thedrifter
04-02-03, 05:16 PM
April 02, 2003
Marines rout Republican Guard’s Baghdad Division
By Sean D. Naylor
Times staff writer
NORTH OF KARBALA, Iraq —Marines scored a decisive victory against Republican Guard forces today, crossing the Tigris River as soldiers pushed through the storied Karbala Gap by the Eurphrates River.
The northward thrust of U.S. ground forces accelerated the push toward Baghdad and possibly a showdown in the capital city.
The 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) swept through the so-called Karbala Gap against little resistance. By sunset the division’s attack was about 24 hours ahead of schedule, with a foothold secured on the eastern side of the Euphrates River, only 12 miles southwest of Baghdad.
To the east, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force “destroyed” the Baghdad Division of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard, said U.S. Central Command spokesman Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks.
“The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the regime right now and will remain pointed at it until the regime is gone,” Brooks told reporters in Doha, Qatar.
Contact was so light that Marine Corps Times reporter C. Mark Brinkley, traveling with an artillery unit supporting the advance, said the howitzer had fired only about six rounds in the last five days.
Brooks told reporters that the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s clash near Kut was part of a two-pronged attack on the outskirts of Baghdad that included an “effective” Army V Corp attack on a combination of the Medina and Nebuchadnezzer divisions of the Republican Guard on the outskirts of Baghdad, near Karbala.
He said V Corps units also fought paramilitary units to clear Najaf and were “welcomed by thousands of citizens,” but also “by fire from forces who had positioned themselves inside the Ali Mosque, one the most important religious shrines to all of Shia Islam throughout the world.”
Brooks cited the Ali Mosque incident as an example of the enemy’s ongoing exploitation of civilian populations and landmarks and willingness to sacrifice them in a bid to turn back U.S. forces. He also cited it as an example of American combat leaders’ respect for the locals and their spiritual icons because they refrained from returning fire into the mosque.
The 3rd Infantry Division, meanwhile, met little resistance in its march toward Baghdad. The division destroyed dozens of Iraqi weapons systems and seized about 100 prisoners while reporting no casualties of its own, said Lt. Col. Terry Ferrell, commander of the division’s 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment.
The offensive began in the early hours of April 2, as the division’s 3rd Brigade advanced into the Karbala Gap — a four-mile-wide stretch of desert between the city of Karbala and Lake Razzaza. The 3rd Brigade seized the gap, cordoned off the city and allowed the rest of the division to pass through toward Baghdad.
The division had been prepared to face a stiff defense, or even a counterattack, by the Republican Guard heavy divisions positioned west and south of Baghdad. But no significant opposition materialized, even though the pace of the division’s advance through the gap slowed to a few miles per hour at times.
“They didn’t show up,” Ferrell said of the Republican Guard.
The enemy’s absence puzzled Ferrell’s cavalrymen.
“Where are they all hiding?” asked one.
“Something’s got to be up,” muttered another.
“They’re gonna nuke this place,” worried a third.
The heaviest fight occurred at the bridge across the Euphrates, where direct fire from the division’s 1st Brigade destroyed nine Iraqi BMP armored personnel carriers, two BRDM reconnaissance vehicles and killed about 100 dismounted infantry, said Capt. Bill Brown, a 3-7 Cav battle captain who was following the fight on the radio.
The brigade pushed some of its forces across the bridge to secure a foothold on the eastern side, even as it was receiving sporadic Iraqi artillery fire on the western side. The Iraqi forces represented a regular army company reinforced by Republican Guard elements, Brown said. The nine BMPs belonged to the Republican Guard, and engaged 1st Brigade forces with direct fire from camouflaged positions before they were destroyed, Ferrell said.
Other than the regular army soldiers at the bridge, all the Iraqi troops encountered today were Republican Guard forces, Ferrell said. He said his cavalry troops had killed 20 dismounted infantry and destroyed 15 ZPU-23 and S-60 air defense systems and three mortar positions in a firefight four miles west of the Euphrates.
In a repeat of celebrated incident from the 1991 Gulf war, three Iraqi troops surrendered to Army helicopters flying over them. In 1991, the helicopters were AH-64 Apaches. This time, they were a pair of Ferrell’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout helicopters, which had been shot at with small arms from a “guard shack”-type building in the desert, he said.
When the helicopter pilots returned fire with rockets, the three Iraqi troops emerged from the building with their hands up. One of the helicopter crews landed to accept their surrender, and a ground force was sent to round them up, Ferrell said.
Because of the way the Karbala Gap forced the division into a narrow channel, it was considered one of the most likely spots for the Iraqis to use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. forces.
The division’s soldiers passed through the gap in mission-oriented protective posture two, or MOPP-2, meaning they were wearing their protective jackets, trousers and rubber overboots in temperatures that climbed into the 90s. There was no chemical attack, but Ferrell wasn’t relaxing as he watched the sun set. “We were prepared for it, and the day’s not over,” he said.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Austin, assistant division commander for maneuver, was similarly resolute when he discussed the possibility of chemical attack with his subordinates in a late-afternoon radio conversation. “If he does that, we’re OK,” Austin said. “We can handle that.”
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s reported rout of the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard was carried out with the aid of air strikes launched from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. The San Diego-based aircraft carrier Constellation launched air strikes Tuesday and Wednesday in support of a number of battles being fought at key Iraqi cities, including Kut, Najaf, Karbala and Hillah.
And in and around Baghdad itself, the ultimate target of U.S. forces fighting to unseat Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and destroy his reported weapons of mass destruction, fliers bombed time-sensitive targets such as tanks, artillery, fuel trucks and mortar pits, and conducted preplanned strikes on surface-to-air missile sites, in preparation for the expected invasion of the city.
