Michael Yon sends word that at about 10 a.m. today, he will be posting a dispatch about a firefight he witnessed while embedded with British troops.

The dispatch describes a large firefight the Brits had on Monday. They fought very well, and allowed me to get as close as I dare. I got right in the middle and took photos...

He says that the Brits he's with are "an excellent group of infantry soldiers."

He sends these photos, which are some of those that will be in the dispatch:





Make sure you check it out!!


Michael Yon's photos are posted with permission, and should not be reposted or published without same.


UPDATE: The post is up at Michael's site:

Greetings:

I am in Basra, with our British Coalition partners, who this week launched a clever operation that lured enemy fighters into combat, a decision that proved fatal for more than two dozen of militia members and terrorists. Please click the link to read about Operation Arezzo.

New readers will find the dispatch Tabula Rasa gives context to my work from Iraq.

Another dispatch, with more than 100 photos of the 1-4 Cav at work in Baghdad, is nearly ready. What an excellent bunch of soldiers! I'll send out an announcement when "Desires of the Human Heart" is published and folks at home can see and read about things rarely reported.

I am energized by this embed with British soldiers, which has me in the thick of things with their soldiers who are engaged with the enemy. I broke yet another lens in combat with the British on Tuesday.

Before it got smashed, the lens was taking great photos, some of which you'll see in the latest dispatch, and others will be published in the coming days.

This site is wholly contingent on reader support, for which I'm truly grateful. In addition to keeping me in camera lenses, reader support is the best indication I have of how important it is for me to continue this work.

Respectfully,

Michael

Labels: Blogwatch, British troops, Coalition Forces, Iraq, Michael Yon

News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Army Tours in Iraq Extended to 15 Months
U.S: Iran Training Iraqi Bomb Makers - VIDEO

Operation Enduring Freedom
NATO allies to grapple with Afghanistan shortfalls

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
Al Qaeda May Be Behind Algeria Bombings
Israel, Palestinians to start U.S.-arranged talks

Troops on Trial
Probe Condemns SpecOps Marines

Other Military News
Pay Soars to Keep People in Military
White House Struggles to Find War Czar

Worldwide Wackos
Sacked N.Korean premier fell foul of army: analysts

Politics / Government
Another Sure Veto - Senate Dems pass doomed stem cell bill
Wolfowitz: I Helped Girlfriend Get Promotion
Bush, Democrats Argue Over Iraq Meeting
McCain Defends Iraq War, Bush 'Surge' Plan
Fred Thompson: I Have Cancer - VIDEO
Ford apologizes after joke on Bush blows up
U.S. posts $96.27 bln March budget deficit
N.C. House passes slavery apology
Edwards works shift at nursing home (Wow...a whole shift...)

In the Courts / Crime and Punishment / Law and Order
'Anger and Relief'
Duke players blame 'rogue' DA - VIDEO
N.C. State Bar v. DA Nifong (FindLaw pdf)
'She Contradicts Herself'
Rivals Argue Splenda's 'Made From Sugar' Claim Confuses Consumers
Virginia Police Charge Man Arrested in Ohio in Minister Beating Death
Stray Bullet Kills Boy on Trampoline in Texas; Man Arrested
Michigan Man Pays $335 Court Fee in Pennies
'Neighbors From Hell' to Get Supervised Housing in Britain
Shrink Accused of Abuse Face More Charges
Rapper Snoop avoids jail in L.A. case
Teen charged in Chicago school shooting
Man executed in slaying of girl
Director testifies in 'Sahara' trial
'Girls Gone Wild' boss indicted in Reno

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
MSNBC Drops Imus
DJ Fired for Asking Listeners to Impersonate Imus
World Bank Probes Leak of Docs to Fox

Science / Medicine / Technology
New hue: Plants on other planets may be yellow, red
Warming could spark water scramble: experts
"Birdman" in hospital after test flight
Exercise linked to less anxiety, depression
Genes gang up to help cancer spread, study finds

Mother Nature
New Jersey Boy Saves Toddler From Coyote
Snow closes schools, grounds airlines

Oddities
Man Dreams of Cell Phone Number, Texts It and Meets Future Wife
Wanted: Wet Nurse to Help Me Lose Weight
Border cops recover 1,000 stolen wedding gowns
Organizers of 2008 Beijing Olympics Seek to Ban 'Chinglish'

Other News of Note
Wen says Chinese people seek friendship with Japan

Fox News
Citigroup to Eliminate 17,000 Jobs
NEWS IN PICTURES: Football Coach Honored
Ukraine President Facing Defiant Parliament
Larry Birkhead: No Need to Share Custody of Anna Nicole Smith's Baby
Reality Check: Sanjaya's 'Stache and Other Crucial 'Idol' Decisions
Pop Tarts: Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel Man-Swap

