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.

[txradioguy]

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

And after explaing that theory to us the Drill Sergeant barked at us "What are you!"

50 of us reply in unison "QUICK!!!'

Drill Sgt. "What are they!"

50 of us reply "DEAD!!!!"

[txradioguy]

And as I went back through the posts on this thread it would seem that I'm not the only one who remembers the bayonet course from basic training!

[S.O.S121.500]

But then you are robbed of the adrenaline as well as your hearing.

Stay safe.

[Rastus]

"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 only thing missing? "And then they sprinkled the corpses with bacon bits."

Anyway, kudos to these guys.

[Mr.Atos]

Roark's Drift!!

There's a ping for you.