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April 5, 2003, The Scotsman FEAR OF HARMING CIVILIANS LIMITS SHELLING OF IRAQI MILITIA IN BASRA Gethin Chamberlain THE British guns are firing again, just as they did last night and just as they have done every night this week. The shells arc into the sky, glowing orange as they soar towards Basra with a deafening roar. They explode over the city, a pyrotechnic display lighting up the night sky. The huge 95lb shells packed with high explosive smash into the buildings sheltering militia forces. It is a strangely remote sort of fighting: killing an enemy they cannot see and who cannot see them. Do they feel pity for those on whom their shells fall? They cannot afford to feel pity, said Major Ian Bell, the battery commander. How could they do the job if they worried about those who might die? But he knows the terror of being under such a bombardment, the feeling of helplessness and despair. "We were on the other end of it a few days ago. It is the most frightening and demoralising thing that has ever happened to me," he said. "You can't do anything about it, just sit there in your vehicle until it goes away. "I hope that it is as unpleasant for them as it was for us. As long as they keep firing at our soldiers, they will keep getting it from us." But he worries about what the army calls 'collateral damage', innocent civilians caught up in the barrage because they made the mistake of living in a place where the militia later chose to hide. "We find collateral damage difficult. We get clearance to fire, a computer tells where we are firing in relation to schools and houses, but the decision is taken on proportionality and military necessity." When the Iraqi militia fired on their own people as they fled the city last week, the mortars they used were spotted close to buildings that the gunners knew they needed to avoid. As the man in charge of the Royal Horse Artillery batteries outside Basra, it was Major Bell's decision on whether to fire. He waited until the next day, when he judged that the risk of killing civilians was at its lowest, then destroyed the mortar line. "When we fired against the mortars, it was close to something we shouldn't have been firing at, but the type of ammunition and the time of day meant it seemed acceptable. "We opened up the next day and engaged them with indirect fire and then dropped 500lb bombs on them." Two mortars on pick-up trucks were destroyed, the same weapons that had been firing at the crowd the day before. The artillery batteries are attached to the Black Watch battle group camped outside Basra, waiting for orders to advance into the city. There are three batteries, each with eight 155mm AS 90 guns, each gun capable of firing three 95lb shells every ten seconds. When US marines crossed the Iraqi border, it was the Black Watch battle group that fired on the Iraqi forces in their way. Using aerial drones, spotters and other intelligence, they have targeted tanks, troop formations, bridges and places where the militia and Baath Party members were known to be meeting. They can use high-explosive shells to destroy the targets that have been identified, killing everything within a 55-metre radius of the blast. They can use cluster bombs, which scatter tiny charges about 1.5in long and which the army claims are now designed to go off when they hit the ground rather than lying around to kill anyone who later passes that way. They can use illumination rounds to turn night into day on the ground below, with a glow equivalent to the light of ten million candles. If they are not sure of an exact target, they can simply harass the Iraqi defenders in the less densely populated parts of the city. "We drop a few rounds on them every couple of hours, so they are terrified and don't know what to do," he said. But he said they have also foiled attempted Iraqi counter-attacks and saved the lives of countless British troops, including one Black Watch company that had come under attack from militia using mortar fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Fearing an infantry attack to retake the bridge, the guns - which were supporting another brigade at the time - were asked to switch targets to beat off the counter-attack, the first time such a manoeuvre had been attempted since the Second World War. It was a success, and the bridge was held. On Wednesday the batteries fired off 108 bomblets over the course of the night and lit up the sky to let the militia know they knew where they were. The following night they hit 40 T55 tanks that had appeared to the north of Basra, destroying 20 and driving the rest away. On the gun line to the south-west of the city, they are resting after another night of heavy shelling. When the assault on Basra eventually begins, they will be busy enough.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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