Reuters: Top News
Wolfowitz scolds rich countries on aid
Sudan's Bashir seeks "rapprochement" with Chad
Colombia, Mexico to work more closely on drug gangs
Ex-Playboy model to star in Anna Nicole Smith film
There's history and money in obsolete computers
Sony says to sell ultra-thin OLED TVs this year
Kabul kite-maker stars behind scenes in Hollywood movie
Crime, unemployment fuel support for France's Le Pen - Video
Shares fall on Fed rate-hike hint, gasoline's jump
Research In Motion shares drop
Oil rises amid sliding U.S. gasoline stocks
Yen touches record low vs euro after IMF comment
Men's Wearhouse falls; SAIC rises
Home stretch for student aid
IMF: Global expansion mirrors 1970s
Nasdaq bids $3.3 bln for Nordic peer OMX: report
Fed changed wording as growth, inflation uncertain
Student loan firms hit by probes, reform calls
Citigroup to slash 17,000 jobs, cut $4.6 bln costs - Video
U.S. gasoline over $3 looms this summer
Citigroup settles with ex-wealth chief Thomson

AP World News
Fantasy journey for Jackie Chan & Jet Li
Hernandez steals show from Dice-K
Stocks retreat on Fed meeting minutes
La Russa inserts Duncan, Cardinals win
Phoenix Coyotes clean out front office
Judge tosses date-dissing Web suit
Judge orders external audit for church
Obituaries in the news

Military.com
The New Warfighter's Forum
Opinion: Decline of the Royal Navy
Blog: Al-Qaeda Strikes in Algiers
DefTech: Super Patriot Freed!
Mandatory Funding for VA Healthcare

CENTCOM: News Releases
INITIAL SOF INVESTIGATION COMPLETED
IRAQI SECURITY FORCES CONDUCT CORDON AND SEARCH IN DIWANIYAH

USJFCOM
USJFCOM continues to improve Joint National Training Capability - podcast
USJFCOM supports intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance conference - podcast

DefenseLink
Gates Extends Army Tours in Iraq to 15 Months - Story
Change in Deployment Policy Aims to Provide Predictability
Transcript: Gates and Pace Conduct Pentagon Briefing
Protests Serve as Signs of Freedom in Iraq - Story
Asia Crucial Front in Long War on Terrorism - Story
Leaders Address Equipment, Training Challenges - Story
Reserve Reports Funding Needed for Manpower - Story
Walter Reed Among Top Military Medical Centers - Story
Military Amputees Get ‘World-Renowned’ Medical Care
Top Enlisted Servicemember Stresses Teamwork - Story
Use 'R-Triple-A' to Lead, Gainey Urges NCOs

More Headline News
Bush Asks Congress to Pass War-Spending Bill
Exercise Fortifies Partnerships With North Africa
Bush Thanks National Guard for Securing Border

Military News
Recruiting, Retention Rates Remain Solid in March
Huachuca to be Home of Human-Intel Training
Four Guard Brigades Alerted for Iraq Duty

War on Terror
U.S. Military Still Committed to Helping Iraqi People Succeed - Story
Forces Capture Terrorists, Weapons
Four Soldiers Killed in Iraq
Exercise Strengthens Coalition

America Supports You
Bush Thanks Troops - Story
Quilts Comfort Children
Foundation to Lend a Hand
Emeril Cooks Combat Cuisine

Transformation
Sailors Will Need CAC to Log In - Story
Chaplain Invents New Chapel Kit
Program Connects Troops to Public
Walter Reed Using 3-D

Face of Defense
Army Captain Embraces Life - Story
Siblings Reunite for Promotion
Airman Overcomes Cancer
Hard Work, Dedication Pays off

DefendAmerica
ON THE GROUND
Bagram Airmen Move Army Force Provider Camps - Story
Stryker Troops Lead Initial Push into Diwaniyah - Story
Minnesota National Guard Improves Roadways - Story
Course Teaches Iraqi NCOs Leadership Skills - Story
Families Donate Soccer Balls to Orphanage - Story

IN IRAQ
Iraqi Police Join Security Mission in Diwaniyah
‘Black Hawk’ Troops Help Bring Peace to Haifa
Commando Brigade and Iraqi Army Render Aid
‘Black Lions’ Seize Weapons Cache in Baghdad

IN AFGHANISTAN
Air Force Captain Teaches Classes, Experiences
Female Medics Take Forward Mission to Heart
Afghan Government, Coalition Aid Flood Victims

