.......
Once they had breached the line, the vehicles of Alpha Troop raced north. For the next three days, Popes men advanced rapidly, destroying Iraqi armor, capturing hundreds of prisoners, and crossing various mission phase lines with names such as Dixie, New Jersey, and Milford. On the fourth day of the ground war, MG Rhame radioed the VII Corps commander, LTG Fred Franks, and announced, Were facing a broken army. Contact is light. Franks asked Rhame for his recommendation and Rhame replied, Id like to press east to objective Denver and cut the Basra-Kuwait City Highway. Franks quickly approved Rhames request to press the attack. The mission went to CPT Pope and his troop. The units of the Big Red One were so strung out that Pope and his men would not receive artillery preparation, only advanced warning from helicopters scouting from above.
From his Bradley, Pope surveyed the positions of his troops. To his front were the six Bradleys of 1st Platoon. In the center was Pope, followed by the six Bradleys of 2nd Platoon. To the right were two Bradleys and three M1A1s of 3rd Platoon. At approximately 1630, Alpha Troop crested a ridge a spotted Iraqi armor. The lead Iraqi vehicle, a Soviet made BMP IFV, attempted to flee, but a Bradley, commanded by SSG Gerald Broennimann, opened fire and knocked it out of action. I didnt have to give the command to fire, said Pope. The Americans opened up instinctively in an effort to eliminate the Iraqis before they could respond. Within seconds, the air was streaked with tracer rounds as Bradleys and M1s concentrated their fire on the Iraqis.
After the first Iraqi vehicle exploded, Popes gunner attempted to engage an Iraqi T-55 tank with a TOW missile. As Pope observed the tank, he caught the flash of a TOW fired by another Bradley in the corner of his commanders sight. The missile struck the Iraqi tank, destroying it. The Iraqis appeared to have been taken by surprise, and according to Pope, there were three Iraqis standing on the tank. I think they heard the missile connect because they all turned and looked in our direction. The entire action was over within forty minutes. Dozens of Iraqi tanks and other vehicles were destroyed. Fiery explosions erupted as the ammunition within the wrecked enemy vehicles cooked off.
The Iraqi defeat was total. Miraculously, Alpha Troop had suffered no casualties. There was, however, little time to enjoy the victory. The original mission called for Alpha Troop to block enemy forces from advancing from the north. Popes small force now straddled the Iraqi line of retreat and had to prevent the Iraqis from retreating from the south. Pope immediately redeployed his units. He ordered 3rd Platoon to continue to block any Iraqi threat from the south and established a perimeter around the highway with 1st and 2nd Platoons. He also ordered 1st and 2nd Platoons to each deploy two Bradleys north to protect Alpha Troop from any Iraqis advancing south to support the general retreat. As the unit redeployed, Iraqi prisoners flooded the troop. By 1830, Alpha Troop had collected over 450 prisoners.
Back at the 4th Cavalry headquarters, LTC Wilson realized the danger to Alpha Troop, which was sticking out ahead of the rest of the 1st Infantry Division and virtually isolated from support. In order to reinforce Alphas position, Wilson ordered CPT Mike Bills Bravo Troop to deploy to the western side of the Basra Road while Alpha force secured the eastern side. Pope received orders to secure the highway and block the Iraqi escape route. Bravo Troop soon arrived, and the two units quickly established a strong defensive perimeter to answer threats from any direction. As darkness fell over the battlefield, Pope continued to inspect and improve the perimeter. He ordered his men not to go walking around outside it, and to be careful when moving within it. According to Pope, everything to the sides, and for that matter inside the perimeter, had mines, cluster submunitions, or any kind of unexploded ordnance. Pope knew what these hidden dangers could do.
During the course of the ground war, almost all of his tanks and Bradleys had hit mines and other unexploded ordnance. On one occasion, a tank even picked up an antitank mine and rolled it over its rear sprocket, where it exploded.
