Gulf War 1991 - Operation Desert Storm in real time

[lordroel]

Feb 22, 2020 15:13:21 GMT forcon said:

Nice work here. Any plans to keep it up?

Until the end of the war which is until February 28th, after that we will have to wait until August for the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 and October for the United States invasion of Grenada 1983 - Operation Urgent Fury in realtime.

[forcon]

Feb 22, 2020 15:20:27 GMT lordroel said:

Feb 22, 2020 15:13:21 GMT forcon said:

Nice work here. Any plans to keep it up?

Until the end of the war which is until February 28th, after that we will have to wait until August for the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 and October for the United States invasion of Grenada 1983 - Operation Urgent Fury in realtime.

Looking forward to it.

[lordroel]

Feb 22, 2020 16:06:32 GMT forcon said:

Feb 22, 2020 15:20:27 GMT lordroel said:

Until the end of the war which is until February 28th, after that we will have to wait until August for the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 and October for the United States invasion of Grenada 1983 - Operation Urgent Fury in realtime.

Looking forward to it.

Well maybe in 2021 i will do Iraq Freedom.

[lordroel]

DAY 39 of operation Desert Storm, Saturday, February 23rd 1991 

Events of the day

U.S. anti-war demonstrations are planned for Mar 16 and Apr 6.

71 % of polled Americans say objective should be to force Saddam from power.

Political events

At 2000 (EST), President Bush announced he's directed General Norman Schwarzkopf, in conjunction with coalition forces, "to use all forces available, including ground forces, to eject the Iraqi army from Kuwait.... The liberation of Kuwait has entered a final phase."

Following President Bush's statement, SECDEF Dick Cheney announced commencement of "large ground offensive." Cheney reports "units are on the move".

Combat operations (Air, Land and Sea)

Over 94,000 sorties have been flown (2,900 today) re-focusing on battlefield preparation in the KTO (1,200 sorties), destruction of the Republican Guard (100 sorties), attacks and re-attacks on selected strategic targets, counter-SCUD (300 sorties), and interdiction of communications.

Naval forces are conducting combat air patrols, naval gunf~re support, mine countermeasures and maritime intercept operations.

USS MISSOURI destroyed targets on Favlaka Island. off the coast of Kuwait City. Ground forces continue to engage Iraqi forces with artillery, attack helos and tactical aircraft throughout the border area.

A Marine patrol engaged 12 Iraqi tanks, destroying four with TOW missile fire. Other tanks fled, were engaged by air and artillery fire. Marines captured 143 enemy prisoners of war. 2100+ EPWs captured to-date.

Over 1,685 Iraqi tanks (39% of known inventory), 925 armored vehicles (32% of known inventory) and 1,450 artillery pieces (48% of known inventory) have been destroyed to-date. 200 of Kuwait's 950 oilwells are burning creating thick smoke, and wellheads, oil facilities and shipping terminals are being destroyed by Iraq, also 10,000 Kuwaitis are being rounded up and summarily executed. Other atrocities are reported including systematic murders of previously-tortured Kuwaitis.

1 SCUD missile is fired at Saudi Arabia, broke up in flight. A second SCUD was intercepted by United States Patriot missiles over Israel. Iraq does not comply with deadline (1200 EST) to meet coalition demands. Iraq announced "We will never surrender. A lot of Americans will die."

Photo: An ordnance trailer is parked in front of two U.S. Air Force F-16C Fighting Falcon fighter aircraft from the 614th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 401st Tactical Fighter Wing, Torrejon Air Base, Spain. The F-16C aircraft are armed with bombs and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles as they are prepared for a mission during Operation Desert Storm. At right are three Coalition F-1C Mirage fighter aircraft.

[lordroel]

DAY 40 of operation Desert Storm, Day 1 of Ground campaign, Sunday, February 24th 1991

Events of the Day

Queen Elizabeth II, in first wartime broadcast of 39-year reign, tells her country she has prayed for victory.

Combat operations (Ground campaign)

Map: Ground troop movements during Operation Desert Storm



CINCCENTCOM announces that forces of the U.S., Saudi Arabia, UK, France, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Syria and Kuwait are proceeding in a major ground, naval and air offensive after 38 days of continuous air attacks on targets in Iraq and Kuwait.

General Schwarzkopf unleashed all-out attacks against Iraqi forces very early at three points along the coalition line. In the far west, the French 6th Light Armored Division and the 101st Airborne Division started the massive western envelopment with a ground assault to secure the coalition left flank and an air assault to establish forward support bases deep in Iraqi territory. In the approximate center of the coalition line, along the Wadi al Batin, Maj. Gen. John H. Tilelli Jr.’s 1st Cavalry Division attacked north into a concentration of Iraqi divisions whose commanders remained convinced that the coalition would use that and several other wadis as avenues of attack. In the east, two Marine divisions, with the Army’s Tiger Brigade and coalition forces under Saudi command, attacked north into Kuwait. Faced with major attacks from three widely separated points, the Iraqi command had to begin its ground defense of Kuwait and the homeland by dispersing its combat power and logistical capability.

The attack began from the XVIII Airborne Corps’ sector along the left flank. At 0100, Brig. Gen. Bernard Janvier sent scouts from his French 6th Light Armored Division into Iraq on the extreme western end of General Luck’s line. Three hours later, the French main body attacked during a light rain. Their objective was As Salman, little more than a crossroads with an airfield about ninety miles inside Iraq. Reinforced by the 2d Brigade, 82d Airborne Division, the French crossed the border unopposed and raced north into the darkness.

