18 Canadians hold off 200 Taliban

Program Title: Contact Charlie: The Canadian Army, The Taliban and the Battle that Saved Afghanistan
Description: Contact Charlie: The Canadian Army, The Taliban and the Battle that Saved Afghanistan
In the summer of 2006, a Canadian army patrol travelling through Afghanistan''s Panjwayi region-a densely packed maze of villages, fields and vineyards west of Kandahar-surprised an unexpectedly large force of Taliban fighters. The soldiers of the Princess Patricia''s Canadian Light Infantry had stumbled into a hornet''s nest, the largest buildup of Taliban forces in the region since their regime had fallen in 2001. The Canadians found themselves up against opponents who were suicidally brave, cunning at planting mines and roadside bombs, and experienced at disappearing into the scenery whenever they chose. As their commanders threw more and more soldiers into what became a gruelling, drawn-out struggle, the troops of the battalion''s Charlie Company found themselves at the forefront of every firefight and ambush in what became a desperate, two-month pitched battle. The 150 soldiers of Charlie Company suffered more casualties and earned more decorations for bravery than any other Canadian unit since the Korean War and came into contact with the enemy so many times they became known simply as "Contact Charlie." In Contact Charlie , National Post reporter and embedded journalist Chris Wattie offers an intimate and harrowing look at the series of battles that would eventually take the lives of seven soldiers, including Captain Nichola Goddard, Canada''s first female combat casualty, and veteran soldier Sergeant Vaughn Ingram, who died trying to save one of his young troops. Based on Wattie''s own experience in Afghanistan, as well as hundreds of post-tour interviews with the men and women on the ground, Contact Charlie is a rare piece of military writing, providing readers with a behind-the-scenes look at the stories that made headlines that summer-and continue to do so today.

Host(s): Brent Holland
Featured Speakers/Guests: CHRIS WATTIE is a senior national reporter with the National Post , and one of the first Canadian reporters embedded with the army when he accompanied Canadian troops on the International Security Assistance Force mission in Kabul in 2003. He was also with the Canadian Forces'' disaster assistance response team in Sri Lanka for the aftermath of the 2005 tsunami. In January 2006, he travelled to Kandahar with the first troops of the Canadian battle group deployed to southern Afghanistan and was embedded for eight weeks.

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