Operation United Shield

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Operation United Shield was the name given to the US military operation of evacuating all remaining 6,200 UN peacekeeping troops from Somalia from January to March of 1995, the troops were made up of Americans, Pakistanis and Egyptians. (Indian, Zimbabwean, and Malaysian units had already disengaged in late 1994).

General Peay of the United States Army and Lieutenant Gen. Anthony C. Zinni (Commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force) were given command of the operation which saw the last troops brought to Mogadishu, and then entirely disengaged. They arranged to use 4,000 troops to cover the withdrawal and prevent further casualties, and a sea-borne coalition was made up of American, Italian, Pakistani, French, British, and Malaysian naval vessels through the Indian Ocean.

The most critical stage of Operation United Shield began when the ground combat element (GCE) of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) conducted an amphibious landing on "green beach," near the Mogadishu international airport. The infantry element, Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, (31st MEU) and Battalion Landing Team 3/1, conducted their initial landing under the cover of darkness during the first hours of February 28, 1995, and within hours the bulk of the infantry battalion had passed through the United Nation’s perimeter and secured the New Port shipping facility and an area known as "No Man's Land", between the New Port and the UN-occupied Mogadishu International Airport, north of green beach.

A success, the operation saw the safe withdrawal of all 6,200 troops, as well as over a hundred combat vehicles, without a single UN or US casualty.