Photo: USMC M60A1 with mineplow and AAV-7s



Before the French reached As Salman, they found some very surprised outposts of the Iraqi 45th Infantry Division. General Janvier immediately sent his missile-armed Gazelle attack helicopters against the dug-in enemy tanks and bunkers. Late intelligence reports had assessed the 45th as only about 50 percent effective after weeks of intensive coalition air attacks and psychological operations, an assessment soon confirmed by its feeble resistance. After a brief battle that cost them two dead and twenty-five wounded, the French held twenty-five hundred prisoners and controlled the enemy division area, now renamed Rochambeau. Janvier pushed his troops on to As Salman, which they took without opposition and designated Objective White. The French consolidated White and waited for an Iraqi counterattack that never came. The coalition’s left flank was secure. Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. James H. Johnson Jr.’s 82d Airborne Division carried out a mission that belied its airborne designation. While the division’s 2d Brigade moved with the French, its two remaining brigades, the 1st and 3d, trailed the advance and cleared a two-lane highway into southern Iraq as the main supply route for the troops, equipment, and supplies supporting the advance north. The XVIII Airborne Corps’ main attack, led by Maj. Gen. J. H. Binford Peay III’s 101st Airborne Division, was scheduled for 0500; but fog over the objective forced a delay. While the weather posed problems for aviation and ground units, it did not abate direct-support fire missions. Corps artillery and rocket launchers poured fire on objectives and approach routes. At 0705, Peay received the word to attack. Screened by Apache and Cobra attack helicopters, sixty Black Hawk and forty Chinook choppers of the XVIII Airborne Corps’ 18th Aviation Brigade began lifting the 1st Brigade into Iraq. The initial objective was Forward Operating Base (FOB) Cobra, a point some one hundred ten miles into Iraq. A total of three hundred helicopters ferried the 101st’s troops and equipment into the objective area in one of the largest helicopter-borne operations in military history. Wherever Peay’s troops went during those initial attacks, they achieved tactical surprise over the scattered and disorganized foe. By midafternoon, they had a fast-growing group of stunned prisoners in custody and were expanding FOB Cobra into a major refueling point twenty miles across to support subsequent operations. Heavy CH–47 Chinook helicopters lifted artillery pieces and other weapons into Cobra, as well as fueling equipment and building materials to create a major base. From the Saudi border, XVIII Corps support command units drove seven hundred high-speed support vehicles north with the fuel, ammunition, and supplies to support a drive to the Euphrates River. As soon as the 101st secured Cobra and refueled the choppers, it continued its jump north.

By the evening of the twenty-fourth, its units had cut Highway 8, about one hundred seventy miles into Iraq. Peay’s troops had now closed the first of several roads connecting Iraqi forces in Kuwait with Baghdad. Spearhead units were advancing much faster than expected. To keep the momentum of the corps intact, General Luck gave subordinate commanders wider freedom of movement. He became their logistics manager, adding assets at key times and places to maintain the advance. But speed caused problems for combat support elements. Tanksthat could move up to fifty miles per hour were moving outside the support fans of artillery batteries that could displace at only twenty-five to thirty miles per hour. Luck responded by leapfrogging his artillery battalions and supply elements, a solution that cut down on fire support since only half the pieces could fire while the other half raced forward. As long as Iraqi opposition remained weak, the risk was acceptable. In the XVIII Corps’ mission of envelopment, the 24th Infantry Division had the central role of blocking the Euphrates River valley to prevent the northward escape of Iraqi forces in Kuwait and then attacking east in coordination with the VII Corps to defeat the armorheavy divisions of the Republican Guard Forces Command. Maj. Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey’s division had come to the theater better prepared for combat in the desert than any other in Army Central Command. Designated a Rapid Deployment Force division a decade earlier, the 24th combined the usual mechanized infantry division components—an aviation brigade and three ground maneuver brigades plus combat support units—with extensive desert training and desert-oriented medical and water-purification equipment.

When the attack began, the 24th was as large as a World War I division, with twenty-five thousand soldiers in thirty-four battalions. Its 241 Abrams tanks and 221 Bradley fighting vehicles provided the necessary armor punch to penetrate Republican Guard divisions. But with ninety-four helicopters and oversixty-five hundred wheeled and thirteen hundred other tracked vehicles—including seventy-two self-propelled artillery pieces and nine multiple rocket launchers—the division had given away nothing in mobility and firepower. General McCaffrey began his division attack at 1500 with three subordinate units on line: the 197th Infantry Brigade on the left, the 1st Infantry Brigade in the center, and the 2d Infantry Brigade on the right. Six hours before the main attack, the 2d Squadron, 4th Cavalry, had pushed across the border and scouted north along the two combat trails toward the Iraqi lines. The reconnaissance turned up little evidence of the enemy, and the rapid progress of the division verified the scouts’ reports. McCaffrey’s brigades pushed about fifty milesinto Iraq, virtually at will, and reached a position a little short of FOB Cobra in the 101st Airborne Division’s sector

In their movement across the line of departure and whenever not engaging enemy forces, battalions of the 24th Infantry Division generally moved in “battle box” formation. With a cavalry troop screening five to ten miles to the front, four companies, or multiplatoon task forces, dispersed to form corner positions. Heavier units of the battalion, whether composed of tanks or Bradleys, occupied one or both of the front corners. One company or smaller units advanced outside the box to provide flank security. The battalion commander placed inside the box the vehicles carrying ammunition, fuel, and water needed to continue the advance in jumps of about forty miles. The box covered a front of about four to five miles and extended about fifteen to twenty miles front to rear.

Following a screen of cavalry and a spearhead of the 1st and 4th Battalions, 64th Armor, McCaffrey’s division continued north, maintaining a speed of twenty-five to thirty miles per hour. In the flat terrain, the 24th kept on course with the aid of long-range electronic navigation, a satellite-reading triangulation system in use for years before Desert Storm. Night did not stop the division, thanks to more recently developed image-enhancement scopes and goggles and infrared- and thermal-imaging systems sensitive to personnel and vehicle heat signatures. Around midnight, McCaffrey stopped his brigades on a line about seventy-five miles inside Iraq. Like the rest of the XVIII Airborne Corps, the 24th Division had established positions deep inside Iraq against surprisingly light opposition.

