Nam Vet
This is GREAT news. All our Arty is now in range and we can finally start opening that can of whoop a** that Rummies been saving !!!
Republican Guard form core of Iraqi defence
TIM RIPLEY; JDW Special Correspondent; Qatar
Additional reporting by DAVID MULHOLLAND; JDW Business Editor; London; and
IAN KEMP; JDW News Editor; London
Coalition planners have identified the Iraqi Republican Guard Forces Command (RGFC), the best trained and equipped component of President Saddam Hussein's armed forces, as Iraq's 'centre of gravity' and are seeking to defeat it as quickly as possible. The 'main effort' in coalition operational plans is with the US Army's 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanised) (3rd ID) and other forces tasked with the defeat of the RGFC.
Once the RGFC is defeated coalition military planners believe that less motivated army units will collapse and costly battles to clear Basra and smaller centres of resistance can be avoided.
The seven main combat divisions of the RGFC are ringing Baghdad as the first and second echelons of a 100km deep defence zone around the Iraqi capital.
According to US Central Command officials elements of three RGFC divisions have been identified in the Euphrates and Tigris valleys to the south of Baghdad, where they have engaged advanced elements of the US Army's V Corps and I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) over the past several days. The Al Fateh Al Mudin Corps is co-ordinating the Iraqi defensive operations.
Jane's Defence Weekly understands the RGFC's Medina armoured division is providing the bulk of the forces in the vicinity of Karbala, where it has been fighting the US 3rd ID. AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helicopters of the 11th Aviation Brigade have been attacking the division, along with various fixed-wing aircraft.
To the left of the Medina is the Baghdad Motorised Division covering the centre of the Iraqi defensive position, while in the Tigris valley at Al Kut is the Al Nidal Armoured Division, where it is confronting I MEF advance elements.
Two other divisions of the RFGC are believed to be positioned in a second echelon south of the Iraqi capital. The Nebuchadnezzar Mechanised Division is normally based in the Karbala region and is believed to be positioned to support the Medina Division. In reserve just south of Baghdad is the Hammurabi Mechanised Division, which is considered the most fanatical unit in the RGFC and could be expected to attempt to launch counter attacks against US forces.
RGFC special forces brigades have deployed forward of the main defensive position to mount raids against the flanks of US units advancing up the Euphrates valley. Within Baghdad the coalition estimates that some 50,000 ultra-loyal troops are positioned to defend presidential palaces and the other sites crucial to the regime's hold on power.
The most important of these is the Special Republican Guard (SRG) force with three brigades of mechanised infantry and a tank brigade of 100 T-72 main battle tanks (MBTs). It also controls most of the air defences in the centre of the Iraqi capital, which over the past several days toned down their response to coalition air raids, possibly in a bid to save themselves to counter any US airborne assault on the city.
North of the capital the RGFC's Allah Akbar Corps has the Adnan and Al Abed mechanised divisions to hold Saddam's tribal home in Tikrit and the huge, sprawling Taji military base on the northern outskirts of Baghdad. This region contains most of Iraq's missile and other military factories, so the Allah Akbar Corps can be expected to offer fierce resistance to any US outflanking attack to surround Baghdad. Several smaller battalion- and brigade-sized units of RGFC special forces have remained along the front line in the Kurdish region to bolster the three regular army corps garrisoning the oil cities of Mosul and Kirkuk.