Search for
Search for
Search forHero tells of his 12-hour battle with the Taliban (with audio)
Friday, July 04, 2008, 08:17
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.”
TOUR OF DUTY: Daniel Fitzgerald in Afghanistan
Be the first to comment