Iraqi war hero's famous eve-of-battle speech 'demoralised' British troops, claims fellow soldier

Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins gave an 'inspiring speech' on the eve of battle in 2003 - but a captain has now revealed the 'sobering' effect on the troops

His stirring speech in the hours before the first strikes on Iraq won lavish praise across the world, making admirers of the Prince of Wales and George Bush among others.

Urging his men to be 'ferocious in battle and magnaminous in victory', Colonel Tim Collins's unscripted speech was lauded as a morale-boosting call-to-arms in the vein of Shakespeare's famous Henry V battlefield speech.

However a captain who was in the audience has now revealed the 'demoralising and sobering effect' the speech had on the gathered soldiers.

Col Collins delivered the rousing address to the 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment, hours before they went into battle against Saddam Hussein's forces in March 2003.

U.S. President George Bush was such an admirer he is said to have a copy of it pinned to the wall of the Oval Office.

But Captain Doug Beattie, at the time Col Collins's Regimental Sergeant Major, suggests in a new book that the oration gave the soldiers 'a little too much reality' by reminding them they could be killed in battle.

He had to use a 'string of barely separated profanities' to kick them 'back into life' after his commanding officer's eloquent speech.

Col Collins told the soldiers: 'It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive. But there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign.

'We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow.'

But Capt Beattie noted that this was 'sobering stuff' that left 'more and more frowns on men's faces'.

'Maybe this was all a little too much reality,' he said.

'I could see heads starting to go down, and it wasn't just a reaction to the sand swirling about in the stiff breeze.'

The soldier recorded his thoughts after Col Collins ended his speech. 'Cheers, boss. Thanks a bloody lot...' he wrote.

'I knew I had a problem. He had left the men somewhere they shouldn't have been: thinking about home, wondering if they would ever return there again, fearful of the dangers that faced them in the hours, days and weeks ahead.

'The speech had been rousing, but also sobering - it pulled no punches, the message was stark.

'He had told the men they would not all be coming back, and now it seemed the majority of them were asking if they would be amongst the fallen. They had to be snapped out of it.'

Capt Beattie admits to being 'no orator' but said his 'bollocking' of the soldiers had the desired effect.

'Whatever the men had been contemplating five minutes earlier, they certainly weren't now. They must all have thought, "That b****** Beattie",' he wrote.

Capt Beattie then found Col Collins and told him: 'Sir, fantastic speech. The men are in no doubt about what you want and what they have to do to live up to the reputation of the regiment.'

He noted that his commanding officer 'seemed already to have forgotten what he had said'.

The Prince of Wales was so impressed by Col Collins's speech that he wrote a personal note to him to say how 'profoundly moved' he was by the 'extraordinarily stirring, civilised and humane' words.

'What you said somehow encapsulated, in a brilliantly inspired way, everything that we have come to expect of our armed forces and demonstrated why, quite simply, they are the best in the world,' he wrote.

Capt Beattie, 43, from Portadown in Northern Ireland, will leave the Army in January after 27 years of service.

His new memoir concentrates on his 2006-07 tour of duty in southern Afghanistan, when he was awarded the Military Cross for his extraordinary bravery in leading Afghan forces to retake the town of Garmsir.

He said he wanted to give an impression of the experiences of the 'ordinary soldier' - the title of the book - and also remind people of the 'terrible price' Afghans are paying for trying to improve their country.

Capt Beattie noted that he had seen an 'immeasurable' improvement in the quality of the Afghan National Army and said British forces in Afghanistan were now better equipped than he had been at any other stage in his career.

But he added: 'It's an insurgency, there's never going to be a Battle of Waterloo in Helmand, after which it's all done and dusted.'

Despite the many terrible things he saw in his service, he said he was full of pride for the work done by the British military.

And he has such confidence in the way the Army looks after its recruits that he has just signed the papers to allow his 16-year-old son Luke to join the service next month.