Panther's Claw troops back in UK - BBC

Soldiers who have taken part in some of the fiercest fighting in Afghanistan are returning to a Wiltshire base later to be reunited with their families.

Members of the 33 Armoured Engineer Squadron, 26 Engineer Regiment played a key role in Operation Panther's Claw in Helmand during a six-month deployment.

At times, they were working in temperatures above 46C.

The squadron will be welcomed home by friends and family at Swinton Barracks in Tidworth, at about 1600 BST.

Squadron Commander Major Andy Hanna said every soldier had had their "mental and physical reserves tested to the very limit".

During Operation Panther's Claw, the Royal Engineers were required to block or control 13 bridges over a canal as other troops pushed forward in a major offensive against the Taliban.
They also cleared lines where homemade explosives had been laid and blew holes in enemy compounds.

Major Hanna said: "Whilst we witnessed the bloodiest summer of fighting since operations began in the south of the country, it has not been all offensive.

"The Squadron completed the most ambitious construction project outside Camp Bastion to date, it handed back a school to the local people and significantly enhanced the protection to the International Security Assistance Forces and the Afghan National Security Forces within its area of operations."

Mapping Operation Panther's Claw - BBC

Click on the map for a larger view

Defence chiefs in Afghanistan have hailed the first stage of an operation to secure an area of Helmand province a success.

Ten soldiers were killed in Operation Panther's Claw, which was aimed at securing an area the size of the Isle of Wight against the insurgent Taliban forces.

1. 19 June: 350 soldiers from The Black Watch launch an air assault on a Taliban drugs bazaar and secure a key crossing point on the Nahr-E-Bughra canal.

2. 25 June: 1st Battalion Welsh Guards push up Shamalan canal securing 14 more crossing points, cutting off the insurgents' supply route

3. 2-8 July: Danish Battle Group leaves Camp Price and advances into enemy territory of Spin Masjed, securing two further canal crossing points.

4. 10-14 July: The Light Dragoons Battle Group move into target area defined as "Panther's Claw Triangle" pushing insurgents towards Shamalan canal. The Afghan National Army, assisted by the 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment follow, securing checkpoints and compounds.

5. 10 July: The Black Watch fly 160 troops into Babaji region, while The Light Dragoons Battle Group continue to advance across Spin Masjed towards Babaji.

6. 20 July: Final air assault by The Black Watch combined with push by 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh south-west from Spin Masjed to secure area against Taliban.

Operation Panther's Claw Commanders Diaries

A final armoured thrust across enemy territory has marked the end of Operation PANTHER'S CLAW; a five-week campaign to clear one of the few remaining Taliban strongholds in Helmand province.

In a unique set of dispatches from key commanders outlining the challenges they faced during the operation - click the links below to read them on the Frontline Bloggers site:


Lt Col Stephen Cartwright, CO of The Black Watch - First air assualt into key drugs bazaar - 20 June 2009

Lt Col Doug Chalmers, CO 1st Battalion of the Welsh Guards - The Push up the Shamalan Canal - 25 June - 25 July 2009

Col Frank Lissner, Commanding Officer of the Danish Battlegroup - Siezing the entry crossings along the Nahr E Bughra Canal - 2 and 8 July 2009

Lt Col Gus Fair DSO, Commanding Officer of The Light Dragoons - The sweep across Spin Masjed and Babiji 4-8 Jul and 10-14 Jul 09

Major Nigel Crewe-Read, OC C Coy, 2 Royal Welsh - The armoured thrust through Babiji 20 – 25 JULY

Part 2 - Lt Col Stephen Cartwright, CO Black Watch - The final air assault and armoured thrust - 20-27 July 2009

VIDEO: Panther's Claw a success despite two more UK soldier deaths - ITN

Gordon Brown says Operation Panther's Claw against the Taliban in Afghanistan has been a success as two more British soldiers are confirmed dead

Armoured thrust clears final Taliban from 'Panther's Claw'

A final armoured thrust across enemy territory has marked the end of Operation PANTHER'S CLAW; a five-week campaign to clear one of the few remaining Taliban strongholds in Helmand province.

The operation, known as PANCHAI PALANG in Pashtu, has cleared and secured the area between Lashkar Gah and Gereshk, a region which is home to up to 80,000 Helmandis.

In a fiercely fought battle with the insurgents, British forces inflicted heavy losses on enemy forces, decimating their command and control structures and visibly weakening their resistance.

As the fighting subsided and insurgents fled from their hidden positions, local people started to flock back to the previously deserted towns and villages.

The final push in the five-week-long operation began in the early hours of 20 July 2009 when a mechanised Warrior company from 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh (2 Royal Welsh) pushed south west from Spin Masjed in an armoured sweep towards the east bank of the Luy Mandah wadi.

Simultaneously, four Chinooks carrying 160 men from The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS), swooped into the Green Zone to secure nearby key ground in the west of Babiji.

