"Quo Fata Vocant"

by David Rowlands

Image Size 58 x 38 cm


The motto of The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers means 'Wherever the fates call.'

On 21st March 2003, just after midnight, Warriors of the Milan Anti-tank Platoon of the First Fusiliers, commanded by Captain Nader Anabtawi, drove through the gap made in the wire and halted at the foot of the berm marking the border between Kuwait and Iraq. Soldiers dismounted from the Warriors and climbed to the top of the berm, where each pair of men set up their Milan firing post. There were twelve Milan firing posts in all. A platoon of Y Company, armed with machine guns and SA80 rifles was interspersed among them. All the while, shells fired by the Royal Artillery were exploding in the air ahead of them.

As the Fusiliers fired at the enemy across the rugged farmland in front, a Combat Engineer Tractor of 39 Armoured Engineer Squadron dug a gap in the berm. Then, an AVLB was driven through and launched its No. 10 bridge across the anti-tank ditch. By now it was first light. A Phoenix unmanned aerial vehicle was flying at the same height as the air bursts.

The enemy fire was suppressed, and Challenger 2 tanks of The Queen’s Royal Lancers poured through the breach, then across the bridge and into Iraq.