Soldiers died defying Iraqi tank

TWO Gulf war soldiers armed only with light weapons fought against an Iraqi tank before losing their lives behind enemy lines, an inquest was told yesterday.

WO Leslie Scott of the 10th/5th Queens Royal Lancers told the hearing in Oxford: 'It was the bravest thing I have ever seen.' He told the inquest into the deaths on 26 February 1991 of L/Cpl Francis Evans, 25, of Clwyd, and Sgt Michael Dowling, 34, of Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, that he was in a scout car leading two petrol carriers to a unit of British tanks behind Iraqi lines when they came under heavy fire. 'One Iraqi tank was bearing down on us with weapons firing including a heavy 12.77mm machine gun.'

As the vehicles fled, one of the carriers crewed by L/Cpl Evans and a colleague was hit and stopped. They bailed out and were picked up by Sgt Dowling. L/Cpl Evans put a light machine gun on the roof of the carrier and fired back at the T55 tank. Sgt Dowling fired his SA80 rifle at the tank through the carrier's door.

L/Cpl Evans had only 40 rounds but managed to get in a 20-second burst. 'The fact that he was standing up to a tank was quite amazing. Both men were in very exposed positions,' WO Scott said.

Their bodies were later recovered from the desert. An RAF pathologist said both men had died instantly. The coroner recorded verdicts that both were killed by enemy fire while on active service.