IN DJIBOUTI
Airmen Help Djiboutians Learn English
Soldiers Keep Promise, Check on Injured Girl
Postal Specialists Deal With Limited Space

BACKGROUND
IRAQ
Renewal In Iraq
Iraq: Security, Stability
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Weekly Reconstruction Report (PDF)
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Fact Sheet: Budget Request
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

Weather
Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Germany
Ansbach Aschaffenburg Berlin Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin/Schonefeld Bremerhaven
Darmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen Kitzingen
Hanau Am Main Heidelberg Mainz Mannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart Trier
Wiesbaden Wurzburg

Gitmo

Guam
Agana Agana Heights Agat Andersen AFB Asan Barrigada

Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut
An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Japan
Kadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo Yokohama

Today in History
0352 - St Julius I ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1065 - Pilgrims under bishop Günther of Bamberg reach Jerusalem
1111 - Pope Paschalis II crowns Henry V Roman emperor
1204 - 4th Crusade occupies & plunders Constantinople
1229 - Queen Blanche of Castilië & Earl Raymond VII van Toulouse sign peace
1545 - French King François I orders Protestants of Vaudois to be killed
1606 - England adopts the Union Jack as its flag
1654 - England, Ireland & Scotland unite
1713 - Dutch State-General signs peace with France Netherlands loses Orange Princedom
1770 - Townsend Acts repealed
1776 - Halifax resolution for independence adopted by North Carolina
1782 - Battle at Les Saintes West Indies - British fleet beats French
1811 - 1st US colonists on Pacific coast arrive at Cape Disappointment, WA
1844 - Texas becomes a US territory
1861 - Fort Sumter, SC is shelled by Confederacy, starting the Civil War
1862 - James Andrews steals Confederate train (General) at Kennesaw, GA; Union troops occupy Fort Pulaski, GA
1863 - Gunboat battle at Bayou Teche LA
1864 - Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort Pillow, TN; Battle of Blair's Landing, LA
1869 - North Carolina legislature passes anti-Klan Law
1872 - Jesse James gang robs bank in Columbia, KY (1 dead/$1,500)
1877 - British annex Transvaal, in South Africa
1883 - French troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes occupy Bamako Senegal
1892 - George C. Blickensderfer patents portable typewriter
1893 - Battle at Hoornkrans Southwest-Africa German Schutztruppen chases away Hottentotten under Hendrik Witbooi
1894 - British & Belgian secret accord on dividing Central-Africa
1898 - Army transfers Yerba Buena Island in San Francisco Bay to Navy
1905 - French Dufaux brothers test helicopter
1907 - Belgium government of De Stain de Naeyer resigns
1908 - Fire makes 17,000 homeless in Chelsea MA
1911 - 1st non-stop London-Paris flight (Pierre Prier in 3 hours 56 minutes)
1919 - British Parliament passes a 48-hour work week with minimum wages
1927 - General Chiang Kai-shek begins counter revolution in Shanghai
1928 - Assassination attempt on King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
1931 - Spanish voters reject the monarchy
1935 - Germany prohibits publishing "not-Aryan" writers
1935 - Royal Proclamation sets design of Canada's new Jubilee Silver Dollar
1938 - 1st US law requiring medical tests for marriage licenses (New York)
1940 - Italy annexes Albania
1941 - Vichy-France's head of government Admiral Dalan consults with Hitler
1942 - Japan kills about 400 Filipino officers in Bataan
1943 - Allies conquer Soussa, North-Africa
1945 - Canadian troops liberate Nazi concentration camp Westerbork, Netherlands; Harry Truman sworn in as 33rd US President
1946 - Syria gains independence from France
1951 - Israeli Knesset officially designates April 13 as Holocaust Day
1952 - Salaheddine Baccouche forms Tunisian government
1954 - Belgian Van Houtte government resigns
1955 - Salk polio vaccine safe & effective; 4 billion dimes marched
1956 - Bandaranaike government forms in Ceylon
1959 - France Observator reports torture practice by French army in Algeria
1961 - Douglas MacArthur declines offer to become baseball commissioner; Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin becomes 1st person to orbit Earth (Vostok 1)
1963 - Birmingham police use dogs & cattle prods on peaceful demonstrators
1966 - 1st B-52 bombing on North Vietnam
1973 - France recognizes North Vietnam; Sudan adopts constitution; Swaziland suspends constitution
1979 - Soyuz 33 returns to Earth
1980 - US Olympic Committee endorses a boycott of the Moscow games
1981 - Maiden voyage Space Transit System-space shuttle Columbia launched
1982 - 3 CBS employees shot to death in NYC parking lot
1983 - Harold Washington becomes Chicago's 1st black mayor
1985 - 16th Shuttle Mission (51D)-Discovery 4 launched-with Senator Jake Garn
1987 - Texaco files for bankruptcy
1988 - Harvard University patents genetically engineered mouse (1st for animal life); Sonny Bono elected mayor of Palm Springs CA
1990 - 1st meeting of East German democratically elected parliament, acknowledges responsibility for Nazi holocaust & asks for forgiveness
1991 - US announces closing of 31 major US military bases; Nepalese Congress party wins general elections
1992 - Earthquake rocks Germany; Euro Disney opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France; Lynn Gunther of California threatens to blow herself up in front of UN

