HUNDREDS of soldiers will return from a six month tour of duty in Iraq next week.

Troops from 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire), recruited from Cheshire, Wythenshawe and Stockport, will arrive at their Catterick, Yorkshire, barracks on Wednesday.

The regiment was launched last year in a ceremony presided over by its Colonel in Chief, Prince Charles, and deployed to the war zone in November. The 600-strong unit has seen action in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, as well as Basra and the port city of Umm Qasr.

Troops in 1 Mercian's A Company sent moving messages home through the M.E.N at Christmas time.

Among them was father-of-four Sgt Liam Kennedy, from Stockport, whose wife Hayley said: "We're so looking forward to him finally coming home. The kids have been making pictures and welcome home cards. We've managed to speak to him almost every day and it seems to have been a good tour for them."

A Company's commander, Major Rob Prentice, said they had had an `interesting and varied tour' and added: "Our soldiers have conducted anti-smuggling operations on the borders, protection tasks for senior officers in Baghdad, and helicopter-borne foot patrols to protect our base locations, as well as training the Iraqi Army for operations in Basrah. In each and every operation, the men have acquitted themselves very well."

The battalion's Commanding Officer, Lt Col Ian Cave, said: "I am extremely proud of the professionalism displayed by all the soldiers of 1 Mercian. The soldiers have conducted a wide variety of operations which they have carried out with a great deal of motivation and vigour. All of their families should be extremely proud of what they have helped to achieve in a more stable Iraq."

There will be a parade to mark the soldiers' return later in the summer.