By Ian Drury
British military operations in Iraq were so badly resourced that some soldiers went into battle with only five bullets each, secret documents have revealed.
Troops were put at "significant risk" on the front line as they struggled with an "appalling" shortage of rounds, and radios which collapsed in the heat.
The kit revelations are among the most shocking contained in hundreds of pages of classified papers leaked in advance of Sir John Chilcot's inquiry into the Iraq war, which begins on Tuesday.
The reports also suggest that Tony Blair misled MPs and the public in the run-up to the invasion.
And they provide damning evidence of Britain's failure to prepare for the rebuilding and reconstruction of Iraq after the toppling of Saddam Hussein.
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Incredibly, the Foreign Office unit tasked with planning the post-war country was not established until February 2003 - three weeks before the war started.
The details were contained in two "overall lessons learnt" reports and classified transcripts of one-to-one interviews between military commanders returning from the warzone and Ministry of Defence officials.
The documents raise serious questions over Labour's failure properly to equip soldiers heading for the conflict because of the then Prime Minister's desperate desire to conceal plans to invade Iraq from a sceptical public.
Troops were put at 'significant risk' during the war because they were 'lacking in resources', according to one paper.
It said: "There were significant shortcomings... critical stores and equipment did not arrive in time.
"There were significant shortages of small arms ammunition in some units as they began operations. All this represented significant risk."
One commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel ML Dunn of 9 Supply Regiment, Royal Engineers, said soldiers going into action "only had five rounds of ammunition each, and only enough body armour for those in the front and rear vehicles".
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