Royal Marine and Army Commandos hold off Taliban for 3 hours

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 14/09/2011 21:31:00

HERO Commandos have survived one of the fiercest ambushes of the Afghan war.

Fourteen Commandos were surrounded in a tiny compound by fanatical Taliban who poured in merciless fire from THREE directions.

The three-hour firefight, among the most terrifying the Marines have endured, has been dubbed The Battle of Compound 62.

Incredibly, the 14 men fought their way out alive after exchanging thousands of shots with the enemy.

They were down to their last few rounds of ammo by the time they made it to safety, leaving at least five Taliban dead behind them.

The battle erupted after Marines from Lima Company, 42 Commando, came under ferocious grenade attack in a cornfield.

They were forced into a small village compound where they were sprayed with constant AK47 fire during a furious gunfight between rooftops 50m apart.

More than 30 grenades were hurled over the walls of their makeshift base.

The fighting was so intense that two Commandos were burned when red-hot bullet casings landed on them and scorched through their uniforms ? there was simply no time to brush them away.

The Marines called in a US A-10 "Warthog" jet to drop two 500lb bombs, then finally made it out as an Apache helicopter gunship provided covering fire.

Corporal Leigh Godwin, 31, on his fourth Afghan tour, said: "It was the fiercest fighting I?d seen this tour. The rate of firing was something else."

Bombardier Steve Anderson, 24, of 29 Commando, Royal Artillery ? the only Army Commando at the siege ? added: "It wasn?t until we got back to base I thought, ?How the hell did we get out alive??"

A Sun team consisting of Virginia Wheeler and photographer Andy Bush heard the amazing story after joining the Marines at Check Point Zarawar in Helmand.

The battle came during a massive five-day operation by Marines and Afghan "SAS" Tiger Teams to clear a vipers? nest of insurgents from the deadly Washir area of Nad-e-Ali North.

Officers said the five-day op was "all systems go".

Captain Harry Wallace, 31, said: "These fighters had more determination than we had seen before. But by the end of the five days we had given them a major kicking."

"...But by the end of the five days we had given them a major kicking."

Well done lads, keep yer heads down and come back safe.