British soldiers destroy 14 Iraqi tanks
British soldiers destroyed 14 Iraqi tanks near the city of Basra today in what was said to be the largest tank battle involving UK forces since the Second World War.
Military sources said the engagement happened when the Iraqi tanks – thought to be Russian-built T55s – began moving south out of the city towards the Al Faw peninsula.
They were confronted by a similar number of British Challenger 2s from the Royal Scots Dragoon guards.
All the Iraqi tanks were destroyed in the fighting that followed. A military source said: “It was 14-0.”
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards also overran two Iraqi infantry positions, the sources said.
One officer said of the contest between the T55 and Challenger 2: “It’s like the bicycle against the motor car.”
The Challengers can fire up to eight rounds a minute and the engagement took place on the move. They will have used armour-piercing depleted uranium shells against their foes.
British and US forces first engaged Iraqi troops heading south east out of Iraq’s second city Basra last night, forcing them to disperse.
Initial reports suggested an armoured convoy of up to 120 vehicles had broken out of the city, but today the US military said the force had been much smaller
Brigadier General Vince Brooks, deputy director of operations, put it down to a “classic example of the fog of war” due to a wrong radar signal.
Despite this, fighter jets pounded what Iraqi troop and armour positions they could find.
British jets were involved in “heavy air activity” from early yesterday evening, strafing and bombing targets near to Basra.
US Navy F-18 Super Hornets and RAF Harrier ground attack jets dropped precision-guided munitions and cluster bombs on the Iraqi armour.
From the ground, it was pounded by 155mm AS90 heavy artillery from 3rd Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery, and 105mm light field guns from 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery.
It was believed that the Challenger tanks today encountered a squadron of Iraqi tanks that had been dispersed during the earlier air attacks.
British Royal Marine commandos who currently hold the oil-rich Al Faw region had been braced for a major attack.
“The Army and Air Force had a thwack at them and they didn’t get anywhere, let’s put it like that,” a senior RAF source said. “I think they got thwacked.”
