Al Qaeda, Taliban put up fierce resistance

CNN's Martin Savidge

BAGRAM, Afghanistan (CNN) – Horrifying details are starting to emerge on some of the deadliest fighting in the war in Afghanistan. U.S. Navy SEAL Neil Roberts was apparently killed by al Qaeda fighters Monday after falling from a helicopter. CNN's Martin Savidge has been covering Operation Anaconda and shared details of his experience on "American Morning" with CNN anchor Paula Zahn.

SAVIDGE: The scene is amplified by the fact that, yes, they were able to see it happen in real time, and it doesn't matter how hardened you are as a military person, you would never, ever want to have to witness [it]

As for Operation Anaconda, it is still in full swing. No one is saying exactly when it is going to come to an end. It is described as air brigade assault, or brigade air assault. And what does that mean outside of military parlance? Well, it basically means that is one big operation. An operation said to be not only the largest in the Afghan campaign here, but the largest sort of military operation of its kind since Desert Storm.

A soldier sits in the back of a CH-47 while it flies above eastern Afghanistan.

It also means that all of the troops and all of their equipment is inserted by air. Specifically, they are using the CH-47 helicopter. That's the twin rotor helicopter, which looks very much like a flying bus, only painted green. It is very good at this particular operation, because much of this fighting, and much of the insertion, is taking place about two miles up on mountainsides. These helicopters are very adapted; they can carry about 40 to 45 troops, heavily armed with their ammunition.

Everyone is packed inside of one of these CH-47s, literally piled in some cases, one on top of the other. And the soldiers will tell you, going in and getting out is the most frightening time of all of their operation, because when you're in that aircraft and especially when they are counting down ... until touchdown, they know that when they hit the ground, they are sitting ducks for someone with a rifle or especially to mortar fire. They want to get out, and they want to get out in a hurry. And they do accomplish that in a matter of moments, and then the helicopter roars off.

Once the troops we were with got on the ground, their primary goal was to go after the caves. We've heard a lot about these caves, but now we actually got to see firsthand how the operation is done. These are not big, open, gaping holes. In many cases, they are small crevices, or cracks, very hard to spot, but when they are found, they go at them with shoulder-fired missiles.

They are firing a long distance up the mountainside there, but when they get a hit, they not only can kill those that may be hiding inside, but they want to close the caves down to make sure that someone doesn't come in afterward, when the troops have moved on, and use that position once again.

A soldier prepares to shoot his shoulder-fired missle at a cave in the Afghanistan mountains.

So, it's a very intense operation, and it's one that requires a great deal of skill. After we moved off from destroying the caves, we set up outside of a village that was a stronghold for al Qaeda and the Taliban. We got there just about late afternoon.

By dusk, just as the U.S. forces dug in, the Taliban came striking out of that village. First it began with AK-47 fire. It moved up, though, to heavy machine gun fire, and then came the mortars, and the mortars are fired with a great deal of accuracy. U.S. soldiers say that they are surprised not only by how well the mortars are used but also that many of these Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda are making very good shots. They weren't expecting that.

Still, U.S. forces didn't flinch, they didn't waiver under fire. They returned a lot of fire on their own and they had the ace in the hole, which was air superiority, and they used a lot of it. The firefight, that particular one, ended quickly once the jets began dropping the bombs.

The CH-47s are not impervious, despite how good an offensive weapon they can be. Small arms fire can be a problem, and in this particular case, the RPG, a rocket propelled grenade, was a problem for some of them.

It was during one such landing and off-loading that they came under fire. They quickly bolted back up in the air to get out of harm's way, and tragically that is when the Navy SEAL was lost. He apparently fell out of the aircraft and fell into the hands of al Qaeda forces, who dragged him away and executed him.