1 - The Black Vault

PRAETORIAN STARSHIP
engaged the positions as soon as Hobson’s aircraft
cleared the immediate area. As the gunship fired
on the AAA locations, the rangers already on the
ground tried to get a fix on the small-arms loca -
tions that had them pinned down. Twiford experienced
minor gun problems and pulled off the target
temporarily to work them. A second AC-130H
(Lima 56), commanded by Maj Michael J. Couvillon,
rolled in on the target and continued to attack
both AAA and small-arms positions. With
the AAA silenced, Bach and the SOLL C-130s
were called back in by the air mission commander
to air-drop their assault troops and relieve the
command and control element on the ground. 129
The five C-130s were in holding to the west
when they were given the green light to continue
their airdrops. By this time it was bright daylight
at the airfield. Bach made his approach and
dropped his troops at 500-feet altitude, followed
by the other C-130s. As the formation was making
its drops, Lt Col Dave Sims (commander of
the 16th SOS and the former operations officer of
the 8th SOS) moved into position over the airfield
in gunship 69-6574 (call sign Lima 57) and
continued to engage enemy positions. With the
airdrops from the first wave complete, Miles and
Davenport, along with their three SOLL II C-
130s, were cleared into Point Salines and completed
their airdrops. On the ground, a company
of rangers assembled on each end of the airfield.
Hot wiring a bulldozer and using it to clear obstacles
from the runway, the rangers simultaneously
attacked the Cuban and Grenadian army
defenders. Once the rangers had cleared the runway
and neutralized the small-arms threat, CCT
personnel who had jumped with the rangers began
clearing the remaining aircraft for landing.
Both Miles and Davenport had additional equipment
aboard their aircraft that was needed on
the ground, so they were subsequently cleared to
land and off-load. Tindall had been in holding to
the west of the airfield and was cleared to land.
With improved weather and daylight conditions,
he was able to find the airfield and safely deliver
his load of rangers. 130
Within two hours of the initial assault, the
rangers had surrounded and captured 250 Cubans
at Point Salines. At 0900 hours they rescued
138 American medical students from one of the
university’s campuses located adjacent to the airfield.
The resistance encountered at Point Salines
was in sharp contrast to the marine assault on
Pearls. With virtually no resistance, the marines
secured the Pearls area within two hours of their
initial infiltration. The Cuban construction workers
at Point Salines had turned out to be Cuban
soldiers, many of whom were veterans who had
fought in Ethiopia and Angola. 131 The two ZSU-
23s that had been reported by intelligence had
also multiplied into nearly a dozen.
As the rangers faced heavy resistance at Point
Salines, McDonald asked for reinforcements from
Vessey. In response to the request, Vessey
authorized the launch of the 82d Airborne strategic
reserve force, which consisted of 1,500 sol -
diers at Fort Bragg. The division had been on full
alert, and by 1000 hours they were loaded and
were headed south to join the fight. Meanwhile,
the rangers began to move north from the Point
Salines area to mount an assault on military emplacements
at St. George’s, which included the
residence of Governor-General Scoon. From the
beaches north of St. George’s, a Navy SEAL pla -
toon was also making its way to the Scoon’s residence.
The rangers continued to encounter stiff
resistance from Grenadian army soldiers equipped
with APCs, and their progress north was slow.
The SEALs, however, reached Scoon’s residence
and were able to overpower the guards and res -
cue the governor-general. Again, Grenadian
APCs engaged the SEALs with heavy fire and
threatened to overrun their position. Lacking
a ntitank weapons the SEALs fought a delaying
action with hand grenades and automatic weapons
and waited for the rangers. Vice Admiral
Metcalf, from his flagship USS Guam, ordered
Navy and Marine Cobra helicopters to fly support
missions over the residence. Heavy antiaircraft
fire from Fort Frederick and Fort Rupert
in St. George’s downed two of the Cobras and
prevented others from reaching the governorgeneral’s
residence. Consequently, US Navy A-7
Corsairs from the CBG attacked the AAA positions
(fig. 37). 132
While the battle progressed across the island
on the 25th, it became apparent that most defenses
were concentrated in the southern part of
the island, between Point Salines and St. George’s.
A second medical school campus was also found at
Grand Anse. At noon Metcalf and Schwarzkopf
met to reassess the ground tactical plan. The marines
at Pearls had completed their operation,
prompting Schwarzkopf to recommend to Metcalf
that they move around the island and land at
Grand Mal Bay just north of St. George’s. The
maneuver would open a second front behind the
defending Grenadian army that had the rangers
and SEALs engaged with their APCs. Metcalf
284