Free Republic

WITH THE FIRST MARINE DIVISION, in Iraq, March 27 — Marine and other allied units pressing toward Baghdad are coming under nearly constant harassment and ambush by small bands of irregular Iraqi fighters and remnants of army units they bypassed in their rush, and officers fear the resistance will only stiffen as they get nearer the capital. "We've been contested every inch, every mile on the way up," Col. Ben Saylor, the First Marine Division's chief of staff, said today. Even as he spoke, a separate Marine unit, Task Force Tarawa, was in the fifth day of a pitched battle...

<p>EAST BANK OF THE EUPHRATES RIVER, Iraq (March 26, 2003) — A 3rd Infantry Division tank company team fought and destroyed an Iraqi Republican Guard force at point-blank range Tuesday night about 80 miles southwest of Baghdad. The firefight came near the end of a running, 30-hour series of shootouts that the Pentagon is describing as the largest battle of the war. Pentagon officials have put the number of Iraqi troops killed by the 3rd Infantry as anywhere from 150 to 650. No Americans were reported killed, although two Abrams tanks and a Bradley fighting vehicle were destroyed by enemy fire. The American soldiers accomplished this even in the midst of a swirling, blinding sandstorm that grounded its scout and attack helicopters.</p>