First Bayonet Charge Since the Falklands (IRAQ)

Scotland on Sunday Paper ^

[amakua]

May 16, 2004 Go UK!!!!! First Bayonet Charge since the Falklands War British troops in Iraq perform their first bayonet charge since the Falklands War. 35 insurgents were killed, while only 3 British troops were wounded. Isn't it ironic that only a few days after Nick Berg was beheaded, that the same terrorist scum feel cold steel themselves. Turn about is fair play.

From Scotland on Sunday Paper

Argylls fight hand to hand in Iraq

BRIAN BRADY WESTMINSTER EDITOR

SCOTTISH troops fixed bayonets and fought hand to hand with a Shi’ite militia in southern Iraq in one of their fiercest clashes since the war was declared more than a year ago, it was reported last night.

Soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders mounted what were described as "classic infantry assaults" on firing and mortar positions held by more than 100 fighters loyal to the outlawed cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, according to military sources.

At least 20 men from al-Sadr’s army were believed killed in more than three hours of fighting - the highest toll reported in any single incident involving British forces in the past 12 months.

Nine fighters were captured and three British soldiers injured, none seriously.

"It was very bloody and it was difficult to count all their dead," one source was quoted as saying. "There were bodies floating in the river."

The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were drawn into the fighting when soldiers in two Land-Rovers were ambushed on Friday afternoon about 15 miles east of the city of Amara. The soldiers escaped, only to be ambushed a second time by a larger group of militia, armed with machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

Reinforcements were summoned from the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment at a base nearby. "There was some pretty fierce hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets fixed," the source added. "There were some classic assaults on mortar positions held by the al-Sadr forces."

Official spokesman Major Ian Clooney confirmed the Mehdi army "took a pretty heavy knocking", but refused to specify tactics. "This was certainly an intense engagement," he added.

[amakua]

Here's to you Nick Berg or (payback is hell)

[atomicpossum]

Man, I have to say, that's beautiful.

[Argus]

Good to know the Highlanders have still got it.

[Diva]

The Queen's own, God bless them!!!

[Argus]

Having seen the grisly, slaughterhouse remains of the men, women and children prisoners murdered out of hand at Cawnpore by rebellious Sepoy regiments' mutineers, the 93rd, with other British and loyal Indian units fought with a vengeance up to Lucknow where the beleaguered Residency still held out.

On 11 November 1857 the 93rd faced the two great fortified enclosures of the Sikander Baugh and behind it the Shah Najif. The 93rd swept forward to the pipes playing the "Haughs of Cromdell". Nine officers and men got through a hole in the wall and, fighting hand to hand held the way open for the rest, eventually forcing the gate open. Fierce fighting continued and as evening fell the enclosure was cleared. Two thousand mutineers lay dead inside, most of them killed by the bayonet.

Sir Colin called on the 93rd once more and sword in hand led them against the Shah Najif. After a terrific cannonade against the walls with little effect and hostile fire beating down, a 93rd Sergeant literally found a back door in. The Regiment rushed round and inside to see the last of the mutineers scurrying out yet another back way. At dawn the Highlanders uncased their Colours on top of a tower inside so those in the Residency knew relief was at hand. Drummer boy Ross who helped in this feat played "Yankee Doodle" on his bugle "so my American cousins (Canadian relatives) would know I was here!". The harried defenders of the Residency were brought out safely and the 93rd had won six Victoria Crosses.

[snopercod]

From basic training: "There are only two kinds of bayonet fighters: The quick and the dead."

[skinkinthegrass]

Hmm...We were just practicing w/ Bokens (wooden swords) last night in my martial arts class...up close, in many cases better than a rifle...there's no jamming/ammo needed. :))

[2nd Bn, 11th Mar]

Lucky Brits! I think our last bayonet assault was in Korea.

Semper Fi,

[Cicero]

I hope they did it to the music of a bagpipe.

[HonorInPa]

Heck with the Queen - they're Scotsmen!!!

[Blue Highway]

Reminds me of this movie with the wooden soldiers with their bayonets drawn.

[reagan_fanatic]

Ha. The Shiites got kilt by the men in kilts. Double Ha-Ha!

[SAMWolf]

The cry of the bayonet fighter; "More Ammo!!"

[ijcr]

When this happened in Aden...they took away our bayonets as an uncalled for use of brutality.

Up the Argyll's

For a history of the A&SH in Aden

http://www.britains-smallwars.com/Aden/700.htm

[skinkinthegrass]

Bayonet Charge and the music of a bagpipe...thats' one scary battle scene.

[Taquito]

The order to "fix bayonets" was given during the Battle for the Ia Drang valley in Vietnam if I'm not mistaken. I think there was one or more instances in the current Iraq war as well.

[snopercod]

Ya' got that right. LOL! I was never good at that thrust/parry stuff. Or was it the other way around?

[Argus]

Are you referring to this one?

Colonel (then Captain) Lewis Millett, today's honorary Colonel of the regiment, earned the Medal of Honor when he led Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry in a bayonet assault against a fortified Chinese hilltop. It was described by an Army historian as ". . . the greatest bayonet attack by US soldiers since Cold Harbor in the Civil War."

[redhead]

OH, YES!!!

[Pearls Before Swine]

The harried defenders of the Residency were brought out safely and the 93rd had won six Victoria Crosses.

That's some sustained and heavy action--and it resulted in [only] six medals. Those Victoria Crosses must have been a lot harder to earn than a more modern "Kerry Purple Heart."