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Hurling aside hymn sheets, they rushed to grab their weapons and – still in their Santa hats – loosed off round after round of mortar fire to see off the enemy.
Then, as the Taliban retreated and with no injuries to the British troops, our heroes resumed their carol service before tucking into turkey for Christmas lunch.
The extraordinary pictures were captured by soldier and amateur photographer Capt Euan Goodman. They illustrate the relentless call of duty experienced by the thousands of British servicemen and women spending Christmas on the front lines.
Capt Goodman, 28, came across the heartwarming Christmas scene during one of his three tours in Afghanistan.
He said: “I was on a tour of camps on December 25th last year. In the morning we had flown a goat out to the Gurkhas to make a curry before we raced out to the 40 Commando Royal Marines at Forward Operating Base Inkerman in Northern Helmand.
“The camp is surrounded by mountains and desert and we were experiencing Afghanistan’s coldest winter for 20 years – but the lads were still in really high spirits. They were in the middle of a traditional carol service – complete with Santa hats and songsheets – when they came under attack from the Taliban, who had targeted one of the checkpoints.
“The instant they heard the gunfire they dropped everything.
“Some were still wearing their hats as they fired mortar rounds out of the camp.” Capt Goodman, who has taken 15,000 photos on his Afghan tours and joined the Army in 2001, told how top brass do their best to make sure servicemen can celebrate Christmas – even in the middle of frontline operations.
He said: “They try to ensure everyone either gets a slap-up breakfast or a traditional Christmas lunch.
“All food is prepared at Camp Bastion then flown out by helicopters to each camp to heat up in the oven.
“We also get inundated with presents from the general public, which are a huge morale boost.
“Thousands of parcels are donated every year and split evenly among the units who then share them out.
“You get everything from toothpaste to woolly scarves. It’s much like the traditional present opening on Christmas morning – except serviceman tend to have the wrapping off as soon as they get the parcel.
“It’s supposed to be a special time of year no matter where you are – but it’s the nature of the job that we have to keep working. The show must go on.”
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