Operation United Shield


Operation United Shield was the codename of a military operation, conducted 9 January to 3 March 1995, bringing a conclusion to the United Nations Operation in Somalia II. Commanded by the United States, two ships of the Pakistan Navy, five ships of the Italian Navy and six ships of the United States Navy formed a Combined Task Force ensuring the safe evacuation of all UN Peacekeeping Forces from Somalia.

Timeline of United Nations involvement in Somalia

The political situation in Somalia deteriorated throughout 1993 and 1994, until it was determined that UN peacekeeping forces were in unacceptable jeopardy. On 10 January 1995 the United States Central Command announced that 4,000 personnel would be deployed to Somalia to assist with Operation United Shield. At that time, the UNOSOM II peacekeeping force remaining in Somalia was a combined force of approximately 2,500 troops, from Pakistan and Bangladesh. The United Nations Security Council established 31 March 1995 as the deadline for the departure of all its forces participating in U.N. operations in Somalia.
LtGen Anthony Zinni was given command of the operation, which was to ensure the safe execution of an amphibious withdrawal. General Zinni, who served as Director for Operations for UNITAF during Operation Restore Hope in 1992-1993, knew most of the top Somali leaders at the time of Operation United Shield.
The commanders utilized a 4,000 man air-ground task force to cover the withdrawal and prevent further casualties, while a seaborne coalition of American, Italian, Pakistani, French, British, and Malaysian naval vessels waited just off the coast of Mogadishu to accept the withdrawing forces.

Execution

By the time the Landing Force went ashore, the UNOSOM forces had consolidated and withdrawn to New Port and Mogadishu International Airport.
The most critical stage of Operation United Shield began when the ground combat element of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted an amphibious landing on "green beach," near Mogadishu International Airport. The infantry element, Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, and Battalion Landing Team 3/1, conducted their initial landing in the early morning hours of 1 March 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.
Two US Navy CH-53E Super Stallion Helicopters from Helicopter Combat Support Squadron Four played a vital role in placing troops in key areas throughout Mogadishu and then picking up members of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force and flying them out to the US Ships off shore.

Naval ships involved in the Combined Task Force

American