Posted on 05/21/2004 4:18:58 AM PDT by TrebleRebel
WITH BAYONETS ATTACHED, THEY FINISHED OFF THE ENEMY WHO HAD NOT RUN AWAY.. May 21 2004
SCOTS TELL OF CHARGE
By Keith Mcleod And Michael Christie
SCOTS soldiers last night told how they launched a bayonet charge on Iraqi militiamen after hours of battle.
An Army insider last night gave the Record an insight into the bravery of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
They were forced to use 'cold steel' as supplies of ammunition ran low.
Many of the militiamen turned and fled but the close-quarters fighting left around 20 rebels dead.
Thirty-five of Shia Moslem cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's followers died and two British troops were injured during the three-hour battle.
A senior Argylls officer said last night: 'After a fierce fight and with small amounts of ammo left, they put in a conventional left-flanking attack.
'With bayonets attached, they finished off the enemy who had not run off.'
It was the first time in 22 years the Army had used bayonets in action.
The last came when the Scots Guards stormed Argentinian positions during the Falklands War.
The battle developed following a distress call from a group of eight British soldiers last Friday.
The troops under the command of Major Adam Griffiths were surrounded on the notorious Route Six highway while en route to Camp Abu Naji in southern Iraq. Their LandRovers were riddled with bullets and they came under attack from rocket launchers and grenades.
But as a 30-strong platoon of Argylls responded to the SOS, the militia were getting reinforcements.
The men from the Stirlingshire-based regiment were forced to dig in and shoot back.
The Argylls were aided by a detachment of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment, who arrived at the scene in armoured Warrior vehicles.
More than 150 Iraqis were said to be involved in last week's battle. Military sources say the militiamen miscalculated the response from the original group of soldiers.
Last night, a source said: 'Morale is very good following this serious incident.
'The insurgents have been laying ambushes on Route Six one of the main roads between Basra and Baghdad for some time.
'Previously, the response from small British groups has been drive on. These militiamen were obviously expecting this to happen again.
'The enemy have been picking their targets, mainly two LandRovers with six to eight soldiers on board. With those odds, it is sometimes best to keep on going, but the attack was so sustained, the LandRovers stopped and returned fire.
'We now hope that these attacks on Route Six will stop, but we are taking nothing for granted.'
Intelligence gathered since the bayonet charge suggests it shocked the militia fighters, who expected the outnumbered Scots to flee.
The source added: 'The injuries received by our troops were shrapnel to the hand and shrapnel to the groin. Both of these casualties were as a result of rocket-propelled grenades fired at them.
'Both the injured guys are back with their units and doing fine.'
The Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment arrived on the scene in 37ton Warriors just as the Scots' ammo was getting low.
They found many Iraqi militia fleeing the bayonet charge.
Around 20 Iraqis who chose to stand and fight were killed by the troops of both regiments.
The Argylls' forebears formed The Thin Red Line which kept 25,000 Russians at bay at Balaclava during the Crimean War of the 1850s.
In 1967, Argylls commander Lieutenant-Colonel Colin Mitchell known as Mad Mitch stormed a rebel stronghold in Yemen.
Accompanied only by 15 pipers playing Scotland The Brave, he recaptured Crater Town, the commercial heart of Aden, which had been in enemy hands for two weeks.
The regiment has won 16 Victoria Crosses.
Sorry just found the post.
Got caught up at the Crap Game didya?
One of the all time best.
Hey, Old Sarge.....
It's stories like this that just warm the cockles of my heart!
In all seriousness, the sooner that "some people" take a reality check and figure out that we are without doubt involved in a WAR, the better it will be for those brave souls that are out there taking the enemy by the neck and kicking the crap out of out of him.
GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!!
now that's how you do it!
william Wallace would be proud
Bob Newhart doing his stand-up routine with the telephone. Not bad.
The one about making the other poor bastard die for his country?
Scenes from "Braveheart", sends shivers up my spine.
The appropriate response before charing was Send them to Hell.
Now THERE'S a story the libs WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND! Charging the enemy with mean nasty bayonets... on the ends of GUNS, no less... why, that could hurt someone, or at least hurt their feelings ;)
The important thing is the muslims got the POINT!
Oh Lord!! Between this and Troy, we will all be wearing skirts soon enough.
Neither my wife nor I have a drop of Scots blood that we know of. Still, she has seen advertisements for the UtiliKilt, and is encouraging me to get one.
I've actually considered it. There is something about a kilt that us non-Scots can't help but admire. Besides that, I think it'd be cooler in the summer if I just "hung loose."
BTTT
(( "Watch out, it's a trap -- there's two of them!!!!" ))
LOL,... hehe,...
With odds like that, i don't know why they even botherd,..
loseres, all 150 of them.
WELL WE DID IT AT BALAKLAVA AND WE DID IT AT QUI AL SALIH AND WE DID IT AT DANNY BOY WHOES LIKE US THEYRE AWE DEED ARGYLLS FOR EVER
WHAT!!!? Their Land Rovers don't have armor? Where is the MSM outrage over this? The Scots must withdraw at once--they have no armored vehicles. Recall Tony Blair, has he no conscience? How can he deprive these brave men of their armor? Where is the outrage I say?
I say chaps, I think they have got it a little bit wrong, it was the PWRR who led the and commanded the charge, the Argyles followed, look at the medal count and to whom for verification!
Also, it was soo good to see the combined effort of all the Officers in the Jock regiments put up such a spirited defnec in keeping them!! Lt Col Mitchell would have had grenades up their collective arses, the damned cowards!
durka durka, jihad, durka durka....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.