Force combat controller TSgt John Chapman. Running out of darkness, the team has accepted a landing zone on the summit itself. As the Chinook settles on a small saddle at the top, al-Qaeda fighters already dug in there open up with machine guns and RPGs. A rocket hits the aircraft, hydraulic and oil lines are cut, and the pilot pulls away. Petty Officer 1st Class Neil Roberts, near the open ramp, slips on the spilled fluid and falls into the snow — by the official account, five to ten feet.

  3. About 03:00–04:00

    Forced landing

    Losing hydraulic fluid, Razor 03 flies off north and comes down hard in the valley — about seven kilometres away by the DoD account (other accounts give six or 11 km). No one aboard is badly hurt, and Razor 04 picks up the crew and team and flies them to Gardez. On the summit, Roberts is alone. By the Pentagon's summary, forensic evidence suggests he survived the fall, probably used his signalling device, and fought with his light machine gun before he was mortally wounded; overhead imagery later suggested he was killed by the enemy before help could reach him.

  4. About 04:58–05:20

    Back to the mountain

    Determined to recover Roberts, Senior Chief Britt Slabinski rallies the rest of his team, Chapman among them, and flies back aboard Razor 04, which lands on the same contested LZ under fire from three directions. The team climbs toward Roberts' last position. Chapman closes to about 12 metres of the first bunker and, with Slabinski, clears it; a second position about 20 metres beyond then opens fire. Chapman is hit and goes down, and the SEALs believe him dead; two SEALs are wounded. Under fire at grenade range, with too little room for air support, Slabinski takes the team over the edge to call in air strikes.

  5. About 05:20–06:15

    Withdrawal, and Razor 01

    With dawn coming and mortar rounds landing, Mako 30 works its way down the steep north-east slope, Slabinski carrying a wounded man through deep snow, an AC-130 overhead covering them. Later Air Force analysis of drone video concluded that Chapman had survived and fought on alone at the bunkers for about an hour; Navy accounts dispute what the imagery shows. Not knowing the SEALs have left the peak, the Ranger quick reaction force flies to the same LZ. At about 06:10, Razor 01 is hit by an RPG and machine-gun fire on final approach and crash-lands on the summit. Crew member Sgt Philip Svitak is killed, both pilots are wounded, and Sgt Bradley Crose, Cpl Matthew Commons and Spc Marc Anderson are killed as the Rangers fight out of the helicopter.

  6. Morning, 4 March

    Razor 02 and the climb

    Capt. Nate Self's surviving Rangers and the airmen take cover around the wreck and hold, with Air Force controllers calling in strikes from F-15s, F-16s and a Predator. Razor 02, which had gone to Gardez, sets the rest of the quick reaction force — about ten Rangers and a SEAL — down at an offset LZ some 800 m east of and more than 600 m (2,000 ft) below the summit. They climb for over two hours up a 45–70 degree slope in knee- to waist-deep snow, under sporadic mortar fire, carrying their own heavy loads at over 3,000 m; on the way they see Mako 30 making its way down the mountainside above and to their right.

  7. About 10:30–11:00

    Taking the bunkers

    The two Ranger chalks link up on the crest by about 10:30. After a final air strike on the bunkers, and with two machine guns firing in support, seven Rangers charge up through knee-deep snow and take the summit within minutes. The bodies of Roberts and Chapman are found on the peak.

  8. 4 March, midday – about 20:15

    Waiting for dark

    Fighters on a ridgeline about 400 m away keep firing on the casualty collection point. Senior Airman Jason Cunningham, an Air Force pararescueman, is hit while treating the wounded and dies hours later. Commanders judge another daylight landing too dangerous, so the force holds the peak until night. At about 20:15 four MH-47s lift out the Rangers and airmen on the summit and Mako 30 from the slope below. Seven Americans died on Takur Ghar: Roberts, Chapman, Svitak, Crose, Commons, Anderson and Cunningham. Chapman and Slabinski were awarded the Medal of Honor in 2018; the peak is remembered as Roberts Ridge.

Weapons

al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters

RPG-7

RPG-7

Shoulder-fired rocket-propelled grenade launcher · 1961–present

At Takur Ghar: An RPG hit Razor 03 as it landed on the summit, and RPG fire brought down Razor 01 on the same landing zone.

