The allies are coming, Saddam

The Daily Telegraph ^ | April 1, 2003 | Michael Smith, Neil Tweedie and Chris Tomlinson

[MadIvan]

American forces fought their first heavy engagement with Republican Guard units defending Baghdad last night as they forced their way across a vital bridge over the Euphrates.

In battles up and down the Euphrates valley, the allies regained the initiative as aircraft and missiles bombarded key locations in Baghdad, 50 miles to the north, in the heaviest raids of the 12-day war.

The fiercest fighting was on a front from the sacred city of Karbala in the west through Hiwaniyah to Hillah in the east, where units of the 3rd Infantry Division, supported by the 101st Infantry Division and backed by aircraft, probed the Republican Guard positions for weaknesses.

Scores of Iraqi troops were reported killed and many more captured in the town of Hindiyah, between Karbala and the ruins of Babylon. It was the closest known battle to the capital.

Allied bombs and missiles rained on targets around Baghdad to wear down its defences before an assault.

Three missiles or bombs hit a presidential palace used by Saddam Hussein's son Qusay, who commands the Republican Guard. One attack sent up a huge mushroom cloud of white smoke.

At least 10 missiles hit city centre targets that included one of Saddam's presidential compounds.

With air defences around the capital apparently destroyed, aircraft carried out low-level strikes, particularly on Republican Guard positions in the south suburbs.

Air attacks on the Medina Division, which defends the allies' line of advance on the capital, were stepped up, with B1 Lancer, B2 Stealth and B52 Stratofortress bombers mounting concerted raids.

Pentagon officials said an initial assessment indicated that the bombing could have halved the division's strength. Brig-Gen Vincent Brooks said at central command in Qatar that the division had been so badly hit that conscripts and units previously defending Saddam's home town of Tikrit in the north had been drafted in to bolster it.

"We're coming," he said. "Where the regime is, we're coming."

The allies also claimed significant successes in cities where paramilitaries had held up their advance.

American troops surrounded the holy city of Najaf and were working their way through it house by house to eradicate the Iraqi irregulars.

The 82nd Airborne Division joined marines making house-to-house searches through the southern town of Nasiriyah, where paramilitary forces have had their greatest success, killing an unknown number of marines.

In the battle for the bridge over the Euphrates at Hindiyah, one report suggested that 100 Iraqi troops had been killed and dozens captured by an armoured regiment from the 3rd Infantry Division. Three American soldiers were wounded, one critically.

The prisoners said they were from the Nebuchadnezzar Brigade of the Republican Guard, which had previously been defending Tikrit.

The Americans faced small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades from behind hedges and brick walls on the other side of the river before they managed to force their way across the steel and concrete bridge. As they did so the Iraqis used civilian cars to try to block it. A blue car which drove at speed across the bridge towards the Americans was stopped by heavy machine gun fire.

Iraqi troops dressed in civilian clothes ran between buildings firing at Abrams tanks and Bradley personnel carriers. The Americans returned fire with heavy machine guns and the tanks' 120mm guns. "This must have been important to [Saddam] to send down one of his Republican Guard brigades," said Col David Perkins, the commander of the 3rd Infantry's 2nd Brigade.

As he spoke, he saw Iraqis firing rocket-propelled grenades from reeds on the other side of the river.

"Let's put some artillery in there," he ordered.

The brigade's 155mm Paladin self-propelled artillery responded almost at once and the shells sent plumes of water high into the air as they landed among the reeds.

[MadIvan]

Keep your heads held high. Victory could be sooner than all the punditry expects.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[Living Stone]

Ivan, it is my personal opinion that this one will not go as long as the last one did.

We are not yet near the forty day mark,have made incredible inroads, and I think things are about to accellerate.

I could be wrong about this, but I don't see how.

We are getting stronger everyday, as the infestation grows weaker everyday.

Culmination is not far away-at a "time and place of our choosing."

[rageaholic]

Iraqi troops dressed in civilian clothes ran between buildings firing at Abrams tanks and Bradley personnel carriers

DUH!

[thoughtomator]

Following the punditry's expectations too closely causes whiplash - be careful!

[WOSG]

Yes, thre will be a tipping point when the forces cave.

The enemy has used a dispersal technique to avoid getting hi en masse. to counter that, all we need do is 'divide and conquer'. His troops in these separated and surrounded cities cannot help each other out. ONce we clear a city, we can focus on the next one. If basra and najaf and nasaria all fall, we will own the south and have enough forces to surround baghdad. And all three are now falling.

matter of time. weeks not months. (imho 2.5 more weeks).

[Aric2000]

Our C&C is incredible.

Let's put some artillery in there, and the boys respond almost instantly to those orders. He says it, his Lieutenant, Probably, tells his boys, who turn it into coordinates for the Paladins and they open fire.

Our guys are professional and are kicking some royal Houssien butt.

I look forward to your posts every day Ivan.

Keep 'em coming!!

[Shermy]

"The prisoners said they were from the Nebuchadnezzar Brigade of the Republican Guard, which had previously been defending Tikrit."

According to Strategy Page a division with this name is/was in the north, behind two corps of army, implicitly making retreat by the corps a life-threatening proposition.

[TheLion]

I wanted to post this somewhere, so here goes.


Over There

Johnnie, get your gun,
Get your gun, get your gun,
Take it on the run,
On the run, on the run.
Hear them calling, you and me,
Every son of liberty.
Hurry right away,
No delay, no delay,
Make your daddy glad
To have had such a lad.
Tell your sweetheart not pine,
To be proud her boy's in line.
Chorus
Over there, over there,
Send the word, send the word over there--
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,
The drums rum-tumming
Ev'rywhere.
So prepare, say a pray'r,
Send the word, send the word to beware.
We'll be over, we're coming over,
And we won't come back till it's over
Over there.

Johnnie, get your gun,
Get your gun, get your gun,
Johnnie show the Hun
Who's a son of a gun.
Hoist the flag and let her fly,
Yankee Doodle do or die.
Pack your little kit,
Show your grit, do your bit.
Yankee Doodle fill the ranks,
From the towns and the tanks.
Make your mother proud of you,
And the old Red, White and Blue.
(repeat chorus twice)

1917 George M. Cohan

[BamaFan69]

Oh Saddam, can you hear the .50Cals yet ? If you can't, it is a sweet buzzing sound as the bullets fly. Oh I shouldn't tell you this, you will know SOON !

[etcetera]

"Iraqi troops dressed in civilian clothes..."

This is a violation of the Geneva Convention and the violators can be shot as spies. (Hey, I didn't watch The Great Escape for nothing!)

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

As these the mechanized RG units are attrited, they will reach a point at which supply and maintenance breaks down. When that point comes, and I believe it will be soon, whole RG units will collapse under the burden of their own logistics with minimal direct engagement in the field.

Outstanding.