The VII Corps, consisting mainly of the 1st Infantry Division, the 1st and 3d Armored Divisions, the 1st Cavalry Division, the British 1st Armoured Division and the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment, had the mission of finding, attacking, and destroying the heart of Saddam Hussein’s ground forces, the armor-heavy Republican Guard. In preparation for that, Central Command had built up General Franks’ organization until it resembled a mini army more than a traditional corps. The “Jayhawk” corps of World War II fame numbered more than one hundred forty-two thousand soldiers compared with Luck’s one hundred sixteen thousand. To keep his troops moving and fighting, General Franks had more than forty-eight thousand five hundred vehicles and aircraft, including 1,587 tanks, 1,502 Bradleys and armored personnel carriers, 669 artillery pieces, and 223 attack helicopters. To provide a sense of the logistical challenge to keep such a phalanx supplied, for every day of offensive operations the corps needed 5.6 million gallons of fuel, 3.3 million gallons of water, and 6,075 tons of ammunition.

The plan of advance for the VII Corps paralleled that of Luck’s corps to the west: a thrust north into Iraq, a massive turn to the right, and then an assault to the east into Kuwait. Because Franks’ sector lay east of Luck’s—in effect closer to the hub of the envelopment wheel—the VII Corps had to cover less distance than the XVIII Airborne Corps. But intelligence reports and probing attacks into Iraqi territory in midFebruary had shown that the VII Corps faced a denser concentration of enemy units than did the XVIII Corps farther west. Once the turn to the right was complete, both corps would coordinate their attacks east so as to trap Republican Guard divisions between them and then press the offensive along their wide path of advance until Iraq’s elite units either surrendered, retreated, or were destroyed.

General Schwarzkopf originally had planned the VII Corps attack for 25 February, but the XVIII Airborne Corps advanced so quickly against such weak opposition that he moved up his armor attack by fourteen hours. Within his own sector, Franks planned a feint and envelopment much like the larger overall strategy. On the VII Corps’ right, along the Wadi al Batin, the 1st Cavalry Division would make a strong but limited attack directly to its front. While Iraqi units reinforced against the 1st Cavalry, Franks would send two divisions through sand berms and mines on the corps’ right and two more divisions on an “end around” into Iraq on the corps’ left.

On February 24th, the 1st Cavalry Division crossed the line of departure and hit the Iraqi 27th Infantry Division. That was not their first meeting. General Tilelli’s division had actually been probing the Iraqi defenses for some time. As these limited thrusts continued in the area that became known as the Ruqi Pocket, Tilelli’s men found and destroyed elements of five Iraqi divisions, evidence that the 1st succeede

The main VII Corps attack, coming from farther west, caught the defenders by surprise. At 0538, Franks sent Maj. Gen. Thomas G. Rhame’s 1st Infantry Division forward. The division plowed through the berms and hit trenches full of enemy soldiers. Once astride the trench lines, it turned the plow blades of its tanks and combat earthmovers along the Iraqi defenses and, covered by fire from Bradley crews, began to fill them in. The 1st Division neutralized ten miles of Iraqi lines this way, killing or capturing all of the defenders without losing one soldier, and proceeded to cut twenty-foursafe lanesthrough the minefieldsfor passage of the British 1st Armoured Division. On the far left of the corps sector and at the same time, the 2d ACR swept around the Iraqi obstacles and led 1st and 3d Armored Divisions into enemy territory.

Photo: A British Challenger 1 main battle tank moves along with other Allied armor during Operation Desert Storm.



The two armored units moved rapidly toward their objective, the town of Al Busayyah, site of a major logistical base about eighty miles into Iraq. The 1st Armored Division on the left along the XVIII Airborne Corps’ boundary and the 3d Armored Division on its right moved in compressed wedges fifteen miles wide and thirty miles deep. Screened by cavalry squadrons, the divisions deployed tank brigades in huge triangles, with artillery battalions between flank brigades and support elements in nearly one thousand vehicles trailing the artillery.

Badly mauled by air attacks before the ground operation and surprised by Franks’ envelopment, Iraqi forces offered little resistance. The 1st Infantry Division destroyed two T–55 tanks and five armored personnel carriersin the first hour and began taking prisonersimmediately. Farther west, the 1st and 3d Armored Divisions quickly overran several small infantry and armored outposts. Concerned that his two armored units were too dispersed from the 1st Infantry Division for mutual reinforcement, Franks halted the advance with both armored elements on the left only twenty miles into Iraq. For the day, the VII Corps rounded up about thirteen hundred of the enemy

In the east, the U.S. Marine Central Command (MARCENT) began its attack at 0400. General Boomer’s I MEF aimed directly at its ultimate objective, Kuwait City. The Tiger Brigade, 2d Armored Division, and the 1st and 2d Marine Divisions did not have as far to go to reach their objective as did Army units to the west—Kuwait City lay between thirtyfive and fifty miles to the northeast, depending on the border-crossing point—but they faced more elaborate defense lines and a tighter enemy concentration. The 1st Marine Division led from a position in the vicinity of the elbow of the southern Kuwaiti border and immediately began breaching berms and rows of antitank and antipersonnel mines and several lines of concertina wire. The unit did not have Abrams tanks, but its M60A3 Patton tanks and TOW-equipped high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles,supported by heavy artillery, proved sufficient against Iraqi T–55 and T–62 tanks. After the marines destroyed two tanks in only a few minutes, three thousand Iraqis surrendered.

At 0530, the 2d Marine Division, with Col. John B. Sylvester’s Tiger Brigade on its west flank, attacked in the western part of the MARCENT sector. The Army armored brigade, equipped with M1A1 Abrams tanks, gave the marines enough firepower to defeat any armored unitsthe Iraqis put between Boomer’s force and Kuwait City. The first opposition came from a berm line and two mine belts. Marine M60A1 tanks with bulldozer blades quickly breached the berm, but the mine belts required more time and sophisticated equipment. Marine engineers used mine-clearing line charges and M60A1 tanks with forked mine plows to clear six lanes in the division center, between the Umm Qudayr and Al Wafrah oil fields. By late afternoon, the Tiger Brigade had passed the mine belts. As soon as other units passed through the safe lanes, the 2d Marine Division repositioned to continue the advance north, with regiments on the right and in the center and the Tiger Brigade on the left tying in with the coalition forces.

