Warplanes arrived in waves, including Reaper drones, F-22 stealth fighter jets, F-15E Strike Fighters, B-52 bombers, AC-130 gunships, and AH-64 Apache helicopters. This was the Wagner Group, a private military company based in Russia, and like many high-end mercenaries today, they were covert and lethal. These were not the cartoonish rabble depicted by Hollywood and Western pundits. No one expected an enemy armored assault.Īttacking them were 500 mercenaries, hired by Russia, who possessed artillery, armored personnel carriers, and T-72 main battle tanks. Their collective mission was to defend the Conoco facility, alongside Kurdish and Arab forces.

Roughly 20 miles away, a team of Green Berets and a platoon of Marines stared at their computer screens, watching the drone feeds of the battle. They were in danger of being overrun.Ī team of about 30 special operations forces was pinned down at a Conoco gas plant. They returned fire, but it was not enough to repulse the tanks.

After the barrage, a column of Russian tanks advanced on their positions, firing their 125-millimeter turret guns at soldiers. The opening salvo of artillery was so intense that American troops took cover in foxholes for protection.

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