Posted on 09/16/2007 4:13:58 AM PDT by RedRover
The last battle
Images recorded by the Scan Eagle at Haditha: 0913 to 1544 / November 19, 2005
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0913 – Scan Eagle tracks motorcycle courier until he meets up with the “blue car” that Cpl. Haman referred to in his account of the battle. Then the Scan Eagle begins surveillance of the blue car. The blue car cruises the palm grove, meeting up with several vehicles that enter and exit on Palm Grove Trail. Both vehicles linked up repeatedly with insurgents to exchange weapons and intelligence, according to the Marines who wrote the report. Eventually the blue car moves south and out of the palm grove toward the “safe house.” Along the way the blue car stops several times to hold conversations with unidentified Iraqis.
0913 to 0928 - Blue car and motorcycle leave palm grove heading southwest toward safe so-called house what is west of ambush site. The blue car travels about 2 kilometers during the trip. Intelligence assets had warned Marines of alleged safe house in previous meetings.
Blue car meets up with taxi full of insurgents stopping and possibly linking up with other possible insurgent vehicles as they head south along Palm grove trail. Euphrates River is on east (right) side of image as the blue car travels south.
Blue car meets up with another vehicle where brief conversation takes place. Blue car is still heading south toward safe house.
Blue car arrives at safe house at intersection of Palm Grove Trail and River Road, about 700 meters from Route Chestnut and Viper. At this moment Cpl. Haman’s squad is moving toward safe house in tactical formation. His squad is about 600 meters from the blue car out of the frame coming toward it from the upper left.
Blue car is now parked out of sight of the road. Suspected safe house is outlined in red at upper left. Another insurgent suspect is walking toward the house at the time.
Blue car is now backed all the way behind the suspected safe house drive way, putting it out of sight of Marines closing in on the building. Unknown to the approaching Marines there are already five to eight insurgents hiding inside the building with a huge arsenal of weapons.
0940 – Scan Eagle observes two more males enter safe house.
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
0944 – Scan Eagle observes first Hellfire missile attack from orbiting USMC “Cobra” attack helicopter. Cpl. Haman’s 4th Plt has now cordoned off the building and is out of site around the periphery of compound.
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0949 – Second Hellfire missile strikes safe house. SSgt. Wuterich’s squad is about 600 meters north of this building. 4th Squad has it surrounded.
From SSgt. Frank Wuterich's statement at his Article 32 hearing:
“We watched as rotary winged aircraft deployed Hellfires and dropped bombs on houses directly to our south. We remained on overwatch for the majority of the rest of the day.”
The battle has been developing for more than two hours.
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
0945 to 1000 – 4th Platoon Marines move in to assess Hellfire damage. At this point there is still no return fire from insurgents. This is probably Haman’s fire team crossing the road. Safe house is in lower left side of image.
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0945 to 1000 – 4th Platoon Marines continue moving in at a run to assess Hellfire damage, unfortunately they head to the wrong house. There is still no return fire coming from safe house.
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0945 to 1000 – Smoke caused by the explosion of Cpl. Hamen’s grenade when 4th Platoon attacked the wrong house. Blue car is directly behind smoke plume.
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1014 - Two insurgents appear on roof and begin throwing grenades at 4th Squad members. Smoke on left is probably the grenade explosion that wounded Lt. Zall and the Navy corpsman. Cpl. Haman's fireteam is in the building directly above and adjacent to where insurgents are hiding on the roof. Moments before this frame was recorded his fire team got into a grenade exchange inside that house.
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
1018 – Insurgents move to the roof top and engage in firefight with Marines below. Midway through the fight one insurgent – seen in middle of roof lying sideways – was killed by small arms fire from the attacking Marines. The dead insurgent and his weapon remain on the roof until the building is bombed by Marine Corps F-18 attack jets.
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1019 - One insurgent lies dead with his weapon next to him (square) and another continues to move around the roof firing at the Marines despite heavy return fire (circle).
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1029 – 4th Squad suppresses rooftop fighters with heavy automatic weapons and M-203 grenade fire.
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1029 – 4th Platoon suppresses insurgents in safe house with automatic weapons fire as wounded, non-ambulatory Marines are carried to safety to a waiting gun truck.
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1031 – 4th Plt Leader Lt Zall and other wounded Marines and a Navy corpsman are loaded into gun truck for evacuation to Battalion Aid Station.
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Larger image below, click to enlarge...
1033 - Insurgent preparing to jump off roof under heavy fire prior to Marine F-18 attack jets beginning their bomb runs.
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1034 - Cobra helicopter gunship sprays rooftop with 20mm cannon fire as two more insurgents jump off roof at top of structure.
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1044 - LCpl Pegues marks insurgent targets on roof with green smoke to identify their position prior to air strikes by orbiting USMC F-18 attack fighters.
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1314 – After a dud bomb fails to dislodge insurgents at 1059 Marines surround building and keep it cordoned off for more than two hours until another flight of F- 18s arrives to bomb the structure. This is picture of first 500-pound bomb hitting house.
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1314 – Second bomb hits target but fails to explode. Remnants of bomb can be seen hurtling through the air inside circle.
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1329 – Third 500-pound bomb explodes, literally flattening building. Later five insurgents and a large cache of weapons were recovered among the debris. At least two insurgents were seen fleeing from the building after the bomb blast.
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1429 – Fleeing insurgent is tracked from house to house west of the safe house to a residence where Capt. McConnell with a squad from 3rd Plt., a squad from 4th Plt., a section of M1 tanks, and a squad of Iraqi soldiers detain him without a fight.
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1514 - A section of M1 tanks (one in square) and a squad of Iraqi soldiers close in on insurgent and capture him without resistence.
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1544 – Insurgent, now zip tied and in custody of Iraqi soldiers, is led away for interrogation.
This was the last recorded action in the fight that lasted from 0715 to 1544, more than 8 hours.
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This is part three of three-part series. See below for links to parts parts one and two.
That looks good, RS. Mind if I include the other two google shots you have found that show a closer view of the safe house?
No problem - put up anything you think is worthwhile.
These look great. Thanks for putting up the detailed pictures.
Post 24 - blue car meets taxi - I concur this looks like houses/street. My only question is, does the bridge (that looks like railroad tracks), look like this in the first picture in post 23? I can’t see it under the lettering blue car meets taxi. I’m assuming it does.
Post 25- blue car conversation - Looks good. It’s not as clear to me, but I see enough their that makes sense.
Post 26 - Tanks/Iraqi Squad - Looks good, also. Excellent find.
Does the farthest north pinpoint “Palm Grove” that you made, represent the 1st picture in this thread - Motorcycle Meets Blue Car?
? First of 23 is the safe house but this may answer your concerns - In GoogleEarth the positions tags stay the same size as you zoom in or out and it’s a smoooth and continuous zoom - That’s why the same tag seems to “get smaller” as you zoom in, then cover things as you zoom out. The wording may swap sides.
If you can’t run GoogleEarth you can use Googlemaps to find these, copy and paste these coordinates in
34°7’39.34”N 42°22’49.59”E
Click to satellite and zoom way in for the IED site - You can maneuver from there to the other locations.
The Palm Grove point is a complete guess from the 1500m NE distance given and assuming the Palm Grove Trail continues upwards - In that area should be the first pic here and everything from the previous page “0844 - Wide angle view of the palm grove located about 1,500 feet northeast of Route Chestnut” The houses in those pics have enough characteristics that if they were in the detail area I should have found them.
I’d like to see some caps from the video of what was between the guys running from the trigger house and the first palm grove pic
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