Moving ahead a short distance to a major east-west highway by the end of the day, the 2d Marine Division captured intact the Iraqi 9th Tank Battalion with thirty-five T–55 tanks and more than five thousand men. Already, on the first day of ground operations, the number of captives had become a problem in the marine sector. After a fight for Al Jaber Airfield, during which the 1st Marine Division destroyed twenty-one tanks, another three thousand prisoners were seized. By the end of the day, the I Marine Expeditionary Force had worked its way about twenty miles into Kuwait and taken nearly ten thousand Iraqi prisoners.

Combat operations (Air and Sea)

United States Navy, along with UK, Saudi and Kuwaiti naval forces are conducting carrier air, minesweeping, and amphibious missions along the east coast of Kuwait. USS MISSOURI and USS WISCONSIN fired at targets in occupied Kuwait in support of ground offensive.

USMC AV-8B is downed. Pilot, Captain James N. Wilbourn, is missing.

Maritime intercept operations also continue with USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS recording 100th interception.

2 Iraqi aircraft flew to Iran.

[lordroel]

DAY 41 of operation Desert Storm,  Day 2 of Ground campaign, Monday, February 25th 1991

Political events

Baghdad Radio announced that Iraq's "Foreign Minister informed the Soviet ambassador....which constitutes a practical compliance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 660n," and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had ordered his troops to make a fighting withdrawal from occupied Kuwait and return to the positions they occupied before the August 2nd 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The White House responds, stating there is "no evidence to suggest the Iraqi army is withdrawing. In fact, Iraqi units are continuing to fight.... We continue to prosecute the war. We have heard no reason to change that.... And because the announcement from Baghdad referred to the Soviet initiative, Saddam Hussein must personally and publicly accept explicitly all relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions."

Combat operations (Ground Campaign)

The XVIII Airborne Corps units continued their drive into Iraq. The 82d Airborne Division began its first sustained movement of the war; although, to the disappointment of General Johnson and his troops, the division had to stay on the ground and rode to its objectives in trucks. The 82d followed the French 6th Light Armored Division north to As Salman. Meanwhile, the 101st Airborne Division sent its 3d Brigade out of objective Cobra on an air-assault jump north to occupy an observation and blocking position on the south bank of the Euphrates River just west of the town of An Nasinyah.

In the early morning darkness of the same day, General McCaffrey put his 24th Infantry Division in motion toward its first major objective. Following close air support and artillery fires, the division’s 197th Brigade attacked at 0300 toward Objective Brown in the western part of the division sector. Instead of determined opposition, the brigade found only a handful of hungry Iraqis dazed by the heavy artillery preparation. By 0700, the 197th had cleared the area around Brown and established blocking positions to the east and west along a trail, which was then being improved to serve as the Corps main supply route. Six hours later, the division’s 2d Brigade followed its own artillery fires and attacked Objective Grey on the right, encountering no enemy fire and taking three hundred prisoners. After clearing the area, the brigade set blocking positions to the east.

At 1450, with the 2d Brigade on Objective Grey, the 1st Brigade moved northwest into the center of the division sector and then angled to the division right, attacking Objective Red directly north of Grey. Seven hours later, the brigade had cleared the Red area, set blocking positions to the east and north, and processed two hundred captives.

To the surprise of all, the 24th Division had taken three major objectives and hundreds of men in only nineteen hours while meeting weak resistance from isolated pockets of Iraqi soldiers from the 26th and 35th Infantry Divisions. By the end of the day, the XVIII Airborne Corps had advanced in all division sectors to take important objectives, establish a functioning forward operating base, place brigade-size blocking forces in the Euphrates River valley, and capture thousands of prisoners of war—at a cost of two killed in action and two missing.

In the VII Corps, General Franks faced two problems on this second day of ground operations. The British 1st Armoured Division, one of the units he had to have when he met the Republican Guard armored force, had begun passage of the mine breach cut by the 1st Infantry Division at 1200 on the twenty-fifth but would not be completely through forseveral hours, possibly not until the next day. With the 1st and 3d Armored Divisions along the western edge of the corps sector and the British not yet inside Iraq, the 1st Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions lay vulnerable to an armored counterattack

A more troubling situation had developed along the VII Corps’ right flank. The commitment of some coalition contingents had concerned General Schwarzkopf months before the start of the ground war. Worried about postwar relations with Arab neighbors, some Arab members of the coalition had expressed reluctance to attack Iraq or even enter Kuwait. If enough of their forces sat out the ground phase of the war, the entire mission of liberating Kuwait might fail. To prevent such a disaster, Schwarzkopf had put the 1st Cavalry Division next to coalition units and gave the division the limited mission of conducting holding attacks and standing by to reinforce allies on the other side of the Wadi al Batin. If Joint Forces Command–North performed well, the division would be moved from the corps boundary and given an attack mission. Action on the first day of the ground war bore out the wisdom of holding the unit ready to reinforce allies to the east. Syrian and Egyptian forces had not moved forward, and a huge gap had opened in the coalition line. U.S. Central Command notified the 2d ACR to prepare to assist the 1st Cavalry Division in taking over the advance east of the Wadi al Batin.

