The Fort: 1. The Plan

Summary

Podcast Summary: The History Podcast – "The Fort: 1. The Plan" (BBC Radio 4)

Episode Date: September 7, 2025
Host: BBC Radio 4
Main Theme:
This gripping episode recounts the harrowing events surrounding a British assault on the Taliban-held Jugroom Fort in Afghanistan. Commanders, soldiers, and Apache pilots vividly describe the plan, execution, and the chaotic fallout that led to a desperate attempt to recover a missing Royal Marine, Lance Corporal Matthew Ford.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The Jugroom Fort Assault

• The Fort’s Intimidating Presence
  • Tom O'Malley (00:40): "If you were going to draw a fort as a child, you would draw something that looked like Jugroom Fort...the height of the walls, the thickness and how well constructed it was. Undoubtedly, for any attacking force, that's a real nightmare."
• Why Jugroom Fort Mattered
  • British forces believed the Taliban used the fort as a crucial recruitment, staging, and training site, and intercepting it would disrupt enemy movement and supply lines from Pakistan.
  • Lieutenant General Rob McGowan (03:09): "We felt there were fighters...coming through this complex called Jugram Fort."

2. The British Plan

• Objective and Approach
  • Ed Basie (04:44): "We needed to cut off the snake's head, hit their main place where they're being trained, which was going to be the Jugram Fort. His plan was bomb it so it's completely leveled and then use the fire support so the tanks firing across to make sure it's all saturated...Until there was nobody left."
• Contingency for Ground Assault
  • Lieutenant General Rob McGowan (05:09): "I always reserved the right to launch Zulu Company across the river into Jugram Fort...it would depend on the amount of resistance that we confronted."

3. The Assault: Hopes vs. Reality

• Initial Success
  • Ed Basie (06:06): "To be quite honest, it was all going swimmingly. I didn't expect anything to go amiss that morning. Certainly didn't expect to be used."
• The Unexpected Fierce Resistance
  • Lieutenant General Rob McGowan (06:21): "...as Zulu Company went up into the Juggernaufort area, all hell broke loose. It changed very, very quickly...Zulu Company had taken five casualties."
  • Zulu Company’s expectation of a subdued enemy, but Taliban fighters, hiding in tunnels, swiftly counterattacked.
  • Unidentified Royal Marine (07:08): "We were on the other side of that river a minute ago. Got contacted...within about 30 seconds trying to take the fort."

4. Accounts from the Ground

• First-Hand Memorialization
  • Jake Olufsen (07:19, 07:37): Details his practice of carrying a camera to record his Afghanistan experience — from camaraderie to chaotic combat.
• Chaos Under Fire
  • Unidentified Royal Marine (08:05): "We've got light armored vehicles with 30 mil cannons shooting over our head."
  • Unidentified Royal Marine (08:17): "I think they're just 500 pounders, maybe 1000 pounder hit right across the R. Everyone's opening up again."

5. Recognition of a Missing Marine

• The Realization & Confusion
  • Chatter in the aftermath: the team believed Marine Ford was accounted for, only to realize later that it was Lance Corporal Ford (two different individuals named Ford) still missing.
  • Jake Olufsen (10:01): "...our lieutenant coming and opening the back of our Viking door and saying, is Marine Ford in here? Thinking...he's in a wagon somewhere."
• Dread Sets In
  • Lieutenant General Rob McGowan (10:56): "I had images of the Taliban...finding Lance Corporal Ford and parading him dead or alive. And clearly I couldn't allow that to happen."

6. Response Planning and Leadership Decisions

• No Special Forces Available
  • McGowan (12:17): “I had spoken to my boss, my brigade commander, Jerry Thomas...there are none available in the timeline...he said, it’s your call, McGowan. You’re the man on the ground, but you should really make every effort to get Lance Corporal IV back.”
• Assessing the Situation
  • Ed Basie (11:42): “My fear was they were going to go and snatch Matthew Ford, drag him to a tunnel and take him underground...what they would do to him would be horrific..."
• The Awful Calculus of Command
  • McGowan (12:17): "I knew we were going to take more casualties, but I had no choice. I had no other options."

