By Thomas Harding
The Telegraph, 15 August 2007
The casualty rate among front line units fighting in Afghanistan has now surpassed the average suffered by troops in the Second World War, it can be revealed today.
Privately Whitehall sources are admitting that the high casualty rate is becoming a source for concern.
The three infantry battalions which have been involved in substantial battles with the Taliban have seen their casualties mount since deploying to Helmand province four months ago.
In particular the 1st Bn Royal Anglians has lost a fifth of its troops to battlefield wounds, disease and injuries with 131 soldiers, most of them front line veterans, becoming casualties. Six of the 650-strong battalion have been killed, 54 wounded and 71 have suffered broken bones, malaria or severe heat stroke. A total of 64 have been evacuated back to England.
These figures compare with a casualty rate of almost 11 per cent in the Second World War. More than 11 million troops served in the British Commonwealth then, with 580,000 killed or missing and 475,000 wounded.
The loss of troops in Helmand since April has been the equivalent of an entire fighting company. "It has been a tough few days but we will get through it," said regiment sources. "However the progress that has been made in Helmand over the past four months is significant." Morale was still "remarkably high" and there was an "underlying determination that these sacrifices won't have been in vain".
However, there is deep frustration among British Forces that the public at home has little understanding or interest in Afghanistan.
The other infantry battalions in Helmand have had a tough mission. The Grenadier Guards have had five soldiers killed and the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters have suffered three fatalities. Both have had scores wounded.
Last November, only three British soldiers were wounded in Afghanistan by the Taliban, compared with 38 in May.
The Anglians, nicknamed the Vikings, have also sustained a number of minor casualties treated on the front line, which are not included in official statistics.
The high casualty rate comes after it emerged that deaths in Iraq could exceed the 53 servicemen killed in the year of the 2003 invasion.
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Citation: Thomas Harding. "Concern mounts over rising casualty rate," The Telegraph, 15 August 2007.
Original URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/15/wafg215.xml
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