Sempers,
Roger
Marines rout Republican Guard’s Baghdad Division
By Sean D. Naylor
Times staff writer
NORTH OF KARBALA, Iraq —Marines scored a decisive victory against Republican Guard forces today, crossing the Tigris River as soldiers pushed through the storied Karbala Gap by the Eurphrates River.
The northward thrust of U.S. ground forces accelerated the push toward Baghdad and possibly a showdown in the capital city.
The 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) swept through the so-called Karbala Gap against little resistance. By sunset the division’s attack was about 24 hours ahead of schedule, with a foothold secured on the eastern side of the Euphrates River, only 12 miles southwest of Baghdad.
To the east, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force “destroyed” the Baghdad Division of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard, said U.S. Central Command spokesman Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks.
“The dagger is clearly pointed at the heart of the regime right now and will remain pointed at it until the regime is gone,” Brooks told reporters in Doha, Qatar.
Contact was so light that Marine Corps Times reporter C. Mark Brinkley, traveling with an artillery unit supporting the advance, said the howitzer had fired only about six rounds in the last five days.
Brooks told reporters that the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s clash near Kut was part of a two-pronged attack on the outskirts of Baghdad that included an “effective” Army V Corp attack on a combination of the Medina and Nebuchadnezzer divisions of the Republican Guard on the outskirts of Baghdad, near Karbala.
He said V Corps units also fought paramilitary units to clear Najaf and were “welcomed by thousands of citizens,” but also “by fire from forces who had positioned themselves inside the Ali Mosque, one the most important religious shrines to all of Shia Islam throughout the world.”
Brooks cited the Ali Mosque incident as an example of the enemy’s ongoing exploitation of civilian populations and landmarks and willingness to sacrifice them in a bid to turn back U.S. forces. He also cited it as an example of American combat leaders’ respect for the locals and their spiritual icons because they refrained from returning fire into the mosque.
The 3rd Infantry Division, meanwhile, met little resistance in its march toward Baghdad. The division destroyed dozens of Iraqi weapons systems and seized about 100 prisoners while reporting no casualties of its own, said Lt. Col. Terry Ferrell, commander of the division’s 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment.
The offensive began in the early hours of April 2, as the division’s 3rd Brigade advanced into the Karbala Gap — a four-mile-wide stretch of desert between the city of Karbala and Lake Razzaza. The 3rd Brigade seized the gap, cordoned off the city and allowed the rest of the division to pass through toward Baghdad.
The division had been prepared to face a stiff defense, or even a counterattack, by the Republican Guard heavy divisions positioned west and south of Baghdad. But no significant opposition materialized, even though the pace of the division’s advance through the gap slowed to a few miles per hour at times.
“They didn’t show up,” Ferrell said of the Republican Guard.
The enemy’s absence puzzled Ferrell’s cavalrymen.
“Where are they all hiding?” asked one.
“Something’s got to be up,” muttered another.
“They’re gonna nuke this place,” worried a third.
The heaviest fight occurred at the bridge across the Euphrates, where direct fire from the division’s 1st Brigade destroyed nine Iraqi BMP armored personnel carriers, two BRDM reconnaissance vehicles and killed about 100 dismounted infantry, said Capt. Bill Brown, a 3-7 Cav battle captain who was following the fight on the radio.
The brigade pushed some of its forces across the bridge to secure a foothold on the eastern side, even as it was receiving sporadic Iraqi artillery fire on the western side. The Iraqi forces represented a regular army company reinforced by Republican Guard elements, Brown said. The nine BMPs belonged to the Republican Guard, and engaged 1st Brigade forces with direct fire from camouflaged positions before they were destroyed, Ferrell said.
Other than the regular army soldiers at the bridge, all the Iraqi troops encountered today were Republican Guard forces, Ferrell said. He said his cavalry troops had killed 20 dismounted infantry and destroyed 15 ZPU-23 and S-60 air defense systems and three mortar positions in a firefight four miles west of the Euphrates.
In a repeat of celebrated incident from the 1991 Gulf war, three Iraqi troops surrendered to Army helicopters flying over them. In 1991, the helicopters were AH-64 Apaches. This time, they were a pair of Ferrell’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout helicopters, which had been shot at with small arms from a “guard shack”-type building in the desert, he said.
When the helicopter pilots returned fire with rockets, the three Iraqi troops emerged from the building with their hands up. One of the helicopter crews landed to accept their surrender, and a ground force was sent to round them up, Ferrell said.
Because of the way the Karbala Gap forced the division into a narrow channel, it was considered one of the most likely spots for the Iraqis to use chemical or biological weapons against U.S. forces.
The division’s soldiers passed through the gap in mission-oriented protective posture two, or MOPP-2, meaning they were wearing their protective jackets, trousers and rubber overboots in temperatures that climbed into the 90s. There was no chemical attack, but Ferrell wasn’t relaxing as he watched the sun set. “We were prepared for it, and the day’s not over,” he said.
Brig. Gen. Lloyd Austin, assistant division commander for maneuver, was similarly resolute when he discussed the possibility of chemical attack with his subordinates in a late-afternoon radio conversation. “If he does that, we’re OK,” Austin said. “We can handle that.”
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force’s reported rout of the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard was carried out with the aid of air strikes launched from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. The San Diego-based aircraft carrier Constellation launched air strikes Tuesday and Wednesday in support of a number of battles being fought at key Iraqi cities, including Kut, Najaf, Karbala and Hillah.
And in and around Baghdad itself, the ultimate target of U.S. forces fighting to unseat Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and destroy his reported weapons of mass destruction, fliers bombed time-sensitive targets such as tanks, artillery, fuel trucks and mortar pits, and conducted preplanned strikes on surface-to-air missile sites, in preparation for the expected invasion of the city.
Sempers,
Roger