The 1972 Summer Olympic Games were held in Munich, Germany. However, the Games were marred by a terrorist attack in which eight Palestinian terrorists broke into the Israeli athletes' dormitory in the early hours of September 5 and abducted 11 athletes and coaches. The incident became known as the "Munich tragedy.
The incident
The terrorists' demand was the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Authorities attempted to negotiate a solution, but negotiations eventually broke down. At around 4:30 a.m., the terrorists headed to Munich airport with 11 hostages. Authorities sent police and special forces to try to free the hostages, but the operation failed, resulting in the deaths of five terrorists, a policeman and all the hostages.
Dueling Munich
Because of the tragedy and impact of this incident, the German government decided to create a special force to respond to such incidents. The unit was named GSG9 and was a special unit of the German Federal Police. In the years since its establishment, GSG9 has been involved in the resolution of several terrorist attacks and has become a model for anti-terrorist operations worldwide.
Founding of GSG9
The founding of GSG9 can be traced back to the Munich tragedy in 1972. The German government felt after this incident that their police and special forces lacked the expertise and skills to respond to such an event. As a result, they decided to create a new special forces unit that would specialize in anti-terrorist operations.
Training of the GSG9
Members of the GSG9 had to undergo rigorous training and testing to ensure that they were able to operate effectively in high-pressure and dangerous environments. They are trained in a variety of areas including shooting, tactics, demolitions, medicine and psychology. In addition, they receive extensive field training to deal with a variety of different terrorist attack situations.
GSG9 Operations
GSG9 has been involved in a number of anti-terrorist operations in the years since its inception. The most famous of these was the Mogdisho incident in 1977. In this incident, a Lufthansa flight was hijacked and GSG9 managed to rescue all hostages and arrest the terrorists.
Conclusion
Dueling Munich was a bloody and gruesome event, but it also gave birth to a special force like GSG9, which specializes in counter-terrorism operations.The formation and operations of GSG9 set an example for counter-terrorism operations globally, and led to an effective crackdown on terrorists' activities in Germany.