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It was a victory foretold and started soon after dawn, just as the sun began to bake the desert. Two American F-16 jets roared out of a clear blue sky and dropped heavy payloads on enemy bunkers in the distant foothills.
British artillery unleashed a barrage which boomed across the plain, sending grey plumes curling over the targets. Mortars joined in, peppering explosions across the ridge.
Four M1 Abrams tanks ploughed through scrub towards the foothills. About 800 metres out they stopped, lined up and fired volleys of heavy explosive shells, gouging craters in the condemned terrain.
The tanks opened up with machine guns, a sign for Humvees with their own mounted machine guns to line up alongside and join the cacophony, spraying thousands of bullet casings over the desert floor.
Armoured transports called Vikings raced to one flank and offloaded Royal Marine commandos. Bristling with body armour and guns, they stormed through what was left of the smoking ruins.
"A covert approach, then overwhelming force. Consecutive attacks. Nobody gets out," said Lieutenant Colonel Dan Cheesman, the commanding officer of 45 Commando Group, which led the attack.
By midday the battle was over. Allies 1, Enemy 0.
It was an impressive display of firepower and coordination. There was, however, no enemy. It was a mock battle at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Centre in Twentynine Palms, a vast, 2,900 sq km training base in California's Mojave desert.
The bunkers were empty and the green pop-up figures representing foes did not fire back. "You know you're going to win," said Cheesman.
US President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron have specifically ruled out the deployment of ground troops in the conflict against Islamic State fighters. But the deployment of more than 1,000 US troops in "advisory" capacities in Iraq has led some commentators to say the distinction is moot.
The use of Apache helicopters in Syria means that while boots are not exactly "on" the ground, they are not far off it. And while political calculations require the US and UK leaders to make definitive declarations in public, in private, military planners must be ready to respond to any change in circumstances.
The show of arms in the Mojave, part of a six-week joint US and UK training operation dubbed Black Alligator, underlined the temptations of expanding the coalition's campaign.
It was state of the art firepower orchestrated by American and British marines, and a small Dutch contingent, who referred to each other as "cousins". The hosts lent not only the base but also vehicles and personnel. The entire operation involved 850 soldiers and cost about £12 million (HK$148 million), the bulk going on ammunition (the F-16s dropped concrete slabs, the rest of the ordnance was real).
"We're very integrated. The US Marine Corps think like us, behave like us," said Cheesman. The British visitors ate US rations and tuned into the Mojave's Elvis Presley radio station. Some, such as company commander Stu MacCrimmon, have spent years embedded with US units.
Black Alligator, which was conceived before Islamic State's lightning advances in Syria and Iraq, is taking place in the shadow of US-led air strikes and speculation about boots on the ground, whether as "advisers" or combat troops. "It certainly focuses the mind," said Cheesman.
The exercise, which ends next week, simulated fighting in mock Arab villages with thick-walled structures known as "kill houses" into which soldiers can fire live rounds and throw grenades.
Every marine interviewed at Twentynine Palms expressed yearning for deployment to a hotspot, any hotspot.
"These guys are fit as a butcher's dog. They'll be ready in a heartbeat to put on their kit and go anywhere they're asked," said Major Duncan.
"It's what we train to do," said Blake Harding, 22, still buzzing after unleashing about 1,700 rounds from a machine gun. "It's quite cathartic."


US and UK marines practise desert warfare in the Mojave desert

British marines take part in the Black Alligator exercise. 

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Black Alligator exercise unites American, British and Dutch troops and underlines readiness to expanding the campaign against Islamic State


It was a victory foretold and started soon after dawn, just as the sun began to bake the desert. Two American F-16 jets roared out of a clear blue sky and dropped heavy payloads on enemy bunkers in the distant foothills.