One hundred and forty men from 2 Royal Welsh in a convoy of Warriors, supported by tanks from a Danish battalion, pushed through the lush green countryside in the heart of the Green Zone, while their Scottish colleagues used the element of surprise to storm across land just a short distance away.

The Royal Welsh cut through the countryside to avoid potentially lethal tracks and roadways strewn with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), linking up with 3 SCOTS who had pushed along the Babiji Road.

The battle groups encountered relatively little resistance, an indication that Taliban fighters have fled the area as their hierarchy has fallen apart following the sustained attack over the past five weeks.

Afghanistan offensive 'a success' - BBC

The commander of UK forces in Afghanistan has hailed their latest operation a success, as its first stage draws to a close.

Brig Tim Radford was "cautiously optimistic" about the future but said there was "a long way to go" to improve security in time for elections.

Twenty UK soldiers have died in Operation Panther's Claw - involving 3,000 troops - since its June launch.

Troops will now focus on holding ground won from the Taliban in recent weeks.

The offensive ends as UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged Afghanistan's leaders to talk to moderate Taliban members.

Armoured thrust

In a speech to Nato, Mr Miliband said a political coalition must be built which included some of the current insurgents.

The Ministry of Defence said the first stage of Operation Panther's Claw was the most heavily-militarised phase.

It ended with a final armoured thrust into former Taliban territory, clearing an area the size of the Isle of Wight.

Brig Radford said: "What we have achieved here is significant, and I am absolutely certain that the operation has been a success."

Helicopter assault starts latest phase of attack on Taliban

Following a Chinook and Apache helicopter assault on the Babiji region of Helmand Province, troops from The Black Watch 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) and the Light Dragoons have linked up to continue flushing insurgents out of the area.

This latest assault which is part of Operation PANCHAI PALANG, or Panther's Claw, was part of a strategic push to flush the insurgents out of towns and villages in order to secure them for Afghanistan's Presidential and Provincial elections taking place next month.

The air assault, launched under the cover of darkness and involving four Chinooks and two Apache helicopters, also resulted in the discovery of a large narcotics laboratory in which the soldiers found 750kg of a precursor base chemical required to create heroin and 5kg of a morphine derivative substance.

After securing the site north of Lashkar Gah, and handing it over to Afghan-led counter narcotics police the 140 soldiers from 3 SCOTS continued their advance to clear the land ahead and push north to meet with the Light Dragoon's Battlegroup, who had been working their way down from the Nahr e Burgha canal for the previous two weeks.

Operation PANCHAI PALANG began in June 2009 with the Welsh Guards Battlegroup securing several crossing points along the Shamalan canal and 3 SCOTS doing the same along the Nahr e Burgha.

In doing so they created a 'gated community' allowing freedom of movement for local people but making the movement of insurgents difficult and crucially cutting off their supply routes.

The Light Dragoons Battlegroup moved across the region both on foot and in armoured vehicles, and encountered heavy and prolonged fighting from compounds along the way held by insurgents.

The fighting paid off however, and on the 15 July the 3 SCOTS Battlegroup and The Light Dragoons met up, linking the two areas they have cleared and consolidating their control of a large area of previously Taliban-dominated ground.

The troops met with locals who welcomed the British and Afghan troops. On several occasions they told of how the insurgents had stolen all of their food. One 16-year-old boy spoke of being tortured by the Taliban after they caught him making a telephone call to his family in Lashkar Gah and accused him of spying for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Operation Panther's Claw: how British troops are hunting the Taliban to the end - Telegraph

Operation Panther's Claw, the battle to drive the Taliban from a key corner of Helmand, has been under way for a month - but British troops need more time to finish the job.

By Thomas Harding of the Telegraph in Helmand
19 Jul 2009

It was at first light of dawn on July 3 that the tanks began to roll in the most dangerous phase of Operation Panther's Claw - the offensive in Helmand province that is being seen as the biggest British engagement since the invasion of Iraq.

More than two weeks later, the same units were still engaged with an increasingly desperate enemy - several hundred Taliban fighters being pushed steadily westwards towards what military planners hope will be their nemesis.

Only sporadic details of the protracted military operation have been revealed by the Ministry of Defence so far. But now The Sunday Telegraph has assembled the first full account of the unfolding battle which has already left an estimated 200 enemy fighters dead, and claimed the lives of nine British soldiers.

The plan from the outset was to seal off an triangular area of Helmand about the size of the Isle of Wight, a stronghold of bomb-makers and heroin factories, and drive its resident Taliban fighters westward along the Helmand River.

There, caught between the river and a parallel canal, and faced on both sides by Nato and Afghan forces, they could be finally eliminated.

At Checkpoint 8 on the Nahr-e-Burgha canal, as the heat of the day began to grow, Danish Leopard 2 tanks moved parallel with a stretch of water. Their 120mm guns peered into the lush trees and bushes of the "Green Zone", watered generously by criss-crossing irrigation ditches that later that day would provide life-saving cover from Taliban fire.

