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The Queen today lead the annual ceremony for Britain's war dead in the first Remembrance Sunday not attended by any veterans of World War I. As Big Ben chimed 11am, the queen joined thousands of troops, veterans and civilians in the traditional two-minute silence. The silence was broken by a single artillery blast and the sound of the Royal Marine buglers playing the 'Last Post'. Each year, thousands of poppies are placed in the Field of Remembrance at Westminster Abbey to remember all those killed by the war. This year the field also has plots dedicated to those killed in...

The grieving mother of a heroic Sergeant-Major gunned down by a rogue Afghan policeman has accused Labour of treating British troops like 'peasants'. Heartbroken Elizabeth Chant, whose son Darren was killed last week, is calling on the Government to invest in better accommodation. Warrant Officer Class 1 'Daz' Chant, 40, of 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, was one of five off-duty British soldiers shot dead last Tuesday by a man dressed in an Afghan police uniform who opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle at a police station in southern Afghanistan. Mrs Chant, 59, said: 'Every day now we are hearing...

Soldier Becomes New Miss England [Pic in URL] Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge has become the new Miss England after Rachel Christie stepped down following her arrest over an alleged nightclub brawl. 06 Nov 2009 Katrina Hodge, centre, is now Miss England after Rachel Christie, right, lost her crown after being involved in a brawl with Miss Manchester Sara Beverley Jones, left, in a nightclub. A statement from Miss England organisers said Miss Christie, 21, had stepped down as she wanted to concentrate on clearing her name. It was later announced that L/Cpl Hodge, who was first runner-up in the 2009...

Three Grenadier Guards and two Royal Military Police were attacked as they rested inside a compound. The soldiers, who had removed their body armour and helmets, were shot by an Afghan national policeman who then fled. It is not known whether he was a member of the Taliban or being coerced by the insurgents. The gunman is thought to go by the name Gulbuddin and is believed to have had an accomplice. There are also suggestions that he had animosity towards his superiors after being repeatedly moved around the country as part of his duties. He is now being hunted...

Five soldiers have been shot dead by a "rogue" Afghan policeman in an attack at a police checkpoint. Three Grenadier Guards and two Royal Military Police were attacked as they rested inside a compound. The soldiers, who had removed their body armour and helmets, were shot by an Afghan national policeman who then fled. It is not known whether he was a member of the Taliban or being coerced by the insurgents.

The youngest soldier to win the George Cross has criticised Gordon Brown for ‘betraying’ the Armed Forces and revealed he now works in a call centre, selling insurance. ‘My medal says I am a hero of the Iraqi conflict, a man of extraordinary valour and strength of character,’ says Chris Finney. ‘But now I work in a call centre. My life has gone from one extreme to the other.’ At 18, he won Britain’s highest civil accolade for rescuing a wounded comrade from a burning Scimitar armoured vehicle. If his courage had been in response to an attack by the...

The most senior British soldier to die in Afghanistan foreshadowed his own death by warning that a shortage of helicopters was endangering troops. Less than a month before he was killed by a roadside bomb, Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe told his superiors that soldiers would die because they were being forced to take more trips by road. The officer, who was commander of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, said in a memo to the Ministry of Defence, classified "Nato secret", that the system for managing helicopter movements in Afghanistan was "very clearly not fit for purpose" and there were not...

British Harrier pilot diverted bomb mid-flight to save civilians A British Harrier pilot managed to abort a bomb attack in mid-flight, steering a smart bomb away from its intended Taleban target after a group of civilians strayed into the target area, footage released by the Ministry of Defence showed today. The footage, which was shot from the camera on the jet last year but has been only now declassified, shows that the bomb had already been launched when its target, a Taleban commander in a vehicle, stopped next to a group of civilians. The RAF pilot then made the snap...

United States To Send 'Up To 45,000 More Troops To Afghanistan' The US is expected to announce a significant surge of up to 45,000 extra troops for Afghanistan after Gordon Brown said that 500 more British troops would be sent to the country. By James Kirkup and Andrew Hough 14 Oct 2009 Newsnight reported he would announce a surge in troop numbers. President Barack Obama's administration is understood to have told the British government that it could announce, as early as next week, the substantial increase to its 65,000 troops already serving there. The decision from Mr Obama comes after...

'The British serviceman who first fired on Japanese forces during World War Two has died at the age of 90. Jim Mariner was on board the gunboat HMS Peterel when he secured his place in history at about 4am on December 7, 1941. The vessel was in China's Shanghai Harbour and the crew had been issued with cutlasses and told they should be prepared to die defending the ship. It was the last commissioned Royal Navy craft on the Yangtze River and had been stripped of most of her weapons. She had a skeleton crew and was clearly in no...

