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THE 9/11 ATTACKS AND THE IRAQ WAR 525
detachments to be deployed to Mutlar Ridge, overlooking the
Iraqi frontier, which allowed them to test equipment and to
liaise with the US Marines' 1 st Radio Battalion, which was also
a field sigint unit. After about a month, Y Troop spread out
along the border in small detachments to listen to the enemy
and await instructions to advance. Their main equipment was
three Odette sigint systems, mounted on Land Rovers with their
distinctive twenty-foot aerials. However, there were technical
problems, so most of Y Troop was sent forward with smaller
man packs as radio reconnaissance teams, working alongside
40 Commando. This was front-line work, and they were soon
amongst the tanks of the Queen's Dragoon Guards, listening in
on enemy positions at very close range as British armour
advanced towards the southern town of Basra. 51
Eventually the technical problems with the Odette aerials
were fixed by 14 Signals Regiment, the Army's main electronic
warfare unit, allowing Y Troop to go back to longer-range intercept
work. At this point a small Iraqi patrol found them, and
managed to launch some RPG rockets at their encampment
before being seen off with a barrage of automatic fire. There
were no casualties, but it was a sharp reminder of the hazards
of forward interception. Thereafter, the number of targets they
were tracking became progressively smaller as Iraqi soldiers
deserted their positions. A notable discovery was the location
of their counterparts, the Iraqi 124 Electronic Warfare Regiment.
It was noted with satisfaction that this became '124 Crater
Regiment' after the application of well-directed artillery fire. 52
As the British First Armoured Division advanced towards
Basra, sigint provided timely warnings of ambushes that had
been set up by Saddam's Fedayeen guerrillas. It also obtained
good information on the movements of key Iraqi leaders inside
Basra itself. 53 Sigint performed well in Iraq because many of the
old problems of intelligence support to the front-line soldier had
been solved. For the first time in perhaps fifty years, sigint
flowed freely from national assets down to operational units, a
stunning breakthrough when set against the history of patchy