The most widespread anti-armour weapon in the world: cheap, simple and effective against light vehicles and buildings. Iraqi soldiers, Fedayeen and later insurgents and militias fired it in volleys from rooftops and alleys in every battle here.

Calibre
40 mm tube, 85 mm warhead (PG-7V)
Effective range
about 200–300 m
Crew
1–2
Photo: U.S. military photo · public domain
AK-47 / Type 56

AK-47 / Type 56

Assault rifle · 1949–present

At Takur Ghar: Fighters in dug-in bunkers on the summit held the peak against two assaults until the Rangers took it.

Mikhail Kalashnikov's AK-47 became the world's most widespread military rifle thanks to its simplicity and reliability in mud, heat and rain. North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops carried both Soviet AKs and the Chinese-made copy, the Type 56.

Calibre
7.62×39mm
Rate of fire
about 600 rounds/min
Magazine
30-round box
Effective range
about 350 m
Photo: U.S. Department of Defense · Public domain

U.S. special operations forces

M4 / M4A1 carbine

M4 / M4A1 carbine

5.56 mm assault carbine · 1994–present

At Takur Ghar: Rangers of the quick reaction force assaulted uphill through deep snow to take the bunkers.

A shortened, lighter M16 that became the standard weapon of U.S. Army infantry and special operations forces in Iraq and Afghanistan; Marine infantry in 2003–04 still mostly carried the full-length M16A4.

Calibre
5.56×45 mm NATO
Barrel
14.5 in
Magazine
30 rounds
Photo: U.S. Marine Corps photo · public domain

Paintings and photographs

TSgt John Chapman
TSgt John Chapman Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman, awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously in 2018. U.S. Air Force — public domain · source
Senior Chief Britt Slabinski
Senior Chief Britt Slabinski Britt Slabinski, who led the SEAL team back onto the summit to recover Neil Roberts; Medal of Honor, 2018. Monica King — public domain · source
Miller, Cunningham and Brown
Miller, Cunningham and Brown TSgt Keary Miller, SrA Jason Cunningham and SSgt Gabe Brown about three weeks before the battle; Cunningham was killed on the mountain. U.S. Air Force — public domain · source
Chinooks lift off for Operation Anaconda
Chinooks lift off for Operation Anaconda CH-47 Chinooks taking off in support of Operation Anaconda, March 2002. U.S. Army — public domain · source

★ Medal of Honor 2 recipients

Links go to the official records: the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and, where they exist, the service's own pages.

Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: March 4.

Accuracy score: 62/100 (moderate)

How the accuracy score works

Sources and method

Takur Ghar ('Roberts Ridge'), 4 March 2002. Sequence, times and distances follow the U.S. Department of Defense Executive Summary of the Battle of Takur Ghar (24 May 2002) and the accompanying DoD account (mirror); Andrew Milani and Stephen Biddle, U.S. Army War College, Pitfalls of Technology: A Case Study of the Battle on Takur Ghar Mountain (2003, DTIC ADA414541), for the Razor 03 landing site, the offset LZ ('some 800 meters east and over 2,000 feet below'), Mako 30's withdrawal to the north-east and the 20:15 extraction; the Medal of Honor citations of TSgt John A. Chapman (Air Force Historical Support Division) and SOC Britt K. Slabinski (navy.mil); USAF, Operation Anaconda: An Air Power Perspective (2005, media.defense.gov) for the valley; ARSOF History, 'From a Great Height' (arsof-history.org) for the Razor 03 site; Defense Media Network, 'The Battle of Roberts Ridge' (part 2); Malcolm MacPherson, Roberts Ridge (2005); Sean Naylor, Not a Good Day to Die (2005); and CSI, A Different Kind of War (2010). Summit and LZ coordinates from Wikipedia. Positions on the summit are interpretive and at team/aircraft level; the villages, the Whale and the blocking positions in the first stage are schematic. Accounts differ on the Razor 03 crash distance (6, 7 or 11 km) and on how long Chapman fought after the SEALs withdrew. Images from Wikimedia Commons (U.S. government, public domain).

Where the positions come from

Further reading