Throughout the night, as the sounds of war rumbled over the desert landscape, the two troops continued watch to collect prisoners. The lull in the fighting allowed Pope the time to assess the strengths and weaknesses of his Iraqi foes. He had clashed with Soviet-supplied T-55 and T-72 tanks in a couple of engagements, and to him the vehicles looked impressive, but did not match up to our equipment in any way. His professional assessment of the crews was even worse. With proper training, he thought the Iraqis could have done much better. But matched against well-trained and better equipped Americans, they never really had a chance.
At 0400 the next morning, Pope completed his rounds and went to his troop command post to try to catch an hour of sleep. Instead of sleep, he received some surprising news. Popes executive officer announced that a cease-fire was to go into effect at 0800. Pope felt more relieved than victorious. None of his men had been killed or wounded, and they had shown professionalism equal to the most difficult situations they had faced. That was my greatest reward, Pope conceded. He immediately got on the troop radio net and announced the good news. He then told his men how proud he was of them and how much he appreciated their efforts. The war, as it turned out, was not quite over yet.
The cease-fire was in effect, but LTC Wilson, the 1/4 Cavalry commander, received orders to secure Safwan Airfield. GEN Schwarzkopf had decided to hold a formal cease-fire ceremony with the Iraqi generals. Schwarzkopf chose Safwan because he wanted a spot deep in Iraq so there would be no question as to who were the victors and who were the vanquished. There was only one problem: Safwan was still held by the Iraqis. Because of a miscommunication, GEN Schwarzkopf assumed that the airfield had been taken by American forces. As result, the 1st Infantry Division scrambled to secure Safwan with orders to avoid casualties.
All troops of the squadron were were alerted to move out at 0615 and head north. Above them, OH-58 Kiowa Warrior scout and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters acted as guides. The lead units of the 1/4 Cavalry reached the airfield about an hour later. They were surprised when what they saw on maps as an uncompleted highway turned out to be the Safwan airfield. At first, the area seemed to be deserted, but overhead, helicopter crews reported the dug in tanks of an entire Iraqi brigade. Pope received the order not to fire unless fired upon and to continue forward. Without firing a shot, Alpha Troop occupied the airfield under the guns of the defending Iraqis. The enemy forces Pope found turned out to be a group of demoralized, starving, and ragged Iraqis. The Americans broke out their Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) and shared them with the Iraqi defenders. Soon after they started eating, an Iraqi colonel marched up, furious that his men accepted American food and demanding that the Americans depart. Pope informed him that it was the Iraqis who would have to leave the area. He exchanged maps with the colonel and the Iraqi retreated back to his own lines to inform his superiors.
All around the perimeter, the same type of exchange was going on with different troops and LTC Wilson himself. After a short period of time the Iraqi colonel returned to Popes position and told him the Iraqis were not going to leave. As the tension increased, a flight of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters flew over. Pope reiterated the order, shouting over the thumping of the copters blades that the Americans would attack if the Iraqis did not move. The Iraqi colonel went back to tell his superiors. The negotiations were not moving fast enough for MG Rhame. He ordered his 2nd Brigade, under COL Tony Moreno, to Safwan. Once there, Moreno conferred with two Iraqi generals and a civilian official. He was waiting for an Iraqi answer when Rhame radioed him with orders that were direct and to the point. He told Moreno, Tell the Iraqis to move or die. When Moreno met the Iraqis for a second time, he cut off their reading of a prepared statement. Spitting a wad of blood at their feet (he had recently cut his lip) he said, If you dont leave by 1600 hours, we will kill you. That ended the negotiations. The Iraqis pulled out.
Within hours, CH-47 Chinook helicopters began ferrying in tents and tables. GEN Schwarzkopf arrived soon after to sign the official Iraqi surrender.
CPT Pope had survived four days of one of the shortest but most intense and lopsided wars of the twentieth century. He had helped the U.S. Army win the war by successfully performing a vital mission that cut off the enemy deep in its own territory. When that was completed, he and his men assisted with the bloodless capture of Safwan for the armistice negotiations. He had also achieved something rare to any soldier in war: he led his men into combat and brought them all home alive.