An Iraq war veteran died after receiving cancerous lungs from a heavy smoker in a transplant. Matthew Millington, 31, a corporal in the Queen’s Royal Lancers, had the operation to save him from an incurable respiratory condition. But the organs were from a donor who was believed to have smoked 30 to 50 roll-up cigarettes a day. A tumour was found after the transplant, and its growth was accelerated by the drugs that Mr Millington took to prevent his body rejecting the organs. Because he was a cancer patient, he was not allowed to receive a further pair of lungs,...

Picture of Evil: Bloodthirsty German Al Qaeda Fanatic Poses With 2Ft-Long Knife For Beheading British Soldiers In Afghanistan [Pic in URL] By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE 09th October 2009 Warning: Abu Askar records a video while holding the knife An Al Qaeda fanatic who trains fellow Europeans to fight in Afghanistan has given a stark warning to our troops - by posing with a 2ft-long beheading knife. The bearded terrorist, identified as ‘Abu Askar the German’, belongs to one of Osama Bin Laden’s ‘foreign legions’ fighting alongside the Taliban. In a new terror video posted online he vows to 'achieve a...

Hundreds of soldiers from the Black Watch have destroyed a Taleban stronghold after uncovering a network of tunnels that concealed bomb factories, the Ministry of Defence said. About 500 soldiers, including members of the Afghan National Army and Canadian experts, swooped into Howz-e-Maded in the Zhari district of Kandahar province in three waves of six Chinook helicopters.

I have just returned from giving a talk on the benefits of Army education to new recruits at the Army Training Centre at Pirbright, Surrey. A red-brick facility with its own parade ground, it delivers the 14-week training course undertaken by all adult recruits when they first join the Army. On completion of the Common Military Syllabus, these Soldiers Under Training (SUTs) go on to learn their chosen trade, which covers a host of military professions ranging from anti-aircraft radar operator and artillery gunner to Army musician. Pirbright trains more than 4,000 men and women a year, and as such...

An army general who is reported to have criticised aspects of the war in Afghanistan has resigned. Reports said Maj Gen Andrew Mackay, General Officer Commanding Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England, was unhappy about strategy. Prince Harry spent 10 weeks from December 2007 in Afghanistan under the command of Maj Gen Mackay. The Ministry of Defence has insisted that the general's departure was a "personal matter". Maj Gen Mackay's operational tour to Afghanistan was notable for the re-capture of Musa Qaleh, a strategic town, from the Taliban. He was subsequently awarded a CBE for his role in the mission....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25, 2009 – The British army’s 1st Battalion Scots Guards Pipes and Drums played in the Pentagon courtyard during lunchtime today in a show of solidarity with U.S. armed forces. The British army’s 1st Battalion Scots Guards Pipes and Drums Band performs for employees, servicemembers and families at the Pentagon, Sept. 25, 2009. The band, which consists of infantry soldiers who will soon prepare to deploy to Afghanistan, performed to express admiration for its closest allies. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Stan Parker  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The unit’s performance is “an expression of...

What should one make of the tale of Stephen Farrell--the seemingly reckless New York Times reporter who was rescued by British soldiers on Sept. 9 after spending four days as a captive of the Taliban? A soldier died in the course of his rescue, leading sections of British public opinion to go ballistic, accusing Farrell not merely of selfishness, but of moral responsibility for the soldier's death. Is this reaction fair and justified? Stephen Farrell was a British citizen reporting from Afghanistan. He'd received very strong advice from British troops to stay out of a Taliban-controlled sector into which he...

A British army officer who, after running out of ammunition, used his bayonet to charge a Taliban fighter has been awarded the Military Cross. Lt James Adamson, who is 24 and serves with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, was given the medal for his "supreme physical courage". His actions while on tour in Afghanistan saved the lives of soldiers in his platoon. He said he ran out of ammunition after killing one man, so charged the second. Lt Adamson, who is from the Isle of Man, and part of the 5th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, said: "To be honest...

An impression of how a controversial future giant aircraft carrier would look in its home base has been unveiled today by the Royal Navy.The computer-generated image has been created to give an impression of the scale of the next generation of warships which are due to enter service in 2015.It shows one of the carriers alongside at Portsmouth Naval Base, Hampshire, where it would take up three jetties.     Ministry of Defence computer generated image of how a controversial future giant aircraft carrier would look in its home base was unveiled today by the Royal Navy. It shows one...

