Allies: the dagger is pointed at the heart of Baghdad regime

The great finale of the Second World War, the battle for Berlin, began on 21 April 1945 when the Russian generals Georgi Zhukov and Ivan Konev launched a ferocious artillery bombardment of the city before fighting their way in, street by street and building by building. They battered the place to bits and it was all over in 11 days.

What the Allies hope will be the great finale of the Iraq conflict, the battle for Baghdad, began yesterday on Day 14 of the war when American troops crossed the so-called "red line" – the area within artillery and missile range of Republican Guard units defending the city. This is where US officials fear desperate Iraqi forces, with nothing more to lose, might use chemical or other weapons of mass destruction.

The Allies will be fervently hoping the fight for the capital of Saddam Hussein's Iraq will take no longer than the fight for the capital of Hitler's Germany, although some defence experts were suggesting yesterday it may take six to eight weeks. No doubt staff officers planning the current assault will have looked up and closely scrutinised the details of the earlier one. The similarities are remarkable – but it is the differences that are vital.

Just as the Russians did before them, the Americans stand at the gates of a great and historic city under the control of a tyrant, having been carried there by a similar huge armoured thrust. But while Stalin's troops mercilessly applied overwhelming force to crack the German capital open, the same option is not available to Allied soldiers, who need to apply delicacy, Air Marshal Brian Burridge, the commander of British forces, said yesterday.

Confirming that the conflict was entering its final phase, he said: "We need to proceed with great delicacy in Baghdad, as we did in Basra, because we don't want to cause any more damage to the place than is necessary, and we certainly don't want to add to civilian casualties."

How far sensitivity can be applied in street fighting remains to be seen, but there was some sign of it when the Americans claimed that Iraqi forces had taken up positions inside the Ali Bin Abi Talib mosque in Najaf, one of the world's most important Shia Muslim shrines, and were firing on coalition troops, but that US soldiers had declined to return fire. Najaf is the burial place of Ali, the Prophet Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law and the Shias' most revered saint. Damage to Ali's shrine would be regarded as sacrilegious.

Calling the Iraqi fighters' use of the mosque "a detestable example of putting historical sites in danger", US Brigadier General Vincent Brooks said that coalition troops would try to avoid harming the shrine.

"This regime is firing from within a mosque, something that has no military value and should be protected by them, but instead it is being protected by us," General Brooks said during a briefing at Central Command in Qatar.

In the House of Commons, Tony Blair warned that President Saddam's regime might damage holy sites in Iraq and try to blame the Allies. "This is precisely what Saddam did in 1991. I would like to emphasise to the House and the wider Arab and Muslim world – we are doing everything we can to protect those holy sites and shrines," he said. "I hope people understand the fact that Saddam is prepared to use these tactics, as he did before, underlines once again the true nature of his regime."

Later he was challenged to prove his assertion about Iraqi self-inflicted damage in 1991 by Tam Dalyell MP, the father of the house.

But events in Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, were a sideshow. All eyes were concentrated on the spearheads of the American forces further north. Backed by fearsome and completely unchallenged air power, the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division and the US 1st Marine Expeditionary Force launched a two-pronged attack towards the capital, and both reported breakthroughs.

Vanguard units of the 3rd Infantry were said to be within 20 miles of the city after encircling another Shiashrine town, Karbala, and crossing to the eastern bank of the Euphrates, while the marines were said to be 25 miles away, close to Iraq's other great river, the Tigris, after having captured one of the last bridges at the town of Kut.

The Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard, which was defending Kut, had been "destroyed" in the action, the Americans said. Two huge bombs exploded near Kut, sending mushroom clouds into the sky – perhaps the new Massive Ordnance Air Burst bomb, the most powerful conventional bomb in history.

The fresh advances along the two rivers, which came after US troops halted their push for the capital for several days to bolster vulnerable supply lines, appeared to be among the swiftest of the war. "The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the Baghdad regime and will continue to be pointed at the heart of that regime," Brigadier General Brooks said.

The Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, described reports of US breakthroughs as "an illusion".

Bombs and missiles meanwhile continued to rain down on Baghdad. Republican Guard defensive positions on the southern fringes of the city were continually hit and US planes struck at least three times at a presidential compound where Saddam's son Qusay, who commands the Republican Guard, has his headquarters.

However, in yet another embarrassing incident for the Allies, a Red Crescent maternity hospital and other civilian buildings were hit, with several people in the streets killed and at least 25 injured. Residents and doctors said US planes raided the al-Mansour area where the hospital, the nearby Baghdad Trade Centre complex and offices housing the pharmacist and teachers' unions were struck. Witnesses said the two-storey maternity hospital's façade, its drug store and the waiting room were damaged. Ten people were injured in the hospital, doctors said. Some women who were there to have their babies were moved out to other hospitals. The luxurious Trade Centre was devastated in the attack and left a smouldering ruin. It lies next to a government security building, which was apparently missed in the bombings.

Mr Sahaf said 24 civilians were killed and 186 wounded in Iraq between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, including 10 killed and 90 wounded in Baghdad. But there was continued confusion over the condition of President Saddam, who belatedly appeared on state television conferring with officials in footage with no sound.