But Franks could not freeze his advance indefinitely. The VII Corps had to press the attack where possible, and that meant on the left flank. Maj. Gen. Ronald H. Griffith’s 1st Armored Division and Maj. Gen. Paul E. Funk’s 3d Armored Division resumed their advance north shortly after daybreak. Griffith’s troops made contact first, with outpost units of the Iraqi 26th Infantry Division. With the 1st Armored Division still about thirty-five to forty miles away from its objective, Griffith’s troops.

coordinated close air support strikes followed by attack helicopter runs on enemy targets. As the division closed to about ten to fifteen miles, artillery, rocket launchers, and tactical missile batteries delivered preparatory fires. As division lead elements came into visual range, psychological operations teams broadcast surrender appeals. If the Iraqis fired on the approaching Americans, the attackers repeated artillery, rocket, and missile strikes. In the experience of the 1st Armored Division, that sequence was enough to gain the surrender of most Iraqi Army units on a given objective. Only once did the Iraqis mount an attack after a broadcast; and in that instance, a 1st Armored Division brigade destroyed forty to fifty tanks and armored personnel carriers in ten minutes at a range of 1.2 miles.

By the late morning of 25 February, Joint Forces Command–North had made enough progress to allow the VII Corps and Marine Central Command on the flanks to resume their advance. That afternoon and night in the 1st Infantry Division sector, the Americans expanded their mine breach and captured two enemy brigade command posts and the 26th Infantry Division command post with a brigadier general and complete staff. Behind them, the British 1st Armoured Division made good progress through the mine breach and prepared to turn right and attack the Iraqi 52d Armored Division

Photo: FV-432 armored personnel carriers are stationed at the British 7th Corps tactical command center near the Saudi-Iraqi border during Operation Desert Storm



Approaching Al Busayyah in early afternoon, the 1st Armored Division directed close air support and attack helicopter sorties on an Iraqi brigade position, destroying artillery pieces, several vehicles, and taking nearly three hundred prisoners. That night, the 2d ACR and 3d Armored Division oriented east and encountered isolated enemy units under conditions of high winds and heavy rains.

With the coalition advance well under way all along the line, a U.S. Navy amphibious force made its final effort to convince the Iraqis that CENTCOM would launch a major amphibious assault into Kuwait. Beginning late on 24 February and continuing over the following two days, the Navy landed the 7,500-man 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade at Al Mish’ab, Saudi Arabia, about twenty-eight miles south of the border with Kuwait. Once ashore, the 5th became the reserve for Joint Forces Command–East.

At daybreak on February 25th, Iraqi units made their first counterattack in the Marine sector, hitting the 2d Marine Division right and center. While Marine regiments fought off an effort that they named the Reveille Counterattack, troops of the Tiger Brigade raced north on the left. In the morning, the brigade cleared one bunker complex and destroyed seven artillery pieces and several armored personnel carriers. After a midday halt, the brigade cleared another bunker complex and captured the Iraqi 116th Brigade commander among a total of eleven hundred prisoners of war for the day. In the center of the corps sector, the marines overran an agricultural production facility, called the Ice Cube Tray because of its appearance to aerial observers.

By the end of operations on 25 February, General Schwarzkopf for the second straight day had reports of significant gains in all sectors. But enemy forces could still inflict damage and in surprising ways and places. The Iraqis continued their puzzling policy ofsetting oil fires—well over two hundred now blazed out of control—as well as their strategy of punishing Saudi Arabia and provoking Israel by Scud attacks. They launched four Scuds, one of which, as mentioned earlier, slammed into a building filled with sleeping American troopsin Dhahran and caused the highest one-day casualty total for American forces in a war of surprisingly low losses to date.

Combat operations (Air and Sea)

Over 97,000 sorties have been flown. Today, Navy, Marine and other aircraft have flown 3,000 sorties. 1,300 sorties have been directed at the KTO, 700 on close air support of ground forces. USS JOHN F. KENNEDY records 10,000th arrested landing during this deployment, and aircraft of Carrier Airwing Three (embarked) have delivered 3 million+ pounds of ordnance.

Over eighteen thousand enemy prisoners of war have been captured.

A USMC AV-8B and USMC OV-10 are downed. Harrier pilot is rescued. Major Joseph J. Small and Captain David Spellacy are missing.

Naval forces, including USS WISCONSIN and USS MISSOURI, are continuing naval gunfire support and other operations. MISSOURI alone fires 133 rounds or 125 tons of ordnance on targets. Minesweepers cleared additional fire support areas for the battleships. HMS GLOUCESTER, escorting USS MISSOURI in Arabian Gulf, destroys an incoming Iraqi Silkworm missile aimed at MISSOURI with two Sea Dart missiles. A second Silkworm missile was fired but fell in the gulf. USN aircraft destroyed the missile launch site.

Oil panting: USS MISSOURI under Attack by Iraqi Silkworm



Iraqi SCUD missile is fired at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, breaks up in flight scattering debris over a United States housing compound in suburban Al Khobar, killing 27 United States Army Reserve personnel, wounding 100 others. A SCUD missile fired at Qatar impacts harmlessly.

Photo: Aftermath of an Iraq Armed Forces strike on US barracks



More than 600 fires are now burning in the KTO, including 517 oil wellheads.

[lordroel]

DAY 42 of operation Desert Storm, Day 3 of Ground campaign, Tuesday, February 26th 1991

Events of the day

Brig. Gen. Richard Neal in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, says Iraqi forces are in "full retreat" with allied forces pursuing; Iraqi POWs number 30,000-plus, number to climb to 63,000.

Residents of Kuwait City celebrate end to occupation. Resistance groups set up headquarters to control city.

Political events

On Baghdad Radio, President Saddam Hussein announced Iraqi troops have begun withdrawing from Kuwait and will be completed today. In the 25-minute speech, Hussein maintained that Kuwait is a part of Iraq which was separated from it in the past, and current circumstances are such that armed forces are forcing us to withdraw.... It should be borne in mind that Constantinople was not conquered in the first battle; the result was achieved in other battles."

