³THE RISKS AND JOYS OF BEACHCOMBING.
²-----------------------------------
¹
Captain   Edmond  Blatt,  39  has  mine
clearing  in  his  blood.   "My father,
Henri  was  a  demineur before me, with
the  same  unit,"  he says.  "I guess I
always  knew  I  would  do  it."  Blatt
joined  the  French army at 18.  Now he
commands   a   company  from  the  17th
Parachute     Engineering     Regiment,
assigned  to  rid  Kuwaiti  beaches  of
mines,   laid   by   the   Iraqi  army.
"There's   a   certain   risk  to  mine
clearing,"   says   Blatt.    "It's   a
calculated  risk, but that's one of the
joys of life."

As he speaks, eight paratroopers put on
helmets,  olive-green  Kevlar  leggings
and   flak   jackets   to  begin  their
morning's work.  Before the mine search
begins,  plastic explosives are used to
destroy  yesterday's  haul:   135 mines
found  in  a  100-m strip of beach just
across   the   street   from  the  U.S.
embassy.       Residents     of     the
neighbourhood have become accustomed to
the morning blast.

The  men  in  protective clothing begin
their painstaking work.  Unlike the war
that  came  before,  the  mine-clearing
operation  is  decidedly low tech.  The
paratroopers  get  down  on their hands
and  knees  and  search  for  the mines
using flat spades.  Like archaeologists
looking  for  fossils, they gently drag
the  metal  instruments across the sand
until   they  meet  an  obstacle,  then
carefully check to see if it is a mine.
"There  are  mechanical  means to clear
mines,    but   they   are   only   80%
effective,"  says  Blatt.   The machine
most  often used slings chains in front
of  it  and does not cover every square
inch  of  ground.  "That's all right in
combat,"  Blatt  says,"but  this  is to
protect  Kuwaiti civilians.  Our manual
method  is  100%  effective."  And time
consuming.   If  the 111 men of Blatt's
company  handle the task alone, it will
take  them more than a year to complete
the  deadly  harvest from Kuwait City's
beaches.  According to a Kuwaiti survey
and  maps  left  behind  by the Iraqis,
some  45,000 mines were laid over 25 km
as   a  barrier  against  an  amhibious
landing that never came.

Mine   clearing  is  so  stressful  and
requires  such  concentration  that the
paratroopers  work in 20-minute shifts,
followed  by  several-hour breaks.  The
work  is  made  easier by the fact that
the  Iraqis  laid the mines in straigth
rows.   From  either  end of the beach,
four  shallow furrows dug by the troops
inch toward the center.  "But you never
know  if there's one out of formation,"
says  Blatt.  "After we clear the rows,
we  will  have to go back and clear all
the  areas  in between." When a mine is
found,  the  trooper  checks that it is
not  booby-trapped,  gingerly  picks it
up,  disarms  its  detonator  and  then
places  it  in a pile.  "If it explodes
in  your hands, you lose your hands and
probably your face," says the company's
doctor,   Captain  Yves  Doulcet,34,who
watches  every  operation  with a fully
equipped  medical  van  parked  nearby.
The  officers  of  Blatt's  company are
trained   at   the  Angers  engineering
school     in     France     and     at
Velizy-Villacoublay  near  Paris, where
all  French  armed services are trained
and  where  they  learn  how  to defuse
parcels  and car bombs, shells, rockets
and cluster weapons.  Many unit members
honed  their  mine-clearing  skills  as
part  of French overseas deployments in
Beirut,  Chad  and West Africa.  It was
in the rubble of Beirut and the sand of
the Chad desert that they developed the
spade  technique.   The  company hasn't
had  a casualty since a man lost a foot
while  clearing  antitank mines in Faya
Largeau, Chad, two years ago.  The task
breads  a  certain self-confidence, and
the men like to think they are the best
in  the  world at this dicey art-though
they  might  get  an  argument form the
British  naval  units  now clearing the
gulf  waters  and  the American special
forces  searching Kuwaiti buildings for
explosives.

Before  taking on beach minefields, the
paratroopers    cleared   the   French,
Senegalese,    Saudi    and    Egyptian
embassies in Kuwait city, breaking down
doors    in   case   the   locks   were
booby-trapped,  opening  every  drawer,
looking   behind  pictures.   "All  the
embassies had been sacked," says Blatt,
"but  we didn't find anything." So far,
on  the  beach  the  French  have found
three  types  of  anti-personnel mines:
Italian-made   VS-50s  and  Valmara  69
"jumping mines" and Soviet-made PMN-2s.
The fist-size VS-50s, nearly impossible
to  see  in  the  sand with their beige
plastic  castings,  contain only 50g of
explosives  and  are  designed to wound
rather  than  to  kill.  The PMN-2s are
more  dangerous:   215  g of explosives
that  detonate  with just a finger push
of  pressure.  The Valmars are the most
lethal.   When disturbed, they leap out
of the ground to the height jof a man's
waist  before  exploding.  "The Valmara
ills everything within 10 meters," says
Blatt.   "Its  shrapnel  has a range of
100 metres."

Manipulating their spades with the care
of   surgeons  wielding  scalpels,  the
paratroopers  do  not  forget  the ever
present  danger:   a Kuwaiti mother and
child,  were  killed  by  a mine on the
beach   shortly   after  the  city  was
liberated.   A  Saudi  soldier  had his
left  hand  blown  off  and  his  lower
abdomen   ripped  open  when  his  unit
attempted  to  clear  mines  on another
beach.  "People shouldn't try this sort
of  thing unless they know what they're
doing,"   a   French  paratrooper  says
dismissively.   But  he  Saudi incident
made  him  doubly prudent.  "It doesn't
scare  my  men"  says Blatt.  "But they
will  be all the more careful tomorrow.
And that is a good thing."

Source: Diver ³              CPS/DESIRE