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With the 7th Field Hospital in Basrah, Part 1

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With the 7th Field Hospital in Basrah, Part 1
By Tom Cooper (photos by M. Rosenkrantz & G. Mader)
Nov 25, 2003, 02:35

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The Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic invited the representants of the daily and weekly Austrian media to visit the base of the 7th Field Hospital of the Czech Army, in Basrah, on 22nd and 23rd November.

Strangely enough, only two representants of the Austrian media - which is permanently complaining about "inability to obtain 'objective' and 'neutral' information about what is going on in Iraq in the face of US censorship" ever since March of this year, but is otherwise showing a special interest in 'providing' as negative as possible picture about the situation there - appeared. Nevertheless, three reporters with special interest in aeronautical developments, including Georg Mader, the Austrian correspondent of JDW, Martin Rosenkrantz, the editor of the airpower.at website, and the editor of the ACIG.org, were more than glad to respond to this kind invitation.

In the course of this trip we have had the opportunity to fly over the whole Iraq on the north-south axis on a sunny and particularly clear day and see (and photograph) the immense military installations - most of which could be clearly made out even from 12.000m and up to 60km away - built from Mawsil in the north straight down to the Kuwaiti border during the 1980s.

Even more so, we had the opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of the Czech contingent in Basrah, to see their base, their equipment, their motivation, discipline, and ?lan, to talk with the Chief-of-Staff of the Czech Army, and also to many officers and enlisted ranks.

This is the first in the series of reports about this journey.

Some pictures speak more than all the words...

In Vienna, we - sadly - do not have as many representatives of different military services around the world as in London, or Washington D.C.. Nevertheless, since almost ten years a small group of enthusiasts and reporters is taking care to - at least once in a month - bring together as many military attaches, representatives from the defence sector, few officers of the Austrian Bundesheer, as well as press&media; reporters together. These meetings are causing a considerable displeasure within different Austrian authorities, but the enthusiasm of all the participants is such that nothing short of an outright "Verbot" - supported by arrest of most of us - could prevent us from meeting again.

This kind of contacts is meanwhile resulting in cooperation that enables a number of Austrian reporters to gain access to places others are either not able to reach, or - at least - never invited to visit.

In this case, the Deputy Military Attach? at the Czech embassy in Vienna, Lt.Col. Dipl.Ing. Miroslav Maciga, informed us about the possibility to make this trip approx two weeks ahead, as there were two or three places vacant on the Czech AF Tu-154 that was to fly from Prague to Basrah, on 22 November.

After sorting out all the other necessary details, we were also granted an official permission from the Austrian Bundesheer (Austrian Military) to loan "Ausr?stung f?r Kriegsrberichterstatter" (equipment for war-reporters): since some time, namely, the Austriam military is providing such equipment to the reporters that are underway in "less secure" situations. Iraq, after all, is still a country with unstable security situation and some precautions in order to ascertain own safety were needed. The equipment we have got consisted of a Kevlar helmet, flak-vest, gas-mask, ABC-protection suit and gear, knife, and a field-bottle, and was provided at a cost of EUR 3.17 per day (with remark that we would have to pay for anything that was damaged or missing).

Considering the threat from chemical or biological weapons for minimal, I decided that the ABC-protection suit can stay at home. Given the short duration of the trip we also needed no much other laguage, except the cameras and other recording equipment - and quite a few maps of Iraq.

The flight from Prague to Basrah was initially a ?non-event?. Flying over Slovakia, Hungary, and then the dark mountains of Romania and Bulgaria, we then crossed the Black Sea at a level of 12.400m and speed over more than 890km/h.

Of course, thinking about the connection of a Tu-154 and the Black Sea brings one to associate the case in which a Russian Tu-154 was shot down by the Ukrainian S-200 (SA-5) SAM, two years back, but we were flying in a completely different direction, so except few jokes, I guess nobody was really concerned about this "factor".

Together with us three, in the rear cabin there were some 20 Iraqis aboard, returning home together with their children that were in medical treatment in Czech hospitals for some time (we were to learn why later), some five or six Czech reporters, and several Czech soldiers on return from a leave.

Tu-154 "1016" of the Czech Republic was the aircraft that brought us to Basrah and back.

And then it started: it was a brilliant, sunny morning, free of fog or any other disturbances and as soon as we crossed the northern Turkish coast of the Black Sea we were to discover that the visibility was so good that we could start taking pictures of all the possible airfields we flew over. This, however, is a separate story, with which I intend to deal in another report. Nevertheless, I feel I must say here that for most of the flight over Iraq Georg, Martin and me were jumping around the cabin, trying to find out what can be seen from different windows and shot additional photographs of many air bases and different other military facilities bellow.

The flight deck of the Czech AF Tu-154: the crew consisted of the pilot, co-pilot, the flight engineer (yes, they still have one), and a RAF navigator that was guiding us over Iraq.

As the aircraft flew directly over Baghdad, we failed to see the city itself, and we also have not noticed any of the dramas that might have been underway deep down on the ground. In fact, wasn?t it for an USAF KC-135R that passed on the reciprocal course only some 1.500ms from us somewhere south of Baghdad there would be no trace of a war in the air.

While on the finals to Basrah IAP several Iraqi oil installations can be seen - this one some 20km away from the airfield.

South of the main terminal is the apron with the helicopters of the British Army: three Lynx, several Commandos, and at least three Chinooks were parked when we arrived.

This Il-76MT came into the sight of Martin's camera while our aircraft was rolling towards the main terminal.

Once on the ground at Basrah International Airport (IAP), we were almost immediately taken to the bus waiting for us on apron and escorted by two jeeps of the Czech military police. In such order we ? still under the impact of the sole fact that we were on the ground in Basrah, Iraq ? were then taken directly to the camp, or, better said, the compound of the 7th Field Hospital.

This photo shows the main composition of the convoys organized by the Czech Military Police for transport of larger groups of personnel and visitors: an MP jeep in front, the bus, and another MP jeep in the back...

The leading MP-jeep from our convoy passing one of several (not occupied) guards posts on the perimeter of Basrah IAP.

The "empty" desert around Basrah is still full of trenches and the destroyed armoured vechiles of the (former) Iraqi Army. This BMP-1 of eitehr the (former) 51st Mechanised Division or 11th Armoured Division has certainly seen some better days. Contrary to five other BMP-1s we've seen in the same area, however, it was at least not completely burned out...

Further down the road two other BMP-1s could be seen, both completely destroyed.

Finally, also a T-55, hit by something into the right forward quarter, and partially burned out.

A sight into one of the typical streets in the suburbs of Basrah.

Typical houses in Basrah are built of concrete blocks. The city is flat and dusty - like most of the cities in Iraq, but differs due to the many water channels cris-crossing it. In the 1970s Basrah was one of the nicest cities in the Middle East, frequently compared with Venice because of these channels.

The traffic on the streets was intensive the whole day and deep into the night. The power supply was completely re-established: when the British and Czech troops arrived in the city, in April and May this year, respectivelly, the power supply collapsed. By July, the situation was improved so that there was power supply for up to four hours a day, and today the situation normalized and all the four stations near the city work normaly, supplying the city with power "24/7".

Sometimes "to close the doors" means to drive an APC in front of them. This was the case with the compund of the Czech Army 7th Field Hospital: aside from the heavy doors in front, behind them the Czechs have posted this OT-64 SKOT APC. One of the Czech soldiers remarked, "Not even a heavy truck full of explosives could breach this barrier!"