The loud report of tank guns announced to the 300 or so Taliban who had been living here unmolested for two years that the battle had now begun in earnest.

The insurgents had already claimed an early victim by killing the commanding officer of the Welsh Guards, Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, and Tpr Joshua Hammond, before the force of 1,200 Nato troops and 500 Afghans had even entered the area known as the "Claw".

Those men had died during the earlier drive, beginning on June 19, to secure 13 crossing points across the Shamalan canal at the six-mile-wide western end of the triangle.

A single platoon of 30 Welsh Guards had suffered 19 casualties as the Taliban desperately fought to stop a cordon being drawn around them.

With the sides of the claw-shaped triangle sealed, the British task force was to start smashing its way through from the east, conquering each of three sectors in turn.

The northern boundary was Nahr-e-Burgha canal, the southern edge the waters of the Helmand river.

The Light Dragoons battle group, led by Lt Col Gus Fair, was chosen as the spearhead force. The Dragoons, on their second tour of Helmand in two years, are equipped with the 12-ton tracked Viking armoured vehicle which - although vulnerable to bombs - are light enough to manoeuvre in the Green Zone of orchards and lush fields, and provide a fire-support with their heavy machine guns.

They also have Scimitar light tanks, with excellent thermal-imaging systems, and the heavier, well-protected Mastiff, which has limited off-road ability.

Accompanying them are more than 200 men from two companies of 2nd Bn The Mercian Regiment, also veterans of 2007, and two companies of Afghan National Army. Later, a company of 2 Rifles was also drafted in for the push.

A few miles to the west, the men of the Black Watch were to make two separate air assaults, landing in the middle of enemy territory to confuse the Taliban and make them cover their backs. In each such assault - one of which is under way this weekend - the "Jocks" were to remain on the ground for at least 48 hours, constantly harassing the insurgents.

As the main force advanced westwards, it seemed to some of them more like the Somme - with troops moving carefully across open fields, crossing streams and moving through orchards before the air was cut by gunfire and rockets. The heat has been such that the battle group of around 500 men has needed 3,000 litres of water a day.

Progress was sometime agonisingly slow. One the first day, troops advanced just a few hundred metres and objectives that were meant to have been overwhelmed in an hour took more than a day to seize. "We were essentially manoeuvring in a giant minefield," said one of the Light Dragoon soldiers.

For the first three days, the gun battles were constant, and progress meagre. The Taliban knew the British were coming and set up a multitude of booby traps.

Laboriously, and with the constant threat of instant death, soldiers equipped with mine detectors carried out sweeps of roads, walls, ditches and trees for the lethal IEDs (improvised explosive devices). By the end of day four, the Light Dragoon battle group had picked its way through Spin Masjed district - but progress was still slow, with many casualties. Three soldiers had been killed during the fighting, including one while clearing a helicopter landing site to retrieve a casualty.

A single company of 100 men was reported to have suffered 47 wounded, although several had heat exhaustion or minor injuries.

With snatches of sleep taken in 20-minute lulls between fights the troops continued the slog. The advance took longer because of the new instruction by American Gen Stanley McChrystal, the overall commander in Afghanistan, to minimise aerial bombing to avoid civilian casualties .

Some insurgents desperately swam the Helmand river to escape, but many more were detained. Three more soldiers died during 24 hours over July 9 and 10 - the worst day in recent memory for the British army, as elsewhere in Helmand, five riflemen of the 2nd Bn The Rifles were also killed in a complex ambush of roadside bombs.

In one attack an officer lost an arm, both legs and his genitals, but survived through the excellent medical care.

After a week of arduous combat in a landscape described as "tight country", commanders ordered a "tactical pause" in the second district of Malgir, for the exhausted troops to recuperate and to be re-supplied.

The cordon around the "claw" meant the Taliban trapped inside were prevented from any resupply or reinforcements.

Officers beleive that the command structure of the insurgents is becoming less effective by the day, with the enemy left to fight in small pockets. They have suffered high casualties: an estimated 200 dead, two thirds of their force.

The final phase of Panther's Claw opened on Thursday with the latest Black Watch air assault operation, dropping into enemy held territory in the district of Babaji.

On the ground, infantry of the Light Dragoons battle group are fighting their way towards the Taliban, forcing them back on to the line of Welsh Guards to the west.

The next phase could take weeks rather than days, but commanders are hopeful that the Taliban's back is broken.

Locals, who have started showing soldiers where bombs have been planted and safe lanes through minefields, are reported to have begun returning to their homes in the districts taken by the British.

"It will go on for a while, it could take days or even weeks, but we believe the back of the enemy has been broken," said Lt Col Simon Banton, commanding officer of 2 Mercian.