KABUL — British commandos freed a New York Times reporter early Wednesday from Taliban captives who kidnapped him over the weekend in northern Afghanistan, but one of the commandos and a Times' translator were killed in the rescue, officials said. Reporter Stephen Farrell was taken hostage along with his translator in the northern province of Kunduz on Saturday. German commanders had ordered U.S. jets to drop bombs on two hijacked fuel tankers, causing a number of civilian casualties, and reporters traveled to the area to cover the story Two military officials told The Associated Press that one British commando died...

Two months ago, 4,000 US Marines descended upon the Afghan village of Garmsir in southern Afghanistan and managed to take the territory over which the British had battled over for three years. Go big, go strong, go fast, their Brigadier General, Lawrence Nicholson, had ordered – and they did. Yet yesterday there was a notable absence of arrogance among the new inhabitants of the British military's most southerly and often most lethal front. The Marines speak with nothing but respect for those who held this ground in far fewer numbers – the British servicemen who passed, as some might say,...

The members of the ruling class of the British Isles seem to be committed to demonstrating that they are nothing but hopeless neo-socialists busy sacrificing their green and pleasant land on the altar of nanny-state multiculturalism. It seems that every day there is a report of some new Labor assault on free speech, a fresh disaster in the decaying single-payer health care system, or another craven surrender to domestic jihadism. The latest atrocity is Scotland’s politicians’ ”compassionate release” of Lockerbie mass-murderer Abdulbaset al-Megrahi, a shameful maneuver that managed to combine greed, cowardice and self-righteousness all into one gutless package. I...

A gunshot ripped through the darkness and a young British soldier fell dying on FOB Jackson. I was just nearby talking on the satellite phone and saw the commotion. The soldier was taken to the medical tent and a helicopter lifted him to the excellent trauma center at Camp Bastion. That he made it to Camp Bastion alive dramatically improved his chances. But his life teetered and was in danger of slipping away. Making matters worse, the British medical system back in the United Kingdom did not possess the specialized gear needed to save his life. Americans had the right...

On the frontline with British troops in Afghanistan As Afghanistan prepares for an election, award-winning photographer Sean Smith, stationed with British troops during Operation Panther's Claw, finds many soldiers becoming frustrated at the inexperience and lack of discipline of the Afghan National Army. guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 August 2009 video at link etc

A British sniper killed a Taliban leader with the longest-ever fatal bullet shot in Afghanistan - from nearly TWO KILOMETRES away. Corporal Christopher Reynolds, 25, camped on the roof of a shop for three days as he waited for the perfect conditions to shoot the terrorist commander. He calculated the range, wind and trajectory before pulling the trigger - and the bullet flew 1,853 metres before hitting the target in the chest. The warlord, known as 'Mula', is thought to be responsible for co-ordinating several attacks against British and American troops since the outbreak of war in 2001. Cpl Reynolds,...

A US commander has criticised British troops in Helmand province, attacking everything from their gathering of intelligence to their personal hygiene. The unnamed Marine commander claimed that British Forces spent insufficient time living among the Afghan people, were not posted for long enough, had too many bases and suffered too many non-battle injuries. The confidential briefing, given in the spring, according to the New Statesman, also suggested that the British military "are cautious about the enemy and overestimate their strength". The commander was quoted as saying: "Your standards of personal hygiene and field discipline aren't good enough."

August 9, 2009 Amputee Private Matt Woollard plans return to fight Taliban Michael Smith [Pic in URL] A BRITISH soldier who had part of his leg blown off by a landmine is preparing to return to Afghanistan to settle “unfinished business” with the Taliban. Private Matt Woollard, 20, is expected to be the first British infantryman to return to the front line after being fitted with a prosthetic limb. Woollard, a member of 1st Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment, lost his lower right leg after setting off an insurgent bomb while on patrol near Kajaki in May 2007. His heart...

8/4/2009 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) -- Three Air Force aircraft along with multiple aircrew, aeromedical evacuation teams, and agencies from around the world gave a British soldier a fighting chance at life in late July after the soldier sustained multiple gunshot wounds and had his blood supply replaced more than 10 times at a military hospital in Afghanistan. According to officials, the soldier sustained multiple wounds to the abdomen and chest, and was transfused with 75 units of blood and another 75 units of platelets. Emergency surgery was conducted to repair the soldier's liver and lung. After...

Immigrants who jeer at British troops in the street or 'show disregard for UK values' will be barred from gaining citizenship. Migrants wanting a UK passport will also have to pass a history test for the first time - an idea ministers had previously spent four years resisting. Immigration Minister Phil Woolas says that demonstrating against servicemen - as took place recently in disgraceful scenes in Luton - 'enrages' law abiding Britons, and should be a block on a foreigner obtaining citizenship. It is included in tough new rules unveiled today to reduce the all-time record number of citizenship applications...

