{"id":99089,"date":"2020-02-18T18:06:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T01:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=99089"},"modified":"2020-02-18T18:06:41","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T01:06:41","slug":"erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-13g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/02\/18\/erasing-the-eelam-victory-part-13g\/","title":{"rendered":"ERASING THE EELAM VICTORY Part 13G"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Sri Lanka army had established a Northern Command\nin Jaffna peninsula, long before the Eelam wars started. The Headquarters of\nthe Northern command was at Palaly, coordinating headquarters was at\nGurunagar  and there were camps in\nThondamanaru, Point Pedro, Valvettiturai and Elephant pass. Navy had its Elara naval base at Karainagar.\nI could not find out when this Command was set up. The army was there to stop\nillegal immigration and check smuggling.  I could not find out when this operation\nstarted either, but it was in progress in 1964.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eelam war was the Sri Lanka army\u2019s first proper war.\u00a0 The army, though inexperienced, was not frightened of facing a civil war. Once they got over the initial shock of getting killed by LTTE, they were ready to retaliate. The Saliyapura army camp was established in Anuradhapura in 1983.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The army quickly started training for war. The army quickly started training for war. By 1985 the number of battalions increased new battalions were formed, also specialized units. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In\n1985, a training school was established at Maduru Oya, using the buildings that\nhad been built by the company doing the Maduru oya dam.  In addition to recruitment training, the army\nalso started to train majors. Five battalions were trained for this in 1985.\nThey were trained at Maduru oya, Saliyapura, Tissawewa, Palaly and Vavuniya,\nrespectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It appears that by 1985, the army also knew\nhow to fight in the jungle. We are not told how or when they acquired this\nknowledge.  3GR had conducted many operations inside the\nWanni jungle and we had much experience in jungle combat, said Kamal Gunaratne.\nBut we did not have much experience in fighting in built up areas, (FIBUA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1986  the services of the Israel army were obtained\nfor training in FIBUA. A\ncomplete town with houses, streets and roads were built inside Maduru oya for this\ncourse.  The Israelis\nconducted two courses in FIBUA for company commanders. It was mandatory for all\ncommanders to attend these courses.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The training\ncovered all aspects of fighting in built up areas. The training was thereafter\nextended to platoon commanders as well. We tried to send as many of them for\nthis training, as possible, said Kamal Gunaratne. Then we trained the troops.\nThe FIBUA course made us more professional, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Commandos and the Special Forces, the two\nmost formidable forces in the Eelam wars, were also started in the 1980s. The\nCommando unit was started in 1980. It was based at Diyatalawa. The Commandos   were given a course of training In Anti –\nHijacking and Hostage Release operations, by instructors from the British SAS\nForce.  Some of the commandos had also\nundergone an airborne course at the Indian Air force training school.  The Commandos played a major role in the\nVadamarachchi operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Special Forces\nstarted as the Combat Trekker Team in 1985. It was renamed Rapid Deployment Force\nin 1986 and Special Forces (SF) in 1988. The SF was started by Maj. Gen. Gamini\nHettiarachchi with the encouragement and support of Colonel Lafir. However,\nvery few senior officers supported him. His requests for additional troops,\nweapons and equipment were not welcomed, said Kamal Gunaratne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first SF\nteam consisted of   38 handpicked\nsoldiers from \u2018almost all the regiments of the Army\u2019, with Hettiarachchi and\nLafir as teachers. The first training course was from August to December 1985\nat Ganemulla and Maduru Oya. We were given training on small group operations\nand jungle tactics. We were trained by a Major and a Warrant Officer from the\nUSA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first\nyear was very tough\u201d they recalled. Our entire teams\u2019 intention was to\ncomplete the training successfully as early as possible and become a deadly\nthreat to the enemy,\u201d they said.    