At Basra in the south of the country, British military commanders have been for some time in the position the Americans are now seeking at Baghdad – sitting at the city's gates. Yesterday they launched a massive campaign to win over the local population as Allied forces encountered a new wave of resistance from Iraqi troops.

Coalition soldiers came under heavy mortar attack on the edge of Basra, and in response Challenger 2 tanks fired on several buildings believed to be headquarters for Iraqi paramilitaries.

But as the fighting went on an Arabic leaflet drop in the city promised: "This time we won't abandon you." Written around a smiling squaddie shaking hands with an Iraqi, the leaflet declared: "Be patient, together we will win". On the reverse of the A5 leaflet, written in Arabic, a message read: "People of Al Basra, we are here to liberate the people of Iraq. Our enemy is the regime and not the people. We need your help to identify the enemy to rebuild Iraq. English speakers please come forward. We will stay as long as it takes."

The British troops surrounding the city are continuing to tread carefully and have concentrated on establishing strong links with residents. "We'll take our time about liberating Basra," said Group Captain Al Lockwood. "It's important to us that the civilian population is protected and that we reduce the damage to infrastructure as much as possible, but our operations continue."

In one of the small ironies of this war, the people of Palestine were yesterday celebrating a US success. But this was not Palestine in the Middle East, it was Palestine, West Virginia, the small farming town which is the home of Pte Jessica Lynch, a US army soldier taken prisoner by the Iraqis 10 days ago.

Pte Lynch, a supply clerk, was captured when her unit, the 507th Maintenance Company, was ambushed in the city of Nasiriyah on 23 March after taking a wrong turn.

Five of her comrades were later seen in a video shown on Iraqi television being asked questions by their Iraqi captors; the video also showed bodies, apparently of US soldiers, which led Pentagon officials to accuse Iraq of executing some of its prisoners.

She was freed in a night raid by US special forces on the Nasiriyah hospital where she was being held. Eleven bodies were found with her, some of them thought to be American. President George Bush welcomed her release yesterday as "great news".

"The President is indeed full of joy for Jessica Lynch and her family," the presidential spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said. "He's full of pride for the armed forces that carried out this daring rescue operation."

GI Jessica is an aspiring teacher who joined the army to get an education, her family said. She left a farming community with an unemployment rate of 15 per cent, one of the highest in West Virginia.

The President was mindful of the fact that there were others unaccounted for or missing in action or prisoners, Mr Fleischer said. Fifteen other Americans are formally listed as missing. Those known to be prisoners include two army Apache helicopter pilots captured on 24 March after their aircraft went down.

Reports also emerged yesterday of what was clearly another rescue operation, this time involving British forces, with an awful lot less publicity. An SAS patrol that seems to have got into difficulties near Mosul in northern Iraq, losing its Land Rover, is believed to have been extricated in a helicopter rescue. For the full details we will doubtless to wait for anotherBrave Two Zero and the tell-it-call account of one of the patrol members.

Meanwhile, Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, failed to secure a pledge from Turkey not to send its troops across the southern border, a move that could complicate Allied operations on the northern front.

But as the war continued, people were also continuing to think about reconstruction. In a lengthy session of Commons questions Mr Blair insisted that Iraq should be run by Iraqi people, as soon as possible after the war ends.

The Prime Minister said he favoured a "broadly representative" Iraqi government that protected human rights – rather than the country being run by the UN or the coalition. "I am quite sure that is what the vast majority of the Iraqi people want to see," he said.

Putting down a marker for Mr Bush or anyone else, he went on: "It's important that we work as coalition forces and coalition countries, in close consultation and partnership with the UN, to try to develop the right type of Iraqi interim authority that will be Iraqi in nature.

"It's in everyone's interest to get to the fastest possible point where the Iraqi government is indeed Iraqi – not either UN or coalition-force based."

That's fine. Couldn't be clearer. But first of all, the battle for Baghdad has to be won.

Invasion of Iraq Day's events

* Wednesday 8.00am BST: US Marines say they have seized a key bridge across the Tigris at Kut to take control of a main highway north towards Baghdad.

* 1.26pm: US says its forces have destroyed the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard and that other Republican Guard divisions are in trouble.

* 2.00: Brigadier General Vincent Brooks says US troops have crossed a "red line" around Baghdad which the military believe could trigger a chemical attack by Iraqi forces.

* 6.26: US says its forces are 20 miles from Baghdad.

* 7.00: Iraqi satellite TV shows Saddam Hussein meeting ministers. There is no sound and it is not clear when the tape was made.

* 7.45: Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow does not want to see the US fail in Iraq.

* 10.10: Rescued PoW Jessica Lynch arrives in Germany for medical treatment.

Words of war

US Brigadier General Brooks: "The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the Baghdad regime and will continue to be pointed at the heart of that regime."

Iraq Military Spokesman: "The Baghdad division [of the Republican Guard] is in command of the situation and it enjoys high morale to fight the enemy and destroy it."

Information Minister Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf reads statement from Saddam Hussein warning Kurds in northern Iraq not to help America: "The right path for every honourable patriot is to fight alongside your country and your leadership if it was subjected to a foreign aggression."