The price of the operation has been high in British dead. But military officials are hoping that, aided by the influx of 10,000 Americans, it will herald the start of the Taliban's final demise in Helmand.

'It was like Saving Private Ryan': British soldier recalls Helmand rocket grenade - Guardian

Trooper Anthony Matthews describes being hit and having to apply tourniquet during Afghanistan offensive.

Richard Norton-Taylor, guardian.co.uk

A British soldier injured in fierce fighting in the biggest offensive against the Taliban since the start of the conflict in 2001 has given a first-hand account of his ordeal.

Trooper Anthony Matthews, 20, of the Light Dragoons, was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade during Operation Panther's Claw in Helmand province last week. He described how he managed to apply a tourniquet to his leg wound and to that of an injured comrade as he returned gunfire.

On that day, 7 July, Matthews's close friend Christopher Whiteside, 22, was killed by an improvised bomb in a separate operation in Gereshk.

The number of British soldiers seriously wounded rose significantly last month, according to figures released todayby the Ministry of Defence. A total of 13 were "very seriously" or "seriously" wounded in action, with their lives being "imminently in danger" or their injuries a cause for "immediate concern".

A further 46 soldiers were admitted to field hospitals last month. However, the figures do not reveal the total number of soldiers with injuries conventionally regarded as serious, including the loss of limbs. The figures for July are likely to be worse, defence officials acknowledge.

Matthews, nicknamed "Bulletproof Tony", has returned home to Dunston, Gateshead, with a cricket ball-sized wound after a month of fighting that has claimed the lives of 17 British soldiers.

Recovering from surgery to the blast wound on his left leg, Matthews said he had feared for his own life.

He said: "There aren't many people can tell the tale of getting hit by a grenade. I've just been very lucky. We came out of the compound we had taken over, and there was a tree line that we used as cover. My mates were beside me at either side, and then all I remember is hearing a massive bang.

"There was dirt all over their faces and they were screaming. It was like a scene out of Saving Private Ryan. My ears had gone and I looked at my friend and I could see he had been hit badly. I turned and looked down at my leg and my pants were all broken. I put a tourniquet on while I was still shooting."

The Light Dragoons were based near Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital. During the early hours of 7 July, his platoon stepped into an ambush. A rocket-propelled grenade seriously wounded Matthews and his friend, Trooper Aaron Bradley.

"When the bullets are whizzing past it's terrifying," said Matthews. "They sound like bees flying past your ears, and then you hear them land and it sounds like someone clapping their hands."

After being hit, he said, "it was just adrenaline. I didn't feel anything. I stabbed myself with morphine and held on until the helicopters came. They got us back to Camp Bastion in four minutes."

After treatment there he was flown to Birmingham's Selly Oak hospital, where an operation sealed a deep wound across the back of his left leg. A few days before he was hit by the grenade, Matthews had been on a foot patrol behind a Scimitar tank which was blown up by a roadside bomb. His arms were hit by shrapnel.

He said: "No one was killed or even injured badly that time, amazingly. A team came out to clear the area and make sure it wasn't a 'daisy chain', where a number of bombs are linked to a single command and control wire.

"It's proper war out there. One time it took us from first light until last light just to move 800 metres. We were in constant contact with the enemy."

His house was decked out in Union flags to welcome him home, and he is now recuperating alongside his mother, Karine, brother Kallum, 13, and girlfriend Sam, 20.

VIDEO: British army spokesman on Afghan operation - BBC

The British Army spokesman in Helmand Province, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson, has spoken to the BBC about the military operation in Afghanistan.

He said progress was being made in the country and that the army's equipment was "first-rate".

It comes after eight more British soldiers were killed in southern Afghanistan within 24 hours.

The total number of British troops killed in eight years of combat in Afghanistan has risen to 184, greater than the 179 killed in Iraq.

Taliban losing, says military chief

The head of Britain's armed forces has insisted that the Taliban is "losing" the fight in Afghanistan.

Chief of Defence Staff Sir Jock Stirrup was defending the bloodiest 24-hour period for ground troops since operations began.

He sent his condolences to the bereaved families, but said it was important to "remember why our people are fighting in Afghanistan and what they are achieving through their sacrifice".

He went on: "It's tough going because the Taliban have rightly identified Helmand as their vital ground. If they lose there then they lose everywhere - and so they are throwing everything they have into it.

"But they are losing - and our commanders on the ground are very clear of that. But it's going to take time and alas it does involve casualties, but when it's complete there will be the opportunity for considerably greater governance for the people of Helmand."

Eight troops died in a 24-hour period, bringing the total who have been killed in the country since 2001 to 184 - surpassing the death toll in Iraq. Fifteen soldiers have been killed in the last 10 days.

On Friday, five British troops from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles died in two separate blasts on the same patrol near Sangin, and another British soldier from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment died near Nad-e-Ali.

All their families have been informed.