President Bush reacted calling Hussein's speech "an outrage. He is not withdrawing. His defeated forces are retreating. He is trying to claim victory in the midst of a rout, and he is not voluntarily giving up Kuwait. He is trying to save the remnants of power and control in the Middle East by every means possible and here, too, Saddam Hussein will fail. Saddam is not interested in peace, but only to regroup and fght another day, and he does not renounce Iraq's claim to Kuwait. To the contrary -- he makes clear that Iraq continues to claim Kuwait.... He still does not accept UN Security Council resolutions or the coalition terms of 22 February, including the release of our POWs, all POWs, third country detainees, and an end to the pathological destruction of Kuwait. The coalition will continue to prosecute the war with undiminished intensity.... It is time for all Iraqi forces to lay down their arms. And that will stop the bloodshed.... The liberation of Kuwait is close at hand."

Combat operations (Ground Campaign)

The XVIII Airborne Corps units turned their attack northeast and entered the Euphrates River valley. With the French and the 101st and 82d Airborne Divisions protecting the west and north flanks, the 24th Division spearheaded Luck's attack into the valley. The first obstacle was the weather. An out-of-season shamal in the objective area kicked up thick clouds of swirling dust that promised to give thermal-imaging equipment a rigorous field test through the day.

After refueling in the morning, all three brigades of the 24th moved out at 1400 toward the Iraqi airfields at Jabbah and Tallil. The 1st Brigade went north, then east about 40 miles to take a battle position in the northeast corner of the corps sector; the 2d Brigade moved 35 miles north to a position along the eastern corps boundary and then continued its advance another 25 miles until it was only 15 miles south of Jahbah; and the 197th Brigade went northeast about 60 miles to a position just south of Tallil. Meanwhile, the 3d Armored Cavalry screened to the east on the division's south flank.

In these attacks the 24th encountered the heaviest resistance of the war. The Iraqi 47th and 49th Infantry Divisions, the Nebuchadnezzar Division of the Republican Guard, and the 26th Commando Brigade took heavy fire but stood and fought. The 1st Brigade took direct tank and artillery fire for four hours. For the first time in the advance the terrain gave the enemy a clear advantage. McCaffrey's troops found Iraqi artillery and automatic weapons dug into rocky escarpments reminiscent of the Japanese positions in coral outcroppings on Pacific islands that an earlier generation of 24th Infantry Division soldiers had faced. But Iraqi troops were not as tenacious in defense as the Japanese had been, and the 24th had much better weapons than its predecessors. American artillery crews located enemy batteries with their Firefinder radars and returned between three and six rounds for every round of incoming. With that advantage, American gunners destroyed six full Iraqi artillery battalions.

Photo: A dug-in T-72 Asad Babil tank abandoned after the battle of Battle of Norfolk



In the dust storm and darkness American technological advantages became clearer still. Thermal-imaging systems in tanks, Bradleys, and attack helicopters worked so well that crews could spot and hit Iraqi tanks at up to 4,000 meters (2.5 miles) before the Iraqis even saw them. American tank crews were at first surprised at their one-sided success, then exulted in the curious result of their accurate fire: the "pop-top" phenomenon. Because Soviet-made tank turrets were held in place by gravity, a killing hit blew the turret completely off. As the battle wore on, the desert floor became littered with pop-tops. A combination of superior weaponry and technique-precise Abrams tank and Apache helicopter gunnery, 25-mm. automatic cannon fire from the Bradleys, overwhelming artillery and rocket direct support and counterbattery fire, and air superiority-took the 24th Division through enemy armor and artillery units in those "valley battles" and brought Iraqi troops out of their bunkers and vehicles in droves with hands raised in surrender. After a hard but victorious day and night of fighting, the 2d Brigade took its position by 2000 on the twenty-sixth. The other two brigades accomplished their missions by dawn.

In VII Corps' sector on 26 February the 1st Armored Division fired heavy artillery and rocket preparatory fires into A1 Busayyah shortly after dawn, and by noon had advanced through a sandstorm to overrun the small town. In the process, General Griffith's troops completed the destruction of the Iraqi 26th Infantry Division and, once in the objective area, discovered they had taken the enemy VII Corps headquarters and a corps logistical base as well. More than 100 tons of munitions were captured and large numbers of tanks and other vehicles destroyed. The 1st Armored Division pressed on, turning northeast and hitting the Tawakalna Division of the Republican Guard. Late that night Griffith mounted a night assault on the elite enemy unit and, in fighting that continued the next day, killed 30 to 35 tanks and 10 to 15 other vehicles.

In the 3d Armored Division sector Funk's men crossed the intercorps phase line SMASH just after daylight and attacked Objective COLLINS, east of Al Busayyah. Through the evening the division fought its toughest battles in defeating elements of the Tawakalna Division. With the capture of COLLINS and nearby enemy positions, VII Corps reached the wheeling point in its advance. From here, General Franks' divisions turned east and assaulted Republican Guard strongholds. Meanwhile, the 1st Infantry Division was ordered north from its position inside the mine belt breach. As the attack east began, VII Corps presented in the northern part of its sector a front of three divisions and one regiment: the 1st Armored Division on the left (north); the 3d Armored Division, the 2d Armored Cavalry, and the 1st Infantry Division on the right (south). Farther south, the British 1st Armored Division, with over 7,000 vehicles, cleared the mine breach at 0200 and deployed to advance on a separate axis into Objective WATERLOO, and on to the juncture of phase line SMASH and the corps boundary. From ARCENT headquarters came word that General Luck's corps would soon be even stronger. At 0930 the ARCENT commander, Lt. Gen. John J. Yeosock, released 1st Cavalry Division from its theater reserve role to VII Corps.