"When Moreno met the Iraqis for a second time, he cut off their reading of a prepared statement. Spitting a wad of blood at their feet (he had recently cut his lip) he said, If you dont leave by 1600 hours, we will kill you. That ended the negotiations. The Iraqis pulled out."
Colonel Moreno is a true negotiator. I admire clear talk.
Remember a few days ago there was a question about whether it was possible for a Bataan Death March fellow to also fight at Iwo? I found one. Where there is one, there are others.
"One close friend in particular, Reid Chamberlain, his foxhole buddy on Iwo Jima, had eluded death once before on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines by escaping to a nearby island and leading a Filipino guerrilla band behind Japanese lines. The Marines notified his mother that he had died, though she refused to believe them, Josephy said.
Chamberlain eventually returned to the United States, but finding that he couldnt fit into civilian life while the war was still on, he re-enlisted in the Marines and found himself on Iwo Jima. He was walking across what he thought was a secure part of the island when he was shot and killed by an enemy sniper hidden among the rocks."
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7012940/page/2/
Finally, flamethrowers squirted their lethal liquid into the caves, which became boiling infernos. A number of the Japanese who had reoccupied the ridge were incinerated. Others, their clothing and bodies aflame, tried to escape, only to fall prey to accurate Marine bullets. In desperation, some of the enemy trapped inside the ridge blew themselves up with hand grenades. Before long the scene became wild and terrible. More Japs rushed screaming from the caves. They tumbled over the rocks, their clothes and bodies burning fiercely. Soon the flamethrowers paused. A Marine lifted himself cautiously into view. There were no shots from the caves. A Jap with his clothes in rags hunched himself out of one hole, his arms upraised. The Marines stood up behind the rocks and waved to him to come out. The Jap indicated that there were more who would like to surrender. The Marines motioned him to tell them to come out.
In all, 40 men emerged from the ridge, many of them Koreans. Marines shouldered their weapons as the prisoners were marched to the rear. The tanks left the erstwhile battlefield and quiet descended over the area. Yet this peaceful interlude was soon to be shattered again a few hours later when the Japanese, moving through underground tunnels, reoccupied the ridge. One of the first victims proved to be Sergeant Reid (Carlos) Chamberlain, a Marine with an unusual background. As a member of the U.S. Army, he had witnessed the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, but instead of surrendering to the enemy, he had turned his activities towards the organization and training of Filipino guerrillas. He received a commission in the U.S, Army and returned to the United States, where he promptly resigned his commission and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps.
En route to the forward positions of the 21st Marines, Sergeant (Reid Carlos) Chamberlain was walking past the long, rocky ridge, unaware that there were any enemy in the vicinity. Suddenly, there were several shots, one of which hit the sergeant in the head. This incident took place in front of several Marine news correspondents, some of whom also drew enemy fire. When help arrived for the sergeant, it was too late. As one of the correspondents present was to put it later, speaking of the enemy:
In an instant they had claimed one of our best men. Chamberlain's wonderful war record had ended abruptly. After so many heroic deeds, it seemed an added tragedy that he was killed while doing nothing but walking. There was nothing anybody could do about it.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/IV/USMC-IV-VI-11.html Page 690.
While this report deals exclusively with the records of Commander McCoy, Colonel Melhlik, and Colonel Dyess, other Americans known to have escaped from Japanese prison camps in the Philippines include Maj. Michiel Dabervitch of Ironton, Minn., Maj. Austin C. Shofner of Shelbyville, Term., Maj, Jack Hawkins of Roxton, Tex., and Corp. Reid Carlos Chamberlain of El Cajone, Calif., all of the U. S. Marine Corps. (From official United States Navy report.)
http://www.battlingbastardsbataan.com/deathmarch.htm
What a man. What a shame to lose him.
