Battle of Checkpoint Pasta

The battle of Checkpoint Pasta,[1] sometimes called the battle of the pasta factory, was a firefight in Mogadishu between Italian troops and Somali rebels, and is remembered for being the first all-out battle involving Italian army's military personnel since the end of the Second World War.[7]

Battle of Checkpoint Pasta
Part of the Somali Civil War and the UNOSOM II mission
Date2 July 1993[1]
Location
Mogadishu, Somalia[1]
Result Italian breakthrough from the encirclement[2]
Belligerents
 Italy
 Somalia		 SNA
Commanders and leaders
Bruno Loi
Ali Mahdi Muhammad		 Mohamed Farrah Aidid
Strength
550 Italians troops + 400 Somali policeman[3] Around 600 rebel Somali militiamen[4]
Casualties and losses
 Italy 3 killed
22 wounded[5]		  Somalia 67[6]-187.[6]

The battle took place near the Italian checkpoint called "Pasta", because it was located near an old abandoned Barilla pasta factory across the intersection with Imperial street and 21 October street of Mogadishu, after an ambush on Italian forces set up by Somali rebels led by General Mohamed Aidid.

The Italian units eventually broke the encirclement and withdrew.

Context

On July 2, 1993, during the development of the so called "Operation Kangaroo 11", planned by the Command "ITALFOR", Italian forces split into two mechanized columns to carry out a search for weapons in the Haliwaa district , a district north of Mogadishu. Some targets were located near an abandoned Barilla pasta factory, near which a checkpoint had been set up, on the crossroads between via Imperiale and Strada 21 October, called "Pasta".

The operation

The first column, called Alfa, came from the area of the old port of Mogadishu while the second, Bravo, from the city of Balad, another important Italian garrison during the mission, located about twenty kilometers from Mogadishu. The target of the patrol was an area of 400 by 700 meters between the Checkpoint Ferro and the Pasta.

Once the patrol operation was over, the two columns took their way back to base. Following serious unrest that broke out in the area, with large participation by the local population, among which snipers mingled, the situation precipitated to such an extent for Somali law enforcement that the intervention by the Bravo column was necessary, which at that time was in the vicinity of the pasta factory along the Via Imperiale.

The militia ambush

Some Italian VCC-1 Camillino armored vehicles, stopped in front of barricades erected by the Somali militiamen, were immobilized with anti-tank rockets while the surrounding streets were blocked with other barricades. In one of these, paratrooper Pasquale Baccaro died, hit in the leg by a rocket, while Sergeant Major Giampiero Monti was seriously injured in the abdomen and paratrooper Massimiliano Zaniolo received a bullet wound in his hand.

The rescue intervention of the Alfa column was therefore decided, almost arrived at the base, equipped with eight M60 tanks, Fiat 6614 armored cars and seven B1 Centauro tank destroyers. Further support came from Agusta A129 Mangusta and Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters.[3] Armored vehicle crews tried to protect other vehicles and injured comrades using onboard machine guns, while trying to restart one of the damaged vehicles and men still patrolling the neighborhood; it was at this stage that the raider sergeant Stefano Paolicchi was mortally wounded, while clearing a militias' dugout with an OD 82/SE hand grenade.[3]

Heavy armament was used only on two occasions: an unspecified number of M60s from a company of the 32nd Tank Regiment from the 132nd Armored Brigade "Ariete" opened fire on containers that served as shield to the militiamen, causing great losses, and one of the Mangustas destroyed an Iveco VM 90 seized by the Somali militias with a TOW missile, killing all the rebels aboard.[3]

Among the men of the rescue column, the second lieutenant Andrea Millevoi, commander of a Centauro tank destroyer platoon of the 8th "Lancieri di Montebello" Regiment, was shot and killed as he leaned out of his vehicle to check out the area. A large number of civilians arrived and were used as human shields by the militiamen. The arrival of rescue armored vehicles allowed the soldiers under fire to withdraw.

Losses and aftermath

The italians lost three soldiers during that day of battle:

In addition, 22 were injured and an unknown number of Somali militiamen and civilians died and injured. In the documentary-investigation of 2008 by director Andrea Bettinetti entitled Check point Pasta, Somali sources talk about 67 militiamen killed by the italians and at least 103 injured.

Among the Italian wounded there was also the then second lieutenant Gianfranco Paglia, paratrooper, who during the action was hit by three bullets (one of which in the lung which caused an internal bleeding and one in the spinal cord which forced him to the wheelchair for life) while trying to rescue the crew of one of the immobilized armored cars. Gianfranco Paglia, who was awarded the Gold Medal for military valor for the action accomplished, despite having lost the use of his legs, is still in service in the italian army. The sergeant major paratrooper Giampiero Monti, seriously injured in the abdomen, was awarded the silver medal for military valor.

Other silver and bronze medals were awarded to various members of the Bersaglieri and helicopter pilots engaged in the action.[8][9]

Motivations of the battle

According to some reconstructions, never confirmed by official sources, the clashes would have erupted because the area of operations conducted by Italian forces was the refuge of general Mohammed Farah Aidid, one of the main Somali warlords and considered a major obstacle to reaching of a peace agreement. The order from Aidid to his militiamen would have been to kick off the clashes, so as to allow him to flee the area.[10] The situation would then escape the control of the same general, degenerating from skirmishes to bloody gunfights. This version was supported by a Somali activist, Starlin Arush, on the occasion of a meeting that took place at the Vannucci military base in Livorno in the spring of 1994.

See also

References
  1. Koops, Joachim Alexander; Tercovich, Giulia (2018-12-07). European approaches to United Nations peacekeeping : towards a stronger re-engagement?. London. ISBN 978-1138503328. OCLC 991371468.
  2. Mannucci 2004, p. 79-80.
  3. "2 luglio 1993: la Battaglia". Archived from the original on 7 July 2012.
  4. "Checkpoint Pasta: 2 luglio 1993". Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  5. Rosa, Paolo (2016-04-21). Strategic culture and Italy's military behavior. p. 117. ISBN 9781498522816. OCLC 934746325.
  6. La storia siamo noi.
  7. Somalia, la battaglia al check-point Pasta. Il racconto del generale Loi vent'anni dopo
  8. "Conferimento di ricompense al valore dell'Esercito (GU Serie Generale n.256 del 31-10-1996)".
  9. "Conferimento di ricompense al valore dell'Esercito (GU Serie Generale n.94 del 22-04-1995)".
  10. Mannucci 2004, pp. 74-76.
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