7. The Air Support’s Perspective

• Apache Mission Crucial for Recovery
  • Tom O'Malley (12:57): "Our mission changed. Our mission then was to prevent Matthew Ford from becoming captured by the Taliban."
• A Daring Proposal
  • Tom O'Malley (13:36): "Get me four marines. Get me four marines and I will take them in and we'll get that boy home."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Command Responsibility:
  • "You're the man on the ground, but you should really make every effort to get Lance Corporal IV back." (Lieutenant General Rob McGowan quoting Brigade Commander Jerry Thomas, 12:17)
• On Facing Jugroom Fort:
  • "To imagine that we were attacking something that had been the sort of brainchild of a...British designer or architect or some previous great military mind. Quite mad." (Tom O’Malley, 04:03)
• Air Support’s Willingness to Act:
  • "Get me four marines...and we'll get that boy home." (Tom O’Malley, 13:36)
• The Psychological Battle:
  • "This might be your heartland, but I’m going to put a whole company of Royal Marines into the center of your heartland." (Lieutenant General Rob McGowan, 05:41)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:40 – Tom O’Malley describes the first sight of Jugroom Fort.
• 01:55 – Tom O’Malley reflects on his motivations and previous silence regarding the events.
• 03:09 – Lieutenant General McGowan outlines intelligence on Taliban movement through Jugroom Fort.
• 04:44 – Ed Basie summarizes the strategic necessity of the attack.
• 06:21 – The turning point: Zulu Company comes under heavy, unexpected fire.
• 08:55 – Tom O’Malley on Apache air support and battle dynamics.
• 10:01–10:42 – Realization unfolds that Lance Corporal Ford is missing.
• 12:17 – McGowan is forced to plan a risky daylight rescue with limited resources.
• 13:36 – Tom O’Malley steps up to lead a potential extraction mission.

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Tone & Atmosphere

Conversations are direct, pragmatic, yet laced with the tension of close combat and the weighty responsibility of command. First-hand testimonies convey a rare, ground-level look at the chaos, camaraderie, fear, and resolve that defined the mission.

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Summary

"The Fort: 1. The Plan" gives a deeply human and tactical view into the British assault on Jugroom Fort, expertly blending accounts from top commanders, pilots, and front-line soldiers. The episode sets the stage for a rescue mission fraught with danger—demonstrating both the terrifying unpredictability of warfare and the fierce determination to leave no one behind.

Transcript

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

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[Alex von Tunzelman]

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[Tom O'Malley]

If you were going to draw a fort as a child, you would draw something that looked like Juggern Fort. As we got closer to it, we saw the fortifications, the height of the walls, the thickness and how well constructed it was. Undoubtedly, for any attacking force, that's a real nightmare.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

The Royal Marines were deep in Taliban territory attacking a rebel held fort. But in this assault, one man was left behind. Marines were determined by any means necessary to get him back.

[Tom O'Malley]

In 18 years, I've never given an interview about this, never felt the need to. As far as I'm aware, neither of most of Zulu Company either. I wasn't looking for any kind of notoriety, if that's the right word. I didn't talk to the press. I didn't feel the need to. Sounds maybe a little bit like, you know, World War II ish, where, you know, your granddad didn't talk about the war. I just didn't feel the need to talk about the war.

[Unidentified Royal Marine]

Foreign.

[Tom O'Malley]

I'm Tom o'. Malley. I'm a former Apache pilot serving in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2011. I didn't wake up that morning and think to myself, you know, it would be great if I could go and do that today. Of course not. I used to consider that the more successful missions were the missions that we flew that did not result in one trigger being pulled. But somebody was going to have to go back and get. Matthew Ford.

[Alex von Tunzelman]

Brown is expected to confirm this afternoon that around a thousand extra British troops will be deployed to Afghanistan. The majority are likely to go to the southern province of Helmand, where British forces are engaged in heavy fighting with Taliban militants.

[Tom O'Malley]

In January 2007, the British Brigade had been tasked with controlling Helmand from as far north as Kajaki, all the way down to the south, a place called Garmsir. And that was to intercept the weapons coming up from Pakistan, which we knew that that was the route that the weapons and reinforcements for the Taliban were coming in from.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

My name is Lieutenant General Rob McGowan. I'm the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff for Force development back in 2006. 07, I was the commanding officer of the Information Exploitation Group and I was a Lieutenant Colonel. You can't just sit in Garmcia District Centre and wait to get hit. And that's what was happening through our drones and through our ground reconnaissance. We felt there were fighters. We assumed the Taliban fighters were coming through this complex called Jugram Fort.

[Ed Basie]

I'm Ed Basie. I was a former Apache pilot with the UK forces. We'd been briefed into the plan. So the plan was a huge thing. People being recruited in the bazaars, coming across the border at Baram Char from Pakistan. And when they were received, they were briefed and told what they were going to do and they were trained. Once they got that, they then moved up to a place called the Fort Jugram Fort.

[Tom O'Malley]

Is it a rumor or is it folklore? Jugram Fort was commissioned by the British during the 19th century and that, you know, to imagine that we were attacking something that had been the sort of brainchild of a. Of a British designer or architect or some previous great military mind. Quite mad.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

Lieutenant General Rob McGowan. My intent was to demonstrate to the enemy that the IX Group of these Royal Marines and Commandos, we will go where we need to go. And if we need to raid into the heart of your command and control architecture, then we'll do it.

[Ed Basie]

This was the route. This was like the M1 traveling up to Scotland. They just kept coming in and what we needed to do is cut off the snake's head, hit their main place where they're being trained, which was going to be the Jugram Fort. His plan was bomb it so it's completely leveled and then use the fire support so the tanks firing across to make sure it's all saturated. Until there was nobody left.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

I always reserved the right to launch Zulu Company across the river into Jugram Fort, to raid, physically raid with human beings on the ground into Jurgum. And I made it very clear that I reserved the right to do that. But it would depend on the amount of resistance that we confronted at the.

[Ed Basie]

Time when there was nobody left and they're either dead or evacuated. The Marines would then ford across the river in their Vikings, which plant a metaphorical flag, and then basically that route would be cut.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

I spent all night firing into Jugran Fort from the other side of the river. It was clear to me that we had done significant damage. And now this was my psychological opportunity to launch Zulu Company across the river and say, this might be your heartland, but I'm going to put a whole company of raw Marines into the center of your heartland. And I made the decision at about 5 o' clock in the morning that I would do that.

[Ed Basie]

We knew he had two Apaches down to support them in the night. So we were just the rapid response team, just ready to go down at any time just in case something would happen. But to be quite honest, it was all going swimmingly. I didn't expect anything to go amiss that morning. Certainly didn't expect to be used.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

I thought, this is going to be a pretty procedural exploitation into Chugram Fort. The enemy have clearly been destroyed or they have withdrawn. It was still very quiet. And as Zulu Company went up into the Juggernaufort area, all hell broke loose. It changed very, very quickly. And within a few seconds of coming under fire, I got a report back into my command post about a mile away to say that Zulu Company had taken five casualties. And it was clear to me that there were many fighters who had been in tunnels the whole night. And Zulu Company very quickly came under significant fire as soon as they moved into the area of Juggernau Fort.

[Unidentified Royal Marine]

We were on the other side of that river a minute ago. Got contacted. Got contacted within about 30 seconds trying to take the fourth.

[Jake Olufsen]

My name is Jake Olufsen, I'm a Canadian. I served in the Royal Marines from 2005 through through 2009. I've never shared these videos or audio before.

[Unidentified Royal Marine]

Contact, those bombs going off right across the river. Good action.

[Jake Olufsen]

I had always been recording my experiences in the Royal Marines right from when I started training at the Commando Training Center. But when I got to Afghanistan, I had purposely purchased a small digital camera to put in my breast pocket. And I tried to record pretty much everything I could when, when anything was interesting happening, just the lads hanging out, you know, in between bits of intensity, in between bits of action.

[Unidentified Royal Marine]

Got way in the distance on that high ground. We've got light armored vehicles with 30 mil cannons shooting over our head.

[Jake Olufsen]

The second there was a lull in the fighting, I would get out the camera and start filming.