On this Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on February 25:
1643 Ahmed II 21st sultan of Turkey (1691-95)
1725 Armand-Louis Couperin Paris France, composer/organist (Notre Dame)
1735 Ernst William Wolf composer
1778 José Francisco de San Martín liberated Argentina, Chile & Perú
1807 George Alfred Trenholm Secretary Treasurer (Confederacy), died in 1876
1808 James Bowen Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1886
1809 George Washington Cullom Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1892
1814 Taras Shevchenko Ukrainian national poet/painter
1815 Robert Hall Chilton Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1879
1833 Clement Anselm Evans Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1911
1841 Pierre Auguste Renoir Limoges France, Impressionist painter/sculptor
1873 Enrico Caruso Naples Italy, operatic tenor (Faust)
1881 William Foster Massachusetts, Communist Presidential candidate (1924,28,32)
1888 John Foster Dulles US Secretary of State (1953-59)
1896 John J McClellan (Senator-D-AR)
1901 [Herbert] Zeppo Marx New York NY, comedian/actor (Marx Brothers)
1906 Howard Zahniser Father of the Wilderness Act
1909 Edgar Pangborn US, sci-fi author (Judgment of Eve, Davy)
1910 Millicent Fenwick New York NY, (Representative-R-NJ 1975-82) (Doonesbury)
1913 Jim Backus Cleveland OH, actor (Mr Magoo, Thurston Howell III-Gilligan's Island)
1917 Anthony Burgess essayist/novelist (A Clockwork Orange)
1918 Robert Lorimer "Bobby" Riggs US tennis star (US Open 1939, 41)
1927 Dick Jones Snyder TX, actor (Buffalo Bill Jr)
1927 Ralph Stanley country singer
1929 Christopher George Royal Oak MN, actor (Rat Patrol)
1929 Tommy Newsom Virginia, musician/bandleader/saxophonist (Tonight Show)
1932 Faron Young country singer/actor (Hidden Guns, Daniel Boone)
1937 Bob Schieffer Austin TX, newscaster (deFace The Nation)
1940 Ron Santo Chicago Cub shortstop (1st baseball player to veto his trade)
1943 George Harrison Liverpool England, rocker (My Sweet Lord, Beatles-Something, Traveling Wilburys-End of the Line)
1950 Rick Flair [Richard Fliehr], wrestling champion (NWA/WWF/WCW/AWA)
Deaths which occurred on February 25:
0779 Walburgis Anglo-Saxon abbess/saint (Walpurgis Night), dies
1495 Djem Sultan son of Turkish sultan Mehmed II, dies at 35
1601 Earl of Essex executed for treason in revolt against Queen Elizabeth
1601 Robert Devereux Earl of Essex, executed for treason against Elizabeth
1713 Frederik I King of Prussia (1701-13), dies at 55
1723 Sir Christopher Wren England, astronomer/architect, dies at 90
1922 Henri-Désiré Landru French sex murderer, guillotined at 52
1962 Wilhelm Pessler German sociologist, dies at 81
1975 Elijah Muhammad leader of the Nation of Islam, dies in Chicago at 77
1978 Daniel "Chappie" James Jr retired Air Force General, dies at 58
1987 James Coco actor (Joe-Dumplings), dies at 58
1994 Baruch Goldstein physician/murderer (53 in mosque), lynched at 42
1994 Jersey Joe Walcott boxer, dies at 80
1994 Wladyslaw Sila Lawyer Adviser to Solidarity-Nowicki dies at 80
1996 Haing S Ngor doctor/actor (Killing Fields), dies at 45
1997 Tony Williams jazz drummer (Miles Davis), dies at 51
Reported: MISSING in ACTION
1966 CAUSEY JOHN BERNARD---GRANITE CITY IL.
1967 HART JOSEPH L.---AFTON WY
1968 BRELLENTHIN MICHAEL---DUNEDIN FL.
[NOT ON OFFICIAL DIA LIST]
1968 RIDGEWAY RONALD L.---HOUSTON TX.
[03/16/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1972 MORGAN WILLIAM J.---BATON ROUGE LA.
POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.
On this day...
1095 Council of Rockingham bishop Anselmus vs King William II Rufus
1336 The Knights of the Cross lay siege to Pilenai Castle in Samogitia. The defenders burned all their goods and committed suicide (Lithuanian Massada)
1540 Francisco Vásquez de Coronado searches for 7 lost cities of gold (finds dirt, sand, rock, a little water, and a bunch of really ticked of indians)
1570 Pius V excommunicates Elizabeth, absolves her subjects from allegiance (Elizabeth responded by hanging and burning Jesuits)
1746 Cumberlands troops occupy Aberdeen
1751 1st performing monkey exhibited in America, NYC (admission 1¢)
1791 1st Bank of US chartered
1793 1st cabinet meeting (At George Washington's home)
1799 1st federal forestry legislation authorizes purchase of timber land
1799 Congress passes 1st federal quarantine legislation
1803 1,800 sovereign German states unite into 60 states
1804 Jefferson nominated for President at Democratic-Republican caucus
1815 Napoleon left his exile on the Island of Elba, intending to return to France
1831 Polish army halted the Russian advance into their country at the Battle of Grochow
1836 Samuel Colt patents 1st revolving barrel multishot firearm
1837 1st US electric printing press patented by Thomas Davenport
1838 London pedestrian walks 20 miles backward then forward in 8 hours (talk about your good times!)
1839 Seminoles & black allies shipped from Tampa Bay FL, to the West
1847 State University of Iowa is approved
1859 First use of "insanity plea" to prove innocence
1862 Congress establishes the US Bureau of Engraving & Printing
1862 Paper currency (greenbacks) introduced in US by President Abraham Lincoln
1862 Confederate troops abandon Nashville, Tenn., in the face of Grant's advance.
1862 The ironclad Monitor was commissioned at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
1863 Congress creates national banking system, comptroller of currency
1868 Andrew Johnson impeached for violation of the Tenure of Office act
1870 Hiram Revels, Mississippi, is sworn in as 1st black member of Congress (Senator)
1875 Kiowa Indians under Lone Wolf (Guipago) surrender at Ft Sill
1879 Congress passed 1st Timberland Protection Act
1885 US Congress condemns barbed wire around government grounds
1896 Italian government decides to attack governor Baratieri of Eritrea
1901 US Steel Corp organizes under directorship of J P Morgan
1904 J M Synge's "Riders to the Sea" opens at Irish National Theatre Society
1907 US proclaims protectorate over Dominican Republic
1908 1st tunnel under the Hudson River (railway tunnel) opens
1913 16th Amendment ratified, authorizing income tax(rant rant rant rant!)
1919 Oregon is 1st state to tax gasoline (1¢ per gallon)
1919 League of Nations set up by Paris Treaty
1921 Georgian SSR proclaimed
1923 Bread in Berlin rises to 2,000 mark
1926 Francisco Franco becomes General of Spain
1927 Gdansk & Polish accord concerning traffic through Polish corridor
1930 Check photographing device patented
1932 Immigrant Adolf Hitler gets German citizenship
1933 Major NFL rule changes (hash mark 10 yards in, posts on goal line)
1933 1st genuine aircraft carrier christened, USS Ranger
1940 1st televised (W2XBS, NYC) hockey game (Rangers vs Canadiens)
1941 February strike against persecution of Jews, in Amsterdam
1943 Vietminh forms Indo Chinese Democratic Front
1945 US aircraft carriers attack Tokyo
1948 Communists seize Czechoslovakia/C Gottwald becomes premier
1949 WAC Corporal rocket achieves height of 400k (record)
1950 "Your Show of Shows" with Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca premieres on NBC Writers include Mel Brooks, Neil Simon & Woody Allen
1954 Abdul Nasser appointed Egyptian premier
1956 Khrushchev denounces Stalin at 20th Soviet Party Conference
1957 Buddy Holly & the Crickets record "That'll Be the Day"
1957 Supreme Court decides 6-3, baseball is only antitrust exempt pro sport
1961 Paul Bikle in glider climbs from 1208 meter at release to record 14,100
1963 Beatles release their 1st single in US "Please Please Me"
