'Pause' in doubt as US troops hit elite force By John Lichfield and Anne Penketh 30 March 2003 American airborne troops launched a preliminary offensive against the Republican Guard defending Baghdad yesterday, despite reports from other US commanders that the advance had been placed "on pause". The 101st Airborne Division attacked units of the Medina Division of the Republican Guard defending the Karbala Gap, south-west of the Iraqi capital, claiming later to have killed 50 soldiers and destroyed 25 tanks. The battle for the Karbala Gap – a 20-mile-wide strip of land between a lake and the river Euphrates –...