WHEN nine soldiers set out on a routine patrol from their

Afghanistan base one night last summer, they had no idea of the

ferocious fighting that was to follow.

The members of B Company the Worcestershire and Sherwood

Foresters had walked the same path into the “green zone”

alongside the Helmand river before.

They had fought many times in what they dubbed “the black

heart of the Taliban” – the area where the enemy knew every

shadow and were at their most dangerous.

But this night was to be different. The patrol came under

heavy fire and, after a night of heroism, the sun finally rose

on another Afghanistan morning for Sergeant Daniel Fitzgerald,

from Ilkeston, and his men.

The 33-year-old, who joined the Woofers, as the regiment is

affectionately known, when he was 18, said: “We had been under

fire most of the night and fighting with the support of the US

Air Force.

“We had made ground into the areas where the Taliban had

been.

“I was in the open ground with one of my men when we saw

this boy in a field.

“We beckoned him over to question him but as he got closer

he pulled out a rifle.

“We started engaging fire with him and that's when we came

under heavy fire from the Taliban.”

Sgt Fitzgerald and his men dropped to the ground and looked

up to see firing coming from an enemy compound. Some of the

men, under the command of Corporal Daniel Boyd, had to retreat

because they had run out of ammunition following the night's

fighting.

Sgt Fitzgerald said: “I started to engage two of the enemy

in the open and they pinned us down for about five minutes.

“That's when I decided to take the bull by the horns and

charged the position.

“I threw a hand grenade, which destroyed it, and used rifle

fire to clear the combatants.”

A veteran of four tours of Northern Ireland and two tours of

Bosnia, Sgt Fitzgerald then retreated before a rocket grenade

landed next to him and another Woofer, blowing them both across

the ground.

The blast sent shrapnel into his helmet and the back plate

of his body armour, saving him from serious injury.

The proud soldier, who was on his second tour of Afghanistan

with the Woofers, suffered minor wounds to his arm.

He said: “It was there that we were engaged again by heavy

machine gun fire into the area where we were laying down.

“We managed to crawl out and I got on the radio to my

platoon commander to let him know we had two wounded and then

managed to get out under the cover of fire.

“We got back to the compound and luckily an American jet was

flying over.

“We radioed that we were being overrun by 12 or 13 groups of

enemy forces.

“The compound we were in was taking large hits.”

Sgt Fitzgerald, whose wife, 36-year-old Kerry, is expecting

their first child in August, explained that a decision was then

made for the US jet to attack the Taliban in a “bug splat”

operation.

The jet flew over at treetop height and dropped a 500lb bomb

at the last minute, missing the Allied compound and landing on

the enemy at short range.

He said: “It flew so low that you could see the pilot and

actually wave to him.

“The bomb was released, we got down and there was a large

explosion which sent debris into the compound.

“We then got out the back but we were still under fire from

other positions that we hadn't noticed.

“The Taliban knew that they had wounded some of us and were

trying to take us on.”

Breaking into two groups, each one covering the other, the

men managed to escape as heavy artillery rained down on their

attackers.

Miraculously, no-one was seriously hurt in the 12-hour

ordeal and a Chinook helicopter arrived to lift Sgt Fitzgerald

and his wounded comrade to the relative safety of the main

British base, Camp Bastion, where they were treated.

Incredibly, within just seven days, Sgt Fitzgerald and his

men were back fighting in the green zone, the strip of fertile

farmland alongside the Helmand river.

Now, nearly nine months after his return from a gruelling

tour, in which nine members of his regiment lost their lives,

he is to be awarded a mention in dispatches for his

heroics.

He said: “It was not until about two months ago that I

realised I was going to be picking up the award. My wife was

with me when I was told and we are both really proud.

“I think my parents knew before I did because they read it

on our regimental website while I was away on duty in

France.”

Sgt Fitzgerald said that the loss of the nine men hit morale

hard while the Woofers were in Afghanistan, but their “band of

brothers” mentality helped see them through.

He said: “We are all home lads, from the same towns and the

same schools and it is a very, very close bond that we

have.”

On Sunday, Woofers past and present will see the unveiling

of a new memorial to fallen comrades at the Sherwood Foresters'

regimental memorial at Crich.

“Sunday's regimental pilgrimage to our Crich memorial will

show everyone that.

“Last year was quite moving because we were still out there

and had just lost a couple of men.

“This year, there will be a lot of people there and it

should be a really good day, a real celebration.”