1964 Cassius Clay, a 7-1 underdog, TKOs champion Sonny Liston in the 7th round to win the world heavyweight championship(I AM the greatest)
1966 Syrian military coup under Hafiz al-Assad
1968 430 Unification Church couples wed in Korea
1968 Makarios re-elected President of Cyprus
1969 Beatles begin recording for the Abbey Road album
1971 "Oh! Calcutta!" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 1,316 performances
1972 Lopsided trade, Cards trade Steve Carlton to Phillies for Rick Wise
1973 Juan Corona sentenced to 25 life sentences for 25 murders
1974 Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) begin tandem bicycle ride a record 18,020 miles around the world, completed on August 27, 1975
1976 U.S. Supreme Court rules that states may ban the hiring of illegal aliens. (Gosh! That was nice of them)
1981 NHL most penalized game; Bruins vs Northstars, 84 penalties (392 minutes)
1981 Executive Board of Baseball Players' Association votes unanimously to strike on May 29 if the issue of free-agent compensation remains unresolved
1982 Final episode of "The Lawrence Welk Show" airs
1982 Record speed for a snowmobile (239 kph)
1986 Corazon Aquino becomes President of Philippines; Former Philippines President Ferdinand E Marcos flees in defeat
1986 Thousands of Egyptian military police riot, destroy 2 luxury hotel
1987 US Supreme Court upholds (5-4) affirmative action
1987 LaMarr Hoyt is banned from baseball for 1987, due to drug abuse
1989 1st independent blue-collar labor union in Communist Hungary forms
1989 Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry after a 29-year career
1991 US, barracks in Dhahran Saudi Arabia, hit by SCUD missile, kills 28
1994 Israeli extremist Baruch Goldstein massacres 30 Palestinians in Hebron
1994 Phil Rizzuto elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
1995 Bomb attack on train in Assam India (27 soldiers killed)
1997 In China in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang province, Muslim Uigher separatists set bombs that killed as many as 5 and wounded 27
2003 Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Iraq was showing new signs of real cooperation
2004 The Mel Gibson film "The Passion of Christ" premieres.
Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
Kuwait : National Day
México : Coronado Day (1540)
Suriname : Revolution day
US : I Am the Greatest Day
US : Wine Appreciation Week (Day 4)
US : Engineers Week (Day 6)
National Meat Month
Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Avertanus & Bl Romeo
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Matthias the Apostle (leap years)
Roman Catholic : Commemoration of St Walburga, abbess
Orthodox : Commemoration of St Tarasius, patriarch of Constantinople
Lutheran : Commemoration of Elizabeth Fedde, deaconess,
Christian : Ash Wednesday
Jewish : Fast of Esther (Adar 13, 5762 AM)
Religious History
1570 Elizabeth I of England was excommunicated by Pope Pius V for her severe persecution of Roman Catholics in England. (It was the last such judgment made against a reigning monarch by any pope.)
1738 English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'God, I find, has a people everywhere; Christ has a flock, though but a little flock, in all places.'
1824 The Baptist General Tract Society was organized in Washington, D.C. In 1826 the society was moved to Philadelphia, and by 1840, the organization had issued over 3.5 million copies of 162 different tracts.
1902 Birth of Oscar Cullmann, German New Testament scholar. Best known for pioneering a "salvation history" view of the NT, Cullmann's two best-known publications were "Christ and Time" (1946) and "Christology of the New Testament" (1959).
1913 Pioneer missionary Eduard L. Arndt first arrived in Shanghai, China, 10 months after having founded the Evangelical Lutheran Missions for China. He afterward established missions and schools in the Hankow territory, and translated hymns and sermons into Chinese. (In 1917 the Missouri Synod took over the ELMS mission.)
Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.
Thought for the day :
"If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried."