Drone_pilot
10-11-07, 15:44
The heroes' story: How nine British soldiers fought off gun-blazing 200
Iraqis in a life-or-death siege
On a spring day in Basra in 2004, nine men from the Royal Horse Artillery
found themselves surrounded by 200 Iraqis, all shooting to kill. The man who
saved them is Sgt Terry Bryan, a modest 37-year-old father of three, who
joined the Army at 16. Here, in our first extract from a new book in which
medal-winning soldiers tell their stories, he describes how he won the
Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for his astonishing bravery.
Usually, the streets of Basra were teeming with life - workers, people looking
for a job, street vendors, food stalls, taxis, buses, donkey carts. But not
today: the place seemed deserted. So, already, our internal alarm bells were ringing.
Then we heard that one of our patrols was holed up in a small camp a bit
further into town, with a hostile crowd building up outside. It was clear the
guys needed extracting fast.
My unit's task would be to cover a dangerous junction, a minute or so from
their position, and protect them from any ambushes as they got out. All
reasonably straightforward. I'd rounded the boys up before I went to the
briefing and by the time I got back, they were in the armoured Land Rovers,
ready to go.
Daily Mail Read More (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=492809&in_page_id=1811)
Iraqis in a life-or-death siege
On a spring day in Basra in 2004, nine men from the Royal Horse Artillery
found themselves surrounded by 200 Iraqis, all shooting to kill. The man who
saved them is Sgt Terry Bryan, a modest 37-year-old father of three, who
joined the Army at 16. Here, in our first extract from a new book in which
medal-winning soldiers tell their stories, he describes how he won the
Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for his astonishing bravery.
Usually, the streets of Basra were teeming with life - workers, people looking
for a job, street vendors, food stalls, taxis, buses, donkey carts. But not
today: the place seemed deserted. So, already, our internal alarm bells were ringing.
Then we heard that one of our patrols was holed up in a small camp a bit
further into town, with a hostile crowd building up outside. It was clear the
guys needed extracting fast.
My unit's task would be to cover a dangerous junction, a minute or so from
their position, and protect them from any ambushes as they got out. All
reasonably straightforward. I'd rounded the boys up before I went to the
briefing and by the time I got back, they were in the armoured Land Rovers,
ready to go.
Daily Mail Read More (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=492809&in_page_id=1811)