On Thursday, two soldiers - one from 4th Battalion The Rifles and the other from Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment attached to 1st Battalion Welsh Guards - died in separate incidents.

The grim news came as the bodies of another five British servicemen killed in Afghanistan over the past week were returned to the UK. Many of the most recent fatalities came during Operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw, a major British assault against the Taliban in Helmand ahead of next month's Afghan elections.

Insurgents begin to feel the pinch of British and American ops

As the British-led Operation Panther’s Claw and US-led Operation River Liberty pushed on across tough terrain, strewn with IEDs, Governor Mangal reassured the Afghan people that very definite progress was being made: “The places that were underneath the insurgents are now with the government. We can now look to the future and reconstruction projects, where the people can have a say in rebuilding their own villages.”

Brigadier General Mohaiyodin, local Commander of the Afghan National Army hailed the joint Afghan-ISAF operations as a continuing success. “These operations are different compared to the others. All three sides, British, US and Afghan discussed plans before the operations began and decided on a definite plan targeting places controlled by the Taliban. We feel we can achieve a lot for the Afghan government and the local people in these areas.”

The British operation, involving 3000 troops, was launched three weeks ago with a large scale air assault along the Nahr e Burgha Canal around ten miles north of Lashkar Gah. Over the course of the next week from British and Afghan Forces, with a Danish and Estonian contingent, moved along the Shamalan canal, seizing a number of key crossing points.

The battlegroup was faced with fierce fighting, often at close-quarters, as the insurgents took aim from rooftops and compound walls, in the sweltering heat of the Afghan summer.

Last night the resilience of British and Afghan troops appeared to be paying off, with soldiers positively identifying a convoy of vehicles carrying Taliban fighters as they attempted to flee from the Babiji area across a canal earlier seized as part of Operation Panther’s Claw.

Aerial video footage shows a large number of insurgents attaching buoyant barrels to their vehicles before floating them across the waterway in a desperate bid to avoid taking on the fire power and hardened resolve of British and Afghan soldiers.

Calling in an airstrike, an Apache helicopter swooped along the canal destroying a number of vehicles and killing some of the insurgents responsible for the fierce fighting that British troops have encountered over the last three weeks.

Brigadier Radford said “It was always our intention to squeeze the insurgents in this area and, looking at last night’s activity, that appears to be exactly what is happening. The operation is by no means complete, but we are sending a very clear message to the insurgents that this is not a short term commitment. Where we go, we will stay and secure. We will not allow them to return and strike fear into the communities that have lived under their regime for so long. Seeing the insurgents leaving in number is a very encouraging sign, but we are well aware that there is still some way to go.”

In the wake of the death of seven British soldiers in the last seven days, Brigadier Radford vowed that their loss would not be in vain. “I was on the ground with my soldiers in the Green zone just yesterday and, if anything, our losses have just galvanised their determination to succeed. Morale is high and that’s because, hour by hour and day by day, they can feel they are winning.”

VIDEO: Under fire in Helmand - BBC

The Light Dragoons, based in Norfolk, are among 700 UK troops taking part in Panther's Claw, launched two weeks ago in Helmand.

Joint US, Afghan and British operation disrupts Taliban

As elections in Afghanistan approach, thousands of British, American and Afghan soldiers are conducting a joint operation to clear the Taliban from an area north of Lashkar Gah and extend security to the area.

As well as American soldiers from the US-led Task Force Leatherneck, who have recently arrived in Helmand province, there are 3,000 soldiers from Task Force Helmand involved in Operation PANCHAI PALANG, or Panther's Claw.

In the latest phase of the operation, hundreds of soldiers from the Welsh Guards Battle Group, Light Dragoons Battle Group and 3 SCOTS (The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland) Battle Group have seized key canal crossing points and other areas.

Sadly, three British soldiers have lost their lives in the operation this weekend and, in an earlier phase last week, the Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, and Trooper Joshua Hammond of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment were also killed.

The main aims of the operations are to extend security throughout the areas so as to allow the local population to enjoy a normal life and take part in the forthcoming elections free from intimidation and violence.

The UK operation, with Danish, Estonian and US forces integral to the Task Force working alongside many other nations in support, is taking place in a heavily-populated area between Gereshk, the economic hub of Helmand, and Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital.

By improving security and allowing freedom of movement the operation will also allow reconstruction and development to take place straight after military operations are complete.

Shattered in the shadow of death: The Mail joins our troops on their biggest ever assault against the Taliban

By Richard Pendlebury and Jamie Wiseman
Last updated at 1:50 AM on 04th July 2009

This week the most senior British officer to die in combat since the Falklands War was killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated under his armoured vehicle.

Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe MBE, CO of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards died in Helmand province alongside 18-year-old Trooper Joshua Hammond of 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, bringing the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 171.

At the moment that the deaths were announced, Mail writer Richard Pendlebury and photographer Jamie Wiseman were embedded in Helmand with British troops taking part in Operation Panther's Claw - the largest British ground offensive against the Afghan insurgents so far.

