Operation Telic Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on ...

was the codename for British operations in Iraq, which lasted from 19 March 2003 to 22 May 2011. During the campaign, 179 British service personnel and at least three UK Government civilian staff died (six of them female). Many more were wounded. Of the more than 183 fatalities, 138 personnel were classified as having been killed in hostile circumstances, with the remaining 44 losing their lives as a result of illness, accidents/friendly fire, or suicide. The first casualties were sustained on 21 March 2003, with the bloodiest single day of the campaign being 30 January 2005 when a Royal Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft was shot down between Baghdad and Balad, killing all 10 servicemen on board. Steven Roberts (2nd Royal Tank Regiment) is recorded as the first soldier killed in the operation (albeit by friendly fire); two

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

were killed the previous day by a hostile crowd. Full non-fatal casualty records are currently only available for the period after 1 January 2006. From that date until the end of operations, 3,598 British personnel were wounded, injured or fell ill (315 wounded in action), 1,971 of whom required aeromedical evacuation.

British dead (by service)

Royal Navy

* Royal Navy – 8 Total: 8

Royal Marines

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

– 11 Total: 11

British Army

Household Cavalry Regiment The Household Cavalry Regiment (HCR) is an Armoured Cavalry regiment of the British Army based in Bulford Camp in Wiltshire. It is the brother regiment of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (HCMR) based at Hyde Park Barracks in London - both ...

– 3 * Royal Armoured Corps **

1st Queen's Dragoon Guards 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (QDG) is a regiment in the Royal Armoured Corps of the British Army. Nicknamed The Welsh Cavalry, the regiment recruits from Wales and the bordering English counties of Cheshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire, and ...

– 2 ** Royal Scots Dragoon Guards – 2 **

9th/12th Royal Lancers The 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1960 by the amalgamation of the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers and the 12th Royal Lancers. In the later years of its existence, the regiment served as ...

– 1 ** King's Royal Hussars – 1 ** Queen's Royal Lancers – 5 **

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the First World War. Today, it is the armoured regiment of the British Army's 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Formerly known as th ...

– 3 * Royal Regiment of Artillery – 8 * Corps of Royal Engineers – 4 *

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

– 5 * The Infantry **

Guards Division The Guards Division is an administrative unit of the British Army responsible for the training and administration of the regiments of Foot Guards and the London Guards reserve battalion. The Guards Division is responsible for providing two b ...

*** Coldstream Guards – 2 *** Scots Guards – 1 *** Irish Guards – 4 ** Scottish Division *** Royal Highland Fusiliers – 1 *** Black Watch – 7 *** The Highlanders – 1 ***

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

– 1 *** 52nd Lowland Regiment – 2 *** Royal Regiment of Scotland – 2 ** Queen's Division *** Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment – 3 *** Royal Regiment of Fusiliers – 4 *** Royal Anglian Regiment – 2 ** King's Division *** Duke of Lancaster's Regiment – 7 *** Queen's Lancashire Regiment – 1 *** Yorkshire Regiment – 1 *** Tyne-Tees Regiment – 1 ** Prince of Wales' Division *** Staffordshire Regiment – 4 *** Royal Welch Fusiliers – 1 *** Royal Regiment of Wales – 1 *** Royal Welsh – 3 ** Light Division *** Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry – 1 ***

Light Infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

– 3 *** Royal Green Jackets – 1 *** The Rifles – 8 ** Parachute Regiment – 3 *

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

– 8 * Army Air Corps – 2 * Royal Logistic Corps – 5 *

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

– 3 * Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers – 5 * Adjutant General's Corps ** Royal Military Police – 12 * Intelligence Corps – 3 Total: 137

Royal Air Force

* RAF Strike Command – 1 * RAF Benson – 2 ** No. 33 Squadron RAF (Puma HC.1) – 1 * RAF Lyneham – 3 **

No. 47 Squadron RAF No. 47 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Lockheed C-130 Hercules from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, England. History First formation No. 47 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was formed at Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire on 1 March 19 ...

(Hercules C.1/C.3) – 5 *

RAF Marham RAF Marham is a Royal Air Force station and military airbase near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia. It is home to No. 138 Expeditionary Air Wing (138 EAW) and, as such, is one of the RAF's "Main Operating ...

** No. IX (B) Squadron (Tornado GR.4) – 2 * RAF Aldergrove **

No. 230 Squadron RAF No. 230 Squadron is an RAF squadron, currently based at RAF Benson. The squadron was part of Royal Air Force Germany, operating the Puma HC.1 there from 1980. Following the drawdown at the end of the Cold War, the squadron disbanded on 30 April ...

(Puma HC.1) – 1 * RAF Brize Norton – 1 *

RAF Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by royal warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out soldiering tasks relating to the delivery of air power. Examples of such ta ...

** 1 Squadron – 3 ** 16 Squadron – 1 ** 504 Squadron RAuxAF – 1 * Royal Air Force Police – 1 Total: 22

UK government civilian personnel

Ministry of Defence Fire Service The Defence Fire and Rescue Service (DFRS) is the primary firefighting and rescue service protecting British defence estates and property. Along with the Royal Air Force Rescue and Firefighting Service, it forms the Ministry of Defence Fire Ser ...

– 1 * Department of Health and Social Care – 1 *

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

(contractor) – 2 Total: 4

British dead (rank – name – age – unit – incident – date)

(NB: IED = improvised explosive device. RTA = road traffic accident. Non-hostile = friendly fire.)

2003

Combat fatalities: 40, other fatalities: 13, wounded in action: n/a, other injured: n/a.

2004

Combat fatalities: 10, other fatalities: 12, wounded in action: n/a, Other Injured: n/a.

2005

Combat fatalities: 20, other fatalities: 3, wounded in action: n/a, other injured: n/a.

2006

Combat fatalities: 27, other fatalities: 2, wounded in action: 93, other injured: 1209.

2007

Combat fatalities: 37, other fatalities: 10, wounded in action: 202, other injured: 1098.

2008

Combat fatalities: 2, other fatalities: 2, wounded in action: 20, other injured: 758.

2009

Combat fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 1, wounded in action: 0, other injured: 218.

Notes

References

{{Reflist

External links

"UK military deaths in Iraq"
'' BBC News'', 7 July 2016 Iraq War casualties 20th-century military history of the United Kingdom