Army

Desert Rats Commander Recalls Gulf War Battle

The man who commanded the Desert Rats during the first Gulf War has been speaking about his memories of the conflict 25 years on from invasion.

Major General Patrick Cordingley says he was surprised when 7th Armoured Brigade was chosen but he says they were the best for the job.

They deployed in October 1990 to the desert in Saudi Arabia and spent six months there ahead of the ground offensive. Morale he says was good and the units were very well trained.

But four days before the ground war began Major General Cordingley remembers praying that it wouldn’t be necessary. He says they were all concerned.

"The Iraqi Army was 400,000 men strong. At the time we didn’t know they weren’t well led and their equipment wasn’t good".

He says the troops had to prepare themselves mentally for the start of the ground campaign.

"When you think about it very few of us had been in the Falklands War. A lot of us had been in Northern Ireland but that was reacting to people firing at you.

"Here we were saying to the soldiers, it’s perfectly alright to kill people. We are going to fire first".

The UN resolution objective was achieved after just a few days of fighting, Saddam pulled out of Kuwait.

However, the military mission, destruction of the republican guard, didn’t happen.

Nevertheless, Major General Cordingley says by the ceasefire on 28th February 1991, they had been defeated and that was the ‘honourable moment to stop’.

More from Forces TV: How Britain Helped Liberate Kuwait