In the early afternoon Col. Leonard D. Holder, Jr.'s 2d Armored Cavalry advanced east of COLLINS in a shamal. The regiment, screening in front of 1st Infantry Division, had just arrived from the mine belt along the Saudi border that it had breached the first day of the ground war. The cavalrymen had only a general idea of the enemy's position. The Iraqis had long expected the American attack to come from the south and east and were now frantically turning hundreds of tanks, towed artillery pieces, and other vehicles to meet the onslaught from the west. On the Iraqi side, unit locations were changing almost by the minute. As Holder's men neared phase line TANGERINE, 20 miles east of COLLINS, one of the cavalry troops received fire from a building on the 69 Easting, a north-south line on military maps. The cavalrymen returned fire and continued east. More enemy fire came in during the next two hours and was immediately returned. Just after 1600 the cavalrymen found T-72 tanks in prepared positions at 73 Easting. The regiment used its thermal imaging equipment to deadly advantage, killing every tank that appeared in its sights. But this was a different kind of battle than Americans had fought so far. The destruction of the first tanks did not signal the surrender of hundreds of Iraqi soldiers. The tanks kept coming and fighting.32

The reason for the unusually determined enemy fire and large number of tanks soon became clear. The cavalrymen had found two Iraqi divisions willing to put up a hard fight, the 12th Armored Division and the Tawakalna Division. Holder's regiment found a seam between the two divisions, and for a time became the only American unit obviously outnumbered and outgunned during the ground campaign. But, as the 24th Division had found in its valley battles, thermal-imaging equipment cut through the dust storm to give gunners a long-range view of enemy vehicles and grant the fatal first-shot advantage. For four hours Holder's men  killed tanks and armored personnel carriers while attack helicopters knocked out artillery batteries. When the Battle of 73 Easting ended at 1715, the 2d Armored Cavalry had destroyed at least 29 tanks and 24 armored personnel carriers, as well as numerous other vehicles and bunkers, and taken 1,300 prisoners. That night, the 1st Infantry Division passed through Holder's cavalrymen and continued the attack east.

Map: Battle of 73 Easting



Farther to the south, the British 1st Armored Division attacked eastward through the 48th Infantry and 52d Armored Divisions and remnants of other Iraqi units trying to withdraw north. This attack marked the start of nearly two days of continuous combat for the British, some of the toughest fighting of the war. In the largest of this series of running battles, the British destroyed 40 tanks and captured an Iraqi division commander.

To the east, the Marine advance resumed on the twenty-sixth with the two Marine divisions diverging from their parallel course of the first two days. The 2d Marine Division and the Army's Tiger Brigade, 2d Armored Division, continued driving directly north, while the 1st Marine Division turned northeast toward Kuwait International Airport. The Army tankers headed toward Mutla Ridge, an extended upfold only about 25 feet high. The location next to the juncture of two multilane highways in the town of Al Jahrah, a suburb of Kuwait City, rather than the elevation, had caught General Boomer's attention weeks earlier. By occupying the ridge the brigade could seal a major crossroads and slam the door on Iraqi columns escaping north to Baghdad.

The brigade advanced at 1200 with the 3d Battalion, 67th Armor, in the lead. Approaching Mutla Ridge, the Americans found a minefield and waited for the plows to cut a safety lane. On the move again, the brigade began to find enemy bunker complexes and dug-in armored units. Enemy tanks, almost all of the T-55 type, were destroyed wherever encountered, and most bunkers yielded still more prisoners. During a three-hour running battle in the early evening, Tiger tankers cleared the Mutla police post and surrounding area. Moving up and over Mutla Ridge, the 67th's tanks found and destroyed numerous antiaircraft artillery positions. Perimeter consolidation at the end of the day's advance was complicated and delayed by the need to process an even larger number of prisoners of war than the day before: 1,600.

The Tiger Brigade now controlled the highest point for hundreds of miles in any direction. When the troops looked down on the highways from Mutla Ridge, they saw the largest target an armored brigade had probably ever seen. The previous night Air Force and Navy aircraft had begun destroying all vehicles spotted fleeing from Kuwait. Now the brigade added its firepower to the continuous air strikes. On the "Highway of Death" hundreds of burning and exploding vehicles of all types, including civilian automobiles, were visible. Hundreds more raced west out of Kuwait City unknowingly to join the deadly traffic jam. Here and there knots of drivers, Iraqi soldiers, and refugees fled into the desert because of the inferno of bombs, rockets, and tank fire.

Photo: An abandoned Iraqi Type 69 main battle tank sits on the side on the road into Kuwait City during the ground phase of Operation Desert Storm.



These lucky ones managed to escape and join the ranks of the growing army of prisoners.

At the close of allied operations on February 26th a total of twenty-four Iraqi divisions had been defeated. In all sectors the volume of prisoners continued to grow and clog roads and logistical areas. Iraqi soldiers surrendered faster than Central Command could count them, but military police units estimated that the total now exceeded 30,000.

The day ended with at least one other major logistical problem. The 24th Division had moved so fast in two days that fuel trucks had difficulty keeping up. After taking positions on the night of the twenty-sixth, the lead tanks had less than 100 gallons of fuel on board. Brigade commanders had the fuel, but lead elements were not sure where to rendezvous in the desert. The problem was solved by the kind of unplanned actions on which victories often turn. A small number of junior officers took the initiative to lead tank truck convoys across the desert at night with only a vague idea of where either brigade fuel supplies or needy assault units were located. By approaching whatever vehicles came into view and asking for unit identity, those leaders managed to refuel division vehicles by midnight.

Combat operations (Air and Sea)

Over 100,000 sorties have been flown. Coalition forces, including the United States Navy and Marine Corps, flew 3,000 sorties today. 1,400 sorties have been directed at the KTO, 700 on close air support.

Naval forces and Marine amphibious forces operated all along the Kuwaiti coast executing feints to make Iraqis think an amphibious landing was occurring.

Marine Light Attack Squadron-269 helos conducted a "wake-up call" on Faylaka Island defenders, while simultaneously, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadrons-263 and 365 and Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron-461 simulated a heliborne landing on Bubiyan Island. 13th MEU pulled a feint attack south of Kuwait City.

