Combat· Afghanistan War (Op ENDURING FREEDOM)
Battle of Garmsir
Garmsir was a Taliban stronghold at the southern end of the Helmand River valley, a gateway through which insurgents and supplies flowed up from the Pakistani border, where British forces had been locked in a stalemate with a larger enemy.
The Marines of an expeditionary unit were sent to break the deadlock, assaulting the Taliban-held district and driving the insurgents from the town in hard fighting through the poppy fields and mud-walled compounds of the lower Helmand. After seizing the district center the Marines pushed south into a belt of insurgent bunkers and tunnels built to withstand airstrikes, in an operation expected to last days that stretched to more than a month. Ordered to hold rather than clear and leave, the Marines transitioned to protecting the population as displaced residents returned. Garmsir dealt the Taliban a sharp defeat and demonstrated the impact a determined Marine force could have in contested Helmand.
Record no. 24