Smash hit

“They need manoeuvrability, they need to be able to see what’s going on and need to be able to get off the beaten track. But they equally need to get in among the people and to walk around and there’s always going to be risk. Ask anybody, even those who have been injured, and they will tell you the risk can never be removed."

Colonel Thorneloe, 39, was the Army's first commanding officer killed in action since Lieutenant-Colonel "H" Jones, who died leading an assault against an Argentinian machinegun position at Goose Green in May 1982 and was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

Among those paying tribute to him today was Colonel Jones's widow, Sarah, who said that Colonel Thorneloe had been right to join his troops on the frontline.

Mrs Jones, who now lives in Great Wishford, Salisbury, said: “I can appreciate what a ghastly, ghastly situation those family members are going through but there will also be a great deal of immense pride. He is a hero.

“He is a high-ranking officer but that does not mean he should not be with his troops. No senior officer should put their battalion anywhere that they would not be willing to go themselves. The British public do appreciate that, I think, and that’s something to be proud of.”

Mr Ainsworth also paid personal tribute to Colonel Farneloe, who he got to know while the officer served in the MoD as military adviser to the former Defence Secretary Des Browne.

“Rupert was a man of enormous enthusiasm, and a leader of men," he said. "He was a great guy to work with. He did a fantastic job commanding out in Afghanistan. He believed in the operation."

Colonel Thorneloe had been visiting his men as they took part in a major operation codenamed Panchai Palang (Panther's Claw). More than 700 UK troops joined the third wave of the offensive this morning.

Nearly 4,000 US Marines launched a separate assault in Helmand yesterday, an offensive seen as the first test of President Obama's new strategy against he insurgents.

Brigadier-General Larry Nicholson, who is commanding the operation, said that the 1/5 Infantry Battalion had met only light resistance in their push south, but added: “For 2/8 there is a hell of a fight going on in the southern quarter of the sector.”

Meanwhile, US missiles struck a training facility operated across the Pakistan border by the Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud, killing 15 people and wounding 27 others.

The two attacks by drone aircraft took place in South Waziristan, a Mehsud stronghold close to the Afghan border where Pakistani troops are gearing up for a military offensive, officials said.

The drone attacks were the latest in more than 40 believed to have been carried out by the United States against militant targets in the border area since last August. Washington does not directly acknowledge being responsible for the attacks, which kill civilians as well as militants.

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