Groups and Single Decorations for Gallantry The Battle of Danny Boy - M.C.


Less than a week after Operation Waterloo, the famous ‘Danny Boy’ action took place near the British permanent vehicle checkpoint of the same name at Majar-al-Kabir near Al-Amarah. Here, on 14 May 2004, a patrol of Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders had been ambushed by Mahdi Army insurgents and called for assistance. First to arrive on the scene were two Warriors of C Company, 1st Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, under the command of Sergeant D. Perfect, which themselves were ambushed on arrival, suffering an RPG hit and resultant casualties. Further relief force Warriors from C Company under the command of Lt. Plenge then arrived at Danny Boy and found themselves in one of the fiercest engagements fought by the Regiment in Iraq. During the battle, which lasted roughly 3 hours, Corporal Byles and Lance Corporal Wood were ordered to dismount from their Warriors and they proceeded to lead their respective teams in a frontal assault on the insurgent’s trench positions using grenades, close-quarter rifle-fire and bayonets. Richard Holmes describes how these British soldiers went into battle with bayonets for the first time since the Falklands War in 1982:


‘Before they arrived at Danny Boy, however, the battle there had taken a decisive turn. Sergeant Broome, using his own two Warriors, started suppressing dug-in positions west of the road. He was speedily joined by Lieutenant Ben Plenge, commander of 7 Platoon, in W31, and Sergeant Brodie in W32, who deployed their vehicles at the north end of the ambush and dismounted their troops. Sergeant Broome gave a quick set of orders to Lance-Corporal Wood, who was commanding Privates Rushforth and Tatawaqa, the dismounts in the back of the vehicle; Corporal Byles and Private Beggs dismounted from another Warrior. Bayonets fixed, the assault began. Private Fowler, W22’s gunner, sluiced accurate fire on the nearest position. Given the nature of the ground and the position of the fire support Corporal Byles and Lance-Corporal Wood had to assault frontally, with W22 keeping pace with them over perhaps 300 metres, until it could no longer depress its turret far enough to engage the trenches. The little group of dismounts then split up and used pairs fire and manoeuvre to break into the position; grenades, automatic fire and bayonets were used to clear it.’ (ibid)


The assaulted trench contained around a dozen men brandishing weapons. 3 were killed and 4 taken prisoner. In his official statement regarding the attack, Byles commented on the taking of prisoners: ‘There was still a lot of fire going on around us and when I jumped into the ditch I was trying to use the element of surprise and shock to make the men put down their weapons. I was shouting at the men and they were panicking and waving their weapons around I recall they had AK47s and other machine guns. When we had deployed on the ground we had received orders to fix bayonets which I had done, so I was aware of this when dealing with the men. Due to the situation and the fact there was fire coming from other positions, I had to be firm with these men for their safety as well as mine and that of my colleagues. So in the ditch I hit these men with my fists and with the back of my rifle to get them to surrender. Both men struggled with me until I was able to finally overpower them and get them to lie on the floor.’


Coming under fire from a second Iraqi position, Byles then turned his fire on this second group of insurgents, killing two, while the Warrior gave fire-support as further skirmishes continued around them. Around 30 Mahdi Army insurgents were killed in the action at the Danny Boy checkpoint whilst the British suffered some wounded men but no fatalities. Corporal Byles and Lance-Corporal Wood were both awarded the Military Cross for their actions, Byles citation stating ‘Throughout the whole contact he showed immense professionalism under pressure. He showed bravery in the face of the enemy and strong leadership qualities in leading a dangerous assault against a larger enemy position.’


Byles himself later revealed, ‘I slashed people, rifle butted them. I was punching and kicking. It was either me or them. It felt like I was in a dream. It didn’t seem real. Anybody can pull a trigger from a distance, but I got up close and personal.’ Recognising the horror of it all, he also added, ‘the worst thing was collecting the dead, seeing the damage that I did to these people. I got back to camp after six hours on the ground, covered in blood from head to toe’. Asked if he had any regrets, Byles responded, ‘they were firing weapons at me.’


Sold together with a transcript copy of the original recommendation, Central Chancery investiture letter, a DVD of the Buckingham Palace presentation ceremony, and boxes of issue for Iraq, NATO and Jubilee medals.


www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 24% (+VAT where applicable)


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