Using Remotely Piloted Vehicles and Marine spotters ashore to zero-in on targets, including artillery, mortar and missile positions, ammunition storage facilities and a Silkworm missile site, battleships USS WISCONSIN and USS MISSOURI have fired more than 1.000 rounds of 16" ammunition in support of ground operations. USS MISSOURI alone fired more than one million pounds of ordnance. USS WISCONSIN's RPVs provided on-site reconnaissance support from 11 nautical miles out for advancing Marines.

Navy A-6Es of USS RANGER's VA-155 and Marine aircraft bombed Iraqi troops fleeing Kuwait City to Basra in "bumper to bumper" convoys along two multi-lane highways. Numerous tanks, armored vehicles, jeeps, cars, ambulances, and tractor-trailers were destroyed.

Photo: French special-forces commandos capture Iraqi soldiers somewhere in Iraqi desert

[James G]

The Battle of 73 Easting was the one which made HR MacMaster famous, wasn't it?

[lordroel]

Feb 26, 2020 9:55:29 GMT James G said:

The Battle of 73 Easting was the one which made HR MacMaster famous, wasn't it?

Yep, he was a captain commanding Eagle Troop of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of 73 Easting. During that battle, though significantly outnumbered and encountering the enemy by surprise as McMaster's lead tank crested a dip in the terrain, the nine tanks of his troop destroyed 28 Iraqi Republican Guard tanks without loss in 23 minutes.

YouTube (Eagle Troop and the Battle of 73 Easting)

[lordroel]

DAY 43 of operation Desert Storm, Day 4 of Ground campaign, Wednesday, February 27th 1991

Events of the day

Coalition forces enter Kuwait City in triumph, as stories of thousands of Kuwaiti hostages and widespread torture and murder continue.

Cheney says that the Mother of all Battles has turned into the Mother of all Retreats.

General Schwarzkopf briefs on Desert Storm strategy, says "There's not enough left for him to be a regional threat." 29 Iraqi divisions are combat ineffective, 3700 tanks destroyed.

U.S. A-10s mistakenly kill 9 UK soldiers. BBC reports (NYT 3/9) that UK air controller cleared the attack.

Kuwait says it will never negotiate with Iraq on boundary dispute, despite UN Res to do so.

DeCuellar recommends disbanding UN Iran-Iraq Observer Group.

Baker says Iraq should remain under arms embargo as long as Saddam remains in power

Political events

At 2100 (EST), President Bush addresses the nation, declares "Kuwait is liberated. Iraq's army is defeated." The President announces that at 2400 (EST), "exactly 100 hours since ground operations commenced and six weeks since the start of Operation Desert Storm, all U.S. and coalition forces will suspend further offensive combat operations." Terms of the cease fire are:

Immediate release of all coalition POWs, third-country nationals and the remains of all who have fallen.

- Iraq must release all Kuwaiti detainees.

- Iraq must inform Kuwait of the location and nature of all land/sea mines.

- Iraq must comply fully with all relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

- After United Nations formally requests compliance, Iraq delivers letter to U.N. stating intention to comply with cease-fire terms.

Combat operations (Ground Campaign)

The  XVIII Airborne Corps prepared to continue its advance east toward A1 Basrah. But before the assault could be resumed, the 24th Division had to secure its positions in the Euphrates River valley by taking the two airfields toward which it had been moving. Tallil airfield lay about 20 miles south of the town of An Nasinyah; Jabbah airfield lay 40 miles east southeast, near the lake at Hawr al Malih. The task of taking the airfields went to the units that had ended the previous day in positions closest to them. While the 1st Brigade would conduct a fixing attack toward the Jahbah airfield, the 2d Brigade planned to move east about 25 miles and turn north against the same objective. Moving north, the 197th Brigade would take Tallil.

Following a four-hour rest, the 2d Brigade attacked at midnight, seized a position just south of Jallbah by 0200 on the twenty-seventh, and stayed there while preparatory fires continued to fall on the airfield. At 0600 the 1st Brigade moved east toward the airfield, stopped short, and continued firing on Iraqi positions. At the same time, the 2d Brigade resumed the attack with three infantry-armor task forces and crashed through a fence around the runways. Although the airfield had been hit by air strikes for six weeks and a heavy artillery preparation by five battalions of XVIII Corps' 212th Field Artillery Brigade, Iraqi defenders were still willing to fight. Most Iraqi fire was ineffectual small arms, but armor piercing rounds hit two Bradleys, killing two men of the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor, and wounding several others in the 3d Battalion, 15th Infantry. As nearly 200 American armored vehicles moved across the air-field knocking out tanks, artillery pieces, and even aircraft, Iraqis began to surrender in large numbers. By 1000 the Jahbah airfield was secure.40

At midday heavy artillery and rocket launcher preparations, followed by twenty-eight close air sorties, were directed on the Tallil airfield. As the fires lifted, the 197th Brigade advanced across the cratered runways and through weaker resistance than that at Jahbah. But like the 2d Brigade at Jahbah, the 197th killed both armored vehicles and aircraft on the ground and found large numbers of willing prisoners.41

As the 197th Brigade assaulted Tallil, General McCaffrey realigned his other units to continue the attack east centering on Highway 8. The 1st Brigade took the division left (north) sector, tying in with the 101st Airborne Division. The 2d Squadron, 4th Cavalry, the 24th's reconnaissance unit, moved east from the Hawr al Malih lake area to set up a tactical assembly area behind the 1st Brigade. The 2d Brigade left its newly won airfield position and assumed the center sector of the division front. The 3d Armored Cavalry took the right sector, tying in with VII Corps to the south. With the 24th Division now oriented east after its northern advance of the first two days, a new series of phase lines was drawn between the Tallil airfield and the Ar Rumaylah oil fields, just southwest of Al Basrah. From the line of departure east of the Jahbah airfield, McCaffrey's units would advance across phase lines AXE, KNIFE, VICTORY, and CRUSH.

The run down the highway showed more clearly than any other episode the weaknesses of Iraqi field forces and the one-sidedness of the conflict. Through the afternoon and night of 27 