According to Major Brian Dupree, the British Army is in danger of losing its "warrior ethos" as soldiers skip physical training sessions and obesity in the forces increases. Major Dupree, of the Physical Training Corps, said the increase in soldiers who are "unfit to deploy" is linked to an "indifferent" attitude to physical fitness. .......... He says that even the minimum two to three hours of physical fitness a week are being ignored as the number of soldiers classified as Personnel Unfit to Deploy (PUD) has risen to 3,860 with a further 8,190 regarded as being of "limited deployability" for...

US troops now a 'coalition of one' in Iraq By CHELSEA J. CARTER, Associated Press Writer Saturday, August 1, 2009 The war in Iraq was truly an American-only effort Saturday after Britain and Australia, the last of its international partners, pulled out. Little attention was paid in Iraq to what effectively ended the so-called coalition of the willing, with the U.S. — as the leader of Multi-National Force, Iraq — letting the withdrawals pass without any public demonstration. The quiet end of the coalition was a departure from its creation, which saw then-U.S. President George W. Bush court countries for...

A fly-past of replica planes was held to mark the passing of Britain's oldest World War I veteran this afternoon. Hundreds of people lined the streets to pay their respects to the world's oldest man and British war hero Henry Allingham. The 113-year-old died peacefully in his sleep on July 18 at his care home St Dunstan's, near Brighton. Mr Allingham, who served in the Royal Navy and RAF, was laid to rest with full military honours at a service at St Nicholas's Church in Brighton. As this afternoon's service began, crowds broke into spontaneous applause as his Union Flag-draped...

BAGHDAD — Britain says it will withdraw its remaining forces in Iraq to Kuwait, after the Iraqi parliament failed to pass a deal allowing the British troops to stay beyond the end of the month. The deal would have let up to 100 British troop stay in Iraq to protect oil platforms and provide training in the south of the country. The rest of the British forces are withdrawing under a separate agreement. British Embassy spokesman Jawwad Syed said Tuesday it's a procedural delay and that the remaining British forces will pull back to Kuwait until the issue is resolved....

Harry Patch, the last British army veteran of World War I, has died at 111, the nursing home where he lived said Saturday. The Fletcher House care home in Wells, southwest England, said Patch died early Saturday. "He just quietly slipped away at 9 a.m. this morning," said care home manager Andrew Larpent. "It was how he would have wanted it, without having to be moved to hospitals but here, peacefully with his friends and carers." Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the whole country would mourn "the passing of a great man." "The noblest of all the generations has left...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Harry Patch -- the last surviving British soldier from World War I -- died Saturday at the age of 111, Britain's Ministry of Defence said. Patch died peacefully at his care home in the southwestern English city of Wells, the ministry announced. His death came a week after fellow British World War I veteran Henry Allingham died at the age of 113. Patch was the last surviving soldier to have witnessed the horrors of trench warfare in the first World War He fought and was seriously wounded in Ypres, Belgium, in 1917 at the Battle of...

he death of 12 soldiers and serious wounding of dozens more has demonstrated to America that "other allies are doing some of the heavy lifting". The comments came as the Ministry of Defence named Guardsman Christopher King, 20, of the Coldstream Guards as the latest soldier to be killed this month. The soldier was killed by a roadside bomb as he attempted to clear a vulnerable point to let vehicles past. After the British military's performance in Iraq, which was criticised by a number of senior American generals, the battle by British troops to recover a significant part of Taliban...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8163643.stm

When Britain’s top army commander visited British frontline troops in Helmand Province in Afghanistan on Wednesday, his means of transport — a United States Army Black Hawk helicopter — made almost as much news back home as the fact that he was in Afghanistan at all.

Thousands of people lined the streets of Wootton Bassett as the bodies of eight British soldiers killed in Afghanistan were driven through. The bodies of the soldiers, who were killed in a single 24-hour period, passed through the town in Wiltshire, which is near RAF Lyneham. On Monday troops in Helmand province held their own memorial to the men. ........ At the sound of the church bell, the street fell silent. The pavements were packed six deep around me; now, as the shops emptied, every available space was occupied. Schoolchildren in uniform, the standard bearers of the local British Legion,...

NEW YORK (AP) — When it comes to dealing with gay personnel in the ranks, the contrasts are stark among some of the world’s proudest, toughest militaries — and these differing approaches are invoked by both sides as Americans renew debate over the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. In the United States, more than 12,000 service members have been dismissed since 1994 because it became known they were gay. Current targets for discharge include a West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran, Army National Guard Lt. Dan Choi. In Britain, on the other hand, uniformed gay and lesbian service...