Here, they paint a hauntingly graphic picture of the discomfort and privations endured by our troops in an increasingly bloody field of conflict.

Here in 'Afghan', as the soldiers call it, Britain's 'heatwave' is viewed with detached amusement.

After all, the desert afternoon temperature is well above 40 degrees centigrade; the sun seems to leech the blue from a cloudless sky.

Hydration is vital, but problematic. With a sardonic 'just add some Typhoo...', a soldier hands out bottles of drinking water from a stack of thousands sitting in the open on the baked rock.

His quip is no exaggeration; the water's temperature would not shame a pot of afternoon tea.

Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth recently made a whistlestop visit to Helmand. One of his aides made the crass mistake of complaining about the heat.

This invited a heartfelt put-down from a nearby soldier: 'OK, next time you lot want to invade a country choose one that's ****ing cooler.'

When no task needs addressing, the hours drag in a heat-induced lethargy. Some men shelter in their tents or the shadow of their vehicles; if there is enough clearance, others doze underneath them.

One young soldier sits, eyes closed, shirtless and drenched in sweat, cranking a clockwork radio. Through the static comes the voice of a BBC commentator at Wimbledon describing 'a lovely forehand from Venus Williams'.

Applause from the Centre Court wafts across the airwaves, competing with the crackle of small arms fire from a makeshift range. While Britain pins its hopes on Andy Murray, the soldiers here are preparing for D-Day.

At daybreak, some 700 men of the Light Dragoons Battle Group, to which the men of B Company, 2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters) are attached, are about to launch the main thrust of Operation Panchai Palang - Panther's Claw - the largest British ground offensive against Afghan insurgents.

The push began two weeks ago when the Black Watch were airlifted into an area a few kilometres south of here, near Babaji. Battle Group Centre South, led by the Welsh Guards, then moved by vehicle to link up with the Scots.

This week, Mail photographer Jamie Wiseman and I have been with the Mercians as they spearhead the final phase of Panther's Claw. No coalition unit has ventured through this area in almost two years. As a result, the Taliban have had control over a rural population of some 50,000 people.

The local tribespeople are apparently anxious for their hegemony to end. But as many as 250 insurgent fighters now believed to be operating in the green zone between the Nahr-e-Burgha canal and the Helmand River will have to be killed or defeated.

Considerable airpower and concentrations of armour have been brought to bear. But it has fallen to the Mercians to lead the ground assault.

B Company is led by Major Stewart Hill. Before the operation begins, he asks his assembled soldiers: 'Is it to be the insurgents' summer or will it belong to us? Of course, it's going to be ours.'

Forward Operating Base Price is in the desert a few kilometres south west of Gereshk. Usually, it is manned by a Danish battle group.

Earlier this week it was also the temporary home of the men of the Light Dragoons Battle Group, which includes the 2nd Mercians and their attached support units.

Dawn on Wednesday saw the first ground moves of the operation.

The Danish battle group moved out of FOB Price, led by three Leopard main battle tanks.

Theirs was a diversionary operation, to probe the Taliban and conceal the place at which the first British troops would cross the canal, 48 hours later.

To give them credit, the Taliban did not hesitate to engage the approaching heavy armour with small arms fire from across the canal.

From the base, we could hear the tanks returning the compliment, sending rounds of high explosive into the insurgent positions, which quickly fell silent. The pace of preparation was quickening.

Inside the base, the battle group vehicle park was beginning to fill with tonnes of shimmering armour of every kind.

By Wednesday evening, 75 fighting vehicles were lined up in four columns abreast. As the sun set beyond them, the fighting along the canal flared up again. Two Apache helicopters circled overhead, firing onto positions in the green zone. There was a large explosion.

The soldiers got another reminder of what lay ahead for them; the 'Ops Minimise' command had just been announced on the base Tannoy.

A few hours earlier, Lieutenant Colonel Thorneloe and Trooper Joshua Hammond had been killed some kilometres to the south.

No one on the base could phone home until the casualties' families had been informed. Next to the guard tent, the Union flag flew at half-mast.

Thursday, 6am. An almost silent camp stirred beneath a gentle sun as sparrows contested scraps of food. And yet it was only a brief interlude of calm between hours of heavy firing along the nearby canal.

Artillery, airstrikes and small arms hammered away at the Taliban positions inside the green zone, as British light tanks and Danish troops pushed across the canal.

For their part, the insurgents could be heard replying with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-gun fire. It gave cause for sombre reflection; in less than 24 hours we, along with 6 Platoon of B Company, 2nd Battalion Mercian Regiment, would be stepping across the canal into the thick of it.

At 8am, came the battle group briefing. One of the Danes had been seriously wounded by a landmine in a compound beside the canal. The Taliban leadership intended to ban the use of mobile phones by civilians in Helmand; anybody found with one would be considered a Nato's International Security Assistance Force spy.