Birthdays
1579 - François de Bassompierre, Marshal of France
1724 - Lyman Hall, US physician (signed Declaration of Independence)
1764 - Dirk van den Boetzelaer, regent of Holland
1777 - Henry Clay [the Great Compromiser], US politician
1791 - Francis Preston Blair, newspaper editor (Washington Globe)
1792 - John George Lambton London, statesman (1st Earl of Durham)
1793 - Ferdinand I the Good Natured, Emperor of Austria/King of Hungary
1831 - George Burgwyn Anderson, Confederate Brigadier General; Grenville Mellen Dodge, Union Major General
1838 - John Shaw Billings, US librarian/army physician
1871 - Ioannis Metaxas, Greek General/dictator (1936-41)
1884 - Otto Meyerhof, German psychologist/biochemist (Nobel-1922)
1889 - Pierre-Étienne Flandin, French premier (1934-35)/Minister of Foreign affairs
1894 - Francisco H. Craveiro Lopes, Portuguese General/President (1951-58)
1898 - Sir Grantley H. Adams, President of Barbados
1902 - Louis J. M. Beel, Premier of Netherlands (1946-48, 58-59)
1903 - Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist/UN advisor (Nobel 1969)
1904 - Harald James Penrose, pilot
1908 - Carlos Lleras Restrepo, President of Colombia
1912 - Harold Maguire, British air marshal
1924 - Julius Moormann, student/resistance fighter (WWII)
1930 - Lou A. de Graaf, Dutch Assistant Secretary of Social Affairs (VDA)
1932 - Tiny Tim [Herbert Butros Khaury], singer (Tip Toe Thru' the Tulips With Me)
1936 - Kennedy A. Simmonds, Premier (St Kitts & Nevis, 1983-95)
1937 - Igor Petrovich Volk, cosmonaut (Soyuz T-12)

Passings
0352 - Julius I, Pope (337-52)
1550 - Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise, dies at 53
1555 - Johanna de Wanzinnige, Queen of Castilie (1504-20), dies at 75
1704 - John Hudde, 21x mayor of Amsterdam, dies at 76
1828 - Jean Henri Appelius, Dutch lawyer/minister of Finance, dies at 60
1864 - Thomas Green, Confederate Brigadier-General, dies in battle at 50
1878 - William M. "Boss" Tweed, New York politician
1912 - Clara Barton, organized American Red Cross, dies at 90
1945 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd US President (1933-1945, Democrat), dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs GA at 63
1946 - August Borms, Flemish nazi collaborator, executed at 67
1956 - José Moscardo Ituarte, Spanish General (Alcázar 1936), dies at 77
1966 - Sumokil, President of Republic South Moluccas, executed
1980 - William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian President & 27 others killed in coup
1987 - Ewan Calague, economist/statistician (Social Security) dies at 90
1989 - Abbie Hoffman, yippie peace activist of the 60's, dies at 52
1993 - Isaac Rojas Vice, President of Argentina (1955-58)
1994 - Harry la Fontaine, Danish/US resistance fighter/producer, dies at 81

Reported Missing in Action
1966
The following USN personnel reported MIA when their KA3B was shot down near Hainan Island:
Glasson, William A. (CA)

Harris, Reuben (OH)

Jordan, Larry M. (CA)

Pugh, Kenneth W. (CA); PRG returned ashes December, 1975

Also reported MIA this day in 1966:
Conway, James B., US Army SF (TN); Killed, BNR

1967
Clay, William C. III, USMC (NC); A4E shot down - remains returned 1995 - ID'd February, 1997

1969
DeSoto, Ernest L., USAF (AR); F4D disappeared in a cloud bank while on mission (w/Hall)

Hall, Frederick M., USAF (NC); F4D disappeared in a cloud bank while on mission (w/DeSoto)

Lamp, Arnold William, Jr., USAF (OH); RF4C shot down - remains ID'd July, 1995

1970
Tabb, Robert Ernest, US Army ; released by PRG March, 1973 - retired as a Master Sgt - alive as of 1998

Labels: Headlines, History