Our Darkest Day In War On Taliban: Eight Soldiers Killed As Afghan Death Toll Overtakes Number Of Troops Lost In Iraq By DAVID WILLIAMS and MATTHEW HICKLEY 11th July 2009 Eight British soldiers lost their lives with several more left critically wounded yesterday. Five died when a foot patrol was trapped in a Taliban ambush and blown up by a booby-trap bomb - the highest death toll from a single attack since the war began. The three others died in separate incidents on what was the darkest day of the war in Afghanistan. [Pic in URL] (From left) L/Cpl David...

Soldiers 'dying because of cuts': Brown starved forces of cash, says ex-defence chief MATTHEW HICKLEY 10th July 2009 Attack: Lord Guthrie said the lives of British troops in Afghanistan were endangered because of cash shortages A former head of the armed forces yesterday accused Gordon Brown of endangering the lives of British troops in Afghanistan by starving the military of funds. In a devastating personal attack, Lord Guthrie said that under Mr Brown the Treasury had spent 'the minimum they could get away with' on defence. The resulting shortage of helicopters in Afghanistan has led to more British soldiers being...

There is something in Danny Eaglesfield's pale blue eyes that wasn't there a week ago. He still looks ridiculously young. And, at only 5ft 4in in height, he seems barely tall enough to lift his rifle. But the wide-eyed youthfulness I saw when I first met him on the eve of battle last Friday has been replaced. A loss of innocence? Certainly. For Danny Eaglesfield has experienced a great tragedy this past week. His closest friend, Robbie Laws, was killed by a Taliban rocket as the pair of them travelled in the same vehicle, side by side to the last....

The most senior British officer to die in action since the Falklands has been killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was commander of a Battle Group spearheading the fight against the Taliban. His command vehicle was blown up by an improvised explosives device. He is the most senior British officer to die in combat since Lieutenant Colonel 'H' Jones, commander of 2 Para, was shot dead by Argentine forces during the battle of Goose Green in the Falklands War of 1982. A soldier of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment,...

The Queen is to honour the families of Britain's war dead with a new award in her name. Those who have lost loved ones on the frontline or in terrorist attacks will be presented with the Elizabeth Cross. In a radio message to the armed forces on the British Forces Broadcasting Service the Queen said: 'I greatly hope that the Elizabeth Cross will give further meaning to the nation's debt of gratitude to the families and loved ones of those who have died in the service of our country.'

U.S. Marines and Afghan security forces moved into Taliban-infested villages Wednesday evening in one of the Obama administration's first major military operations in the previously forgotten war in Afghanistan. The offensive was launched shortly after 1 a.m. local time in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province. More than 4,000 Marines and an estimated 650 Afghan soldiers and police sought to clear insurgents from towns and villages along the Helmand River Valley before the nation's Aug. 20 presidential election. Dubbed Operation Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword," the military push was described by officials as the largest and fastest-moving of the war's newest...

Thousands of people lined the streets in cities, towns and villages across the country yesterday to support British servicemen and women. The historic dockyard at Chatham in Kent led the celebrations for the first Armed Forces Day, with major events also in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Manchester and Plymouth. ..... The Queen, in Edinburgh to present campaign medals to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, offered troops, veterans and service families her ‘warm good wishes’. A 20ft Union Flag was draped by the side of the road in Chatham, where more than 30,000 members of the public gathered to see the Royal Navy,...

Some were able to march, others needed walking sticks or wheelchairs. But all held their heads high as they paraded proudly in Whitehall to remember their fallen comrades. Many of the veterans shed a tear yesterday as they attended the last memorial service the Normandy Veterans' Association will organise in London. Lean on me: Albert Rogers, 84, from North London, is given a helping hand Hundreds of D-Day veterans, smartly dressed in blazers and berets, their chests heaving with medals, gathered for the service. At least two collapsed as the humid weather and the long time they had to spend...

BASRAH — British forces handed over a former Coalition headquarters to Iraqi officials during a ceremony at the Basrah International Airport Hotel here, June 15. The handover of the hotel is part of the ongoing withdrawal of British forces from Iraq in accordance with the United Kingdom's security agreement with the Iraqi government. "Military and civilian personnel, both Iraqi and Coalition, have worked within the hotel to achieve the conditions that have allowed us to celebrate many days just like this – the return of functions and facilities to the Basrawis," said Group Captain Richard Hill, deputy commander of British...

Princes William and Harry spoke passionately today about their desire to serve their country in the armed forces - with the older royal hinting he would like to follow in his sibling's footsteps and fight on the front line. The royal brothers made their comments as they held a photocall for the world's