[Unidentified Royal Marine]

I think they're just 500 pounders, maybe 1000 pounder hit right across the R. Everyone's opening up again. Artillery still hitting the port.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

Lieutenant General Rob McGowan. We had gone from a position of dominance through the night. Zulu Company moving across, being fired in by the Light Dragoons and the Brigade Reconnaissance Force as well, to suddenly, we've got five casualties. So I then spoke to the officer commanding of Zulu Company. He said that he was under significant pressure, he had taken some casualties and he wished to withdraw.

[Tom O'Malley]

Tom o' Malley I was the flight lead. The fight had gone on longer than what they had anticipated. So the squadron commander was like, right, we need to launch you guys. The fight's still on and off you go. We were 656 Squadron, Army Air Corps in Helmand. We were there for the close in fire support of the infantry battle groups on the ground. And so the advantage that we had with the Apache was the accuracy of our weapons was second to none. And the fact that we could deliver a high weight of accurate fire on demand for the ground troops meant that we were a battle winning capability.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

There were a number of casualties from Zulu company who are now outside my tent. I went out to them and spoke to them. They were pretty dazed. I think they had been given morphine. But those casualties were now right outside my command post. So it became quite visceral. The chatter starts that we haven't got all our men back.

[Jake Olufsen]

Word started to pass around that someone had been left on the other side. I can remember our boss, so our lieutenant coming and opening the back of our Viking door and saying, is Marine Ford in here? Thinking, okay, well, yeah, I mean, he's in a wagon somewhere. They're just trying to find out which wagon he piled into in the, in the chaos over there.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

And then somebody said, no, we've got Marine Ford, we've got Marine Ford, he's been accounted for, it's all okay. And then as the next 10 or 20 minutes went through, they talked about Lance Corporal Ford, Lance Corporal Ford, not Marine Ford.

[Tom O'Malley]

What I learned later was that there was two individuals with the same surname. So people are asking, has anybody seen Fordy? Yeah, Fordy. I've seen Fordies over there. But there was two Fords.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

Well, I knew it was a problem because I had images of the Taliban images finding Lance Corporal Ford and parading him dead or alive. And clearly I couldn't allow that to happen. After about half an hour, the image analyst came into the command post and whispered in my ear and said, would you like to have a couple of minutes with me, sir? I went out, just me and him. We went into his little vehicle and he showed me the Predator drone scope. And he pointed out, he said, that is Lance Corporal Ford. That is a human being, sir. That is a British soldier. I can tell by his helmet, by his weapon. I said, is he alive or is he dead? He said, he's warm, he's not moving. I don't know whether he's Alive or dead, but that is your man.

[Ed Basie]

I met Bacie. My fear was they were going to go and snatch Matthew Ford, drag him to a tunnel and take him underground. And we knew that Matthew being a Royal Marine, if they got to him, when they got hold of him, what they would do to him would be horrific. And all of that would be posted online.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

And then we began to prepare over a period of some time, probably two hours, for Zulu company to go back and go and get him.

[Unidentified Royal Marine]

Well, they're going back across. Not all of us. My wagon's not going. I gotta go.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

They would have expected it. I wasn't sure at all that the Taliban knew that we'd left Lance Corpor 4 behind, but they would for sure see us coming back. They had pinned us down on the first occasion and they were certainly going to pin us down again. I knew we were going to take more casualties, but I had no choice. I had no other options. I had spoken to my boss, my brigade commander, Jerry Thomas. I'd asked if there were any special forces available. He said, there are none available in the timeline. I said, what do you think? And his words to me were, it's your call, McGowan. You're the man on the ground, but you should really make every effort to get Lance Corporal IV back.

[Tom O'Malley]

So we looked on the. On the Fleur forward, looking infrared. Very quickly we identified a heat source. Our mission changed. Our mission then was to prevent Matthew Ford from becoming captured by the Taliban.

[Lieutenant General Rob McGowan]

I was preparing a plan for Zulu company to go back across the river in broad daylight against a position that we knew was full of Taliban using exactly the same route. It was going to take a couple of hours to do.

[Tom O'Malley]

I got on the command net and I said, look, I said, I don't know how much longer you think that this can be held off. I said, but we need to do something. Get me four marines. Get me four marines and I will take them in and we'll get that boy home. The Fort was produced by Kev Kaur.

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