Soldiers and their families at Europe's biggest Army base were awaiting news of the first strikes against Saddam's forces last night. Steve Parsley reports from Catterick in North Yorkshire

TROOPS left behind at Catterick were on a heightened state of alert last night.

As the first reports of Allied action filtered through to the base - home to 25,000 servicemen and women - the tension could be felt in the still, night air thousands of miles from the action in the Gulf.

Outside the barracks, sentries were on guard, looking for signs of any suspicious activity.

Torches were shone into cars passing in and out of the main gates. Nothing could be left to chance.

Every driver could expect to be questioned closely regardless of whether or not they were wearing a uniform.

Police cars patrolled slowly outside the shops and cafes, although shoppers still made trips to the garrison's 24-hour Tesco store. Somehow everything seemed more subdued.

In local bars, TV screens which had been keeping football fans up to date with the Champions League disappointments of Newcastle United and Arsenal, began to report that the bombing of Iraqi artillery had begun.

Johnny's Cafe has been serving soldiers for more than 40 years. Groups gathered around the tables, sat at the bar and played pool.

Life went on with a quiet awareness that the inevitable war - a war which would put their friends and colleagues in the line of fire - had begun in the Middle East.

"Now we've gone in, let's just hope we can get this over and get home again as quickly as possible," said one.

"One thing a lot of lads find hard to understand is why we've been asked to go back to finish a job we should have finished 12 years ago," said another.

Some even questioned if the war was justified and indicated little support for the policies outlined by George Bush and Tony Blair.

But despite those misgivings - misgivings shared throughout the world - those prepared to speak in Johnny's Cafe were united in the belief that now it was time to support allied troops on the ground.

"The lads in the Gulf need to know that they have public support," said a soldier.

20/03/2003