Two hours later, every man of the Light Dragoons Battle Group was packed into the cookhouse tent to hear their CO, Lt. Col. Gus Fair, address them. Lt. Col. Fair had invited me to be present on the condition that I did not report his words - which is a pity because his speech was moving and inspirational.

Some men sat at his feet and others craned at the back to hear every word. A minute's silence was then observed for Lt. Col. Thorneloe and Trooper Hammond.

Padre James McWhirter stepped forward with a prayer: 'Be with us Almighty God as we go forth into battle...' He finished by calling down a blessing on the soldiers before him, quiet, sombre, perspiring.

'Amen,' came their loud response. The cookhouse began to empty.

The battle group was now prepared physically, mentally and spiritually for what would come at first light.

The Taliban knew we were coming. It was no secret. It's very hard to hide the build-up of so many men and vehicles.

And so yesterday morning the initial battle group thrust ran into a dense network of Improvised Explosive Devices or IEDs.

IEDs have become the scourge of the British forces in Helmand. Thirty-three servicemen have lost their lives here as a result since the year began. That is more than the total for the whole of 2008.

But it has taken the death of so senior an officer as Lt. Col. Thorneloe to once again bring home to the public back in Britain the danger the soldiers are facing on a daily basis.

Early in the day, a light armoured vehicle was flipped on its side by an explosion. Then A Company of 2 Mercians were slowed immediately by the presence of mines, trip wires and other devices which all need to be cleared.

Fifty were discovered in the first phase. But not all of them in time.

In mid-afternoon the news came through that a Danish tracked recovery vehicle had struck yet another IED farther up the canal. Casualties unknown. Meanwhile, B Company made itself as comfortable as possible on the north bank, waiting for the signal to move.

For the moment, caution is the byword. The Taliban are increasingly outnumbered and lack the sophisticated weaponry of the Coalition forces. But a shovel, a detonator and a few kilogrammes of explosive continue to wreak a toll on our forces here.

VIDEO: Troops launch Taliban offensive - BBC

More than 700 UK troops have launched a major offensive against insurgent strongholds in southern Afghanistan.

The soldiers from the Light Dragoons and 2 Mercian are taking part in the third wave of Operation Panther's Claw, which began two weeks ago in Helmand.

The BBC's Ian Pannell is embedded with British soldiers in Helmand Province.

British troops 'clear Taliban stronghold'

Troops conducting one of the British military's largest operations in Afghanistan have cleared a Taliban stronghold in the south and are encouraging villagers to return, an officer said Thursday.

About 12 British and US Chinook helicopters dropped 350 British troops into the Babaji area of the southern province of Helmand at midnight Friday, in the largest British-led air assault operation in Afghanistan.

"The operation continues to be successful and we are now encouraging the locals to return to the area to benefit from the improved security and freedom from Taliban control," British Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson told AFP.

Babaji is about 12 kilometres (eight miles) north of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand -- a vast desert province that shares a porous border with Pakistan across which militants are said to enter the Afghan insurgency.

The British troops working with Afghan forces had "pushed the Taliban out of one of their strongholds," Richardson said.

There had been some engagements that had caused fatalities to the insurgents but none to the troops, he said, without giving figures.

The Afghan defence ministry reported Wednesday that troops had killed 25 "terrorists" in days of operations in the area.

Richardson said Afghan locals had known about the operation and many had left ahead of the troops.

"The local people had been warned by a variety of means that there was an operation about to happen to allow to them to avoid the fighting," he said.

Helmand is perhaps the most intense battlefield in Afghanistan's insurgency which has grown apace since the hardliners were removed from government in a US-led assault in late 2001.

Attacks are at a record high in Afghanistan with a growing number of Afghan and international security forces on the ground, which the military says is stirring up insurgent nests.

The violence has led the United States to announce a new strategy in Afghanistan which includes deploying 21,000 troops, mostly into the south where forces have previously been unable to hold areas after driving out insurgents.

The security forces have meanwhile redoubled operations ahead of the August 20 presidential elections, which authorities fear could become a target of the insurgents.

Black Watch storm Taleban stronghold - Times

By Charlene Sweeney, Tom Coghlan

The Black Watch, whose experience of combat operations goes back to the Battle of Fontenoy and the Peninsula War, yesterday claimed success after taking part in one of the largest air assaults in its long and distinguished history.

The night-time attack was launched with the aim of seizing a Taleban stronghold in western Helmand province, and was carried out by 350 soldiers from 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland (the Black Watch), flown in by British and American Chinook helicopters on Friday at midnight against Nad Ali, a western district of the restless province.

Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Cartwright, Commanding Officer of The Black Watch, described it as “a major air assault operation with a large number of helicopters, both UK and US.” He added: “The Black Watch met some resistance but we were able to establish a firm foothold in the area.”

