IRAQ/Advance on Basra: "I'm too tired to be scared," Capt Tony Hulton said as he stepped on to the bridge crossing the Shatt-al-Basra that up until yesterday marked the limit of the British advance around Basra. Jack Fairweather reports from outside the city.
A crackle of gunfire from the opposing bank and he and his eight men who have stood guard at the bridge for the past six days had disappeared on a foot patrol into enemy-held territory.
An hour later came a muffled cry of joy over the military communication system: "All clear. Would the tanks care to join us?" Four Scimitar tanks belonging to A squadron of Queen's Dragoon Guards rumbled over into the darkness in what has become one of the largest land-grabs by British forces since the initial advance on Basra 12 days ago.
Resistance was provided by one shadowy barracks where a hundred militiamen had gathered to stop the advance with intermittent mortar fire.
A burst of fire from one of the 30mm cannon on one of the Scimitars sent them running to their cars to escape.
"Cease fire, cease fire," yelled Capt Justin Stenhouse, on another of the foot patrols. "That could be our next home, after all." An incoming mortar led to the rapid reversal of the order.
After a brief skirmish, the complex fell and by dawn a 12-tank formation had advanced to the motorway that provides the city with its only link with Baghdad and to within sight of the Shatt-al-Arab, on the border with Iran.
Over the banks of the of Qarmat Ali, a tributary of the Shatt al-Arab which marks the northern limits of Basra, the city's university could be dimly seen and before it a leering statue of Saddam Hussein.
Following the destruction of two statues of the Iraqi leader by a tank incursion last week to rally support for the British cause, the Scimitar gunner, Trooper Dai Nicholas, took a few shots at it with his heavy machine gun.
The bullets ricocheted off the marble in a shower of tracer fire, leaving Saddam pock-marked but unstirred.
"I don't dare use anything stronger than this peashooter because of all the civilians around," said Trooper Nicholas, "but I think they got the message."
Although British forces later pulled back to the quadrant of land opposite Basra International Airport in order to destroy the captured artillery and mortar pieces, that message would appear to be clear.
"We're not going to sit around and engage in a war of attrition with Iraqi forces in Basra," said a senior British officer. "We mean to keep probing and pushing until, as happened here today, something gives. A northern front around Basra has now opened up and we shall be exploiting it carefully over the course of the next few days. It has been a great success."
The only casualty of the night were two unfortunate cows mistaken for enemy tanks.
"Fresh steak," called out the gunner, until he hastily added, "we do of course mean to make sure the family is fully recompensed with food and water as soon as the supply chain catches up."
In the excitement of the advance, an officer also managed to roll his jeep, sending an American liaison officer crashing down upon him. "But at least that's the only heavy American object to land on my head tonight," he said sheepishly.
The Iraqis themselves, emerging after the night's fighting to find themselves newly liberated, appeared overjoyed at the arrival of British troops.
"We have been waiting for 12 days for you to come now," said Mohammed outside his house in the village of Jazirah al Hari, a small collection of hovels on the edge of the marshlands.
"My village is open to your men," Mohammed said, "but you must do one thing: you must give your word that you will stay."
In what has become a pattern for areas in which Iraqi forces have fled, looting soon began in and around the village, though British forces seemed better prepared to prevent it, with a translator visiting houses telling people to wait inside for aid to come.
A controlled explosion of rocket-propelled grenades at the barracks provided another effective deterrent, although the villagers filed to their houses calmly. "We're used to it by now," said one Iraqi man.
As dusk fell yesterday evening, only a small girl dressed in rags could be seen on the streets of Jazirah al-Hari.
She approached a tank standing guard at one end of the village, and said, "my parents will not come, but we need water." The tank driver lent down and gave her a bottle of water. "This is why we've come, isn't it?" he said.