Hettiarachchi and Lafir were a great inspiration\nto the 38 trainees, the trainees said. Col. Lafir was more dedicated and\nenthusiastic than us. I wondered why a senior officer was taking so much trouble.\nThey wanted to create a distinctive group,\u201d said one trainee, interviewed in\n2010. Formation of\nthe Special Forces in 1985, was one of the best initiatives of the army, said\nKamal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The army also got itself trained at other\nlevels. Training was given in other fighting skills, such as tank infantry,\ncalling for artillery fire support, direction of artillery fire, and use of\nartillery fire, how to advance in heavily mined land, handling of improvised\nexplosive devices, and booby traps, use of machine guns and the correct time\nand place for the use of anti-tank weapons, for them to be most effective. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We came out of the training as a tough outfit\nwith motivation, training, dedication, physical fitness and highest level of\ncombat efficiency. Such was the meticulous and elaborate preparation that went\ninto the Operation Vadamarachchi, said Kamal Gunaratne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lanka army was perfectly capable\ndefeating the LTTE, had it been allowed to do so.   The Vadamarachchi Operation of 1987 was launched\nto finish off the LTTE. Vadamarachchi was aborted before it went into its\nsecond phase. President J.R.Jayawardene did not allow the army to go ahead.\nThis disgraceful action of President J.R. Jayewardene should be placed on\nrecord and never forgotten.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eelam wars need not have gone on for\nthirty years. President Chandrika Kumaratunga on taking over in 1994 had\nsummoned several officers including General Fonseka to obtain their views on\nthe war and they had all said that the LTTE could be defeated. The method advocated was the one followed in\nEelam War IV, clear the east, then go into the north, through the Vanni, pull\nLTTE out, push them down to the east and finish them off. Throughout the war,\nthere were military leaders, such as Kamal Gunaratne, who firmly maintained\nthat the war could be won.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We now move to\nEelam wars II and III. Ranasinghe Premadasa, D.B. Wijetunge and Chandrika\nKumaratunga held the post of President of Sri Lanka, during Eelam Wars II and\nIII. D.B.Wjetunga dismissed the claims of the LTTE and ordered that the East be\ncleared of the LTTE .Premadasa and Chandrika were highly accommodative towards\nthe LTTE and the worst army defeats took place under them. Chandrika ridiculed the military and neglected the needs\nof the fighting military. She took back Jaffna, certainly, but within months,\nthe military began gradually losing control of the Vanni region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eelam war II must be remembered for the\noutrageous role played by President Ranasinghe Premadasa. He joined up with the\nLTTE. He ordered the army to vacate some of its\nbases, including those at Valvettiturai and Point Pedro   <\/em>and\npermitted LTTE to move into prime military positions. LTTE constructed\nfortifications and stationed guns  in\nattack positions  around all the Sri\nLanka army camps in the north. The army was stuck inside its bases at\nKilinochchi, Mullaitivu, Kokavil, Mankulam, Mullaitivu and Jaffna Fort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prremadasa then ordered the Sri Lanka army to\nhand over army weapons to the LTTE. Truck loads of weapons, some brand new,\nstill in their polythene wrappings, were handed over to the LTTE, by the army,\ndeep inside the jungles. LTTE received\nthese with smiles, greetings and hugs. The\nsoldiers viewed this with abhorrence. They knew that someday these weapons\nwould be turned against them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eelam War\nIII   was LTTE\u2019s most glorious period.\nThey captured key districts such as Kilinochchi<\/a> and Mullaitivu<\/a>, and took\nover the Elephant Pass base<\/a>. By the end\nof Eelam War III, the LTTE<\/a> had control\nof nearly 30% of the entire island and were running a government there under\nthe 2002 Ceasefire Agreement.  (Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Sri Lanka army had established a Northern Command in Jaffna peninsula, long before the Eelam wars started. The Headquarters of the Northern command was at Palaly, coordinating headquarters was at Gurunagar  and there were camps in Thondamanaru, Point Pedro, Valvettiturai and Elephant pass. Navy had its Elara naval base at Karainagar. I could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}