Black Watch digs in after daring swoop on Taleban's heartland - Scotsman

By Jerome Starkey in Lashkar Gah, Helmand

HUNDREDS of Scottish troops were consolidating their positions yesterday, following a daring airborne operation to seize a vital piece of territory in Helmand from the Taleban.

Around 350 soldiers from the Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, swooped into Babaji, in central Helmand province, on a wave of Chinook helicopters, backed up by Apache gunships, American Black Hawks, Harrier jets and unmanned drones.

Officials said they overwhelmed Taleban fighters who tried to defend a series of key bridges into the district, as engineers worked through the night to build a chain of combat outposts for the Afghan security forces.

The regiment's commanding officer, Lieutenant Stephen Cartwright, said: "The Black Watch met some resistance but we were able to establish a firm foothold in the area."

The airborne assault began just before midnight on Friday. The initial wave of troops were reinforced by around 150 soldiers including a further company of Black Watch and Royal Engineers who drove in convoys of Viking armoured vehicles, along with soldiers from the Afghan National Army.

Afghan commanding officer General Ghulab Mahayudin Ghuri said:

"There was a Taleban commander with around 60 men, who was attacking police checkpoints. At least 25 of them were killed."

The farmland, just eight miles north of the British base at Lashkar Gah, has been largely beyond the reach of UK and Afghan forces until now. Babaji sits between Helmand's two main towns, but it was cut off from government control by irrigation canals, used to water its poppy fields.

Refugees from the fighting claimed at least two British vehicles were destroyed during the attack.

Mohammed Nabi said: "There were two vehicles on fire, and soldiers patrolling everywhere."

Colonel Nick Richardson said troops found more than 1.2 tons of poppy seeds, which are grown for opium and turned into heroin. They also seized bomb-making equipment and home-made explosives during house-to-house searches. He said the operation was only possible because of the US surge into southern Afghanistan, which he said would "change the balance" in Helmand.

Most of Britain's troops are confined to patrolling close to their bases while the Taleban enjoy freedom of movement across huge parts of the province.

"This operation has been achieved in many ways due to the arrival of extra US troops into the south of Helmand, which has provided Isaf (the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force] with a massive increase in capability," he said.

Although Britain has around 8,300 troops in Afghanistan, only 4,500 are based in Helmand. The Americans are expected to outnumber them by the end of the summer.

Helmand governor Gulab Mangal said yesterday that security for the August general elections was his top priority. Col Richardson added: "This operation is all part of the wider Isaf plan to deliver that."

The Black Watch are based in Kandahar as a region-wide reserve for Isaf.

The operation in Babaji, code-named Panther's Claw, follows similar operations close to Lashkar Gah designed to flush out Taleban fighters who tried to storm the city last year.

But until recently, a shortage of "boots on the ground" has made it impossible for either Nato or the Afghan security forces to hold ground.

"It was very easy to capture this area, but it will be much harder to hold it," Gen Ghuri said.

It is not yet clear how this operation will impact the Taleban's ability to operate. The Black Watch are expected to occupy the new outposts until the Afghan police are ready to take over.

In Lashkar Gah, police were last night guarding a culvert, less than 100 metres from the British HQ, where they had found a roadside bomb.

In Ghazni province, two civilians were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a convoy of international troops, while further north three charity workers were killed when their car hit a roadside bomb in Jowzjan province.

In Khowst, in the east, six people were also killed in two coordinated explosions in Khost.

UK troops clear Taliban stronghold - PA

British troops in Afghanistan have carried out one of the biggest air operations of modern times, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Operation Panther's Claw secured a number of canal and river crossings to establish a permanent International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) presence in what was previously a Taliban stronghold.

The assault was carried out by Scots soldiers on one of the last Taliban strongholds in Helmand Province in the run-up to presidential elections.

Twelve Chinook helicopters, supported by 13 other aircraft including Apache and Black Hawk helicopter gunships and Harrier jets, dropped more than 350 troops from the Black Watch into Babaji, north of Lashkar Gah, when the operation began just before midnight on Friday.

The troops were followed by Royal Engineers and explosive teams who spent the last two days building checkpoints - soon to be permanently occupied by the Afghan National Police - on the main routes in and out of the area to hinder movement by insurgents.

The insurgents launched a number of attacks against the Black Watch but each was fought off and the Scottish troops have secured three main crossing points: the Lui Mandey Wadi crossing, the Nahr-e-Burgha canal and the Shamalan canal.

They also found 1.3 tonnes of poppy seed and a number of improvised explosive devices and mines before they could be laid.

Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said the find demonstrated the link between the insurgency and opium production "which brings so much misery to the streets of the UK".

He said: "This operation has been achieved in many ways due to the arrival of extra US troops into the south of Helmand, which has provided ISAF with a massive increase in capability which we believe will significantly change the balance in the province."

The operation is the latest in a series over the last few months where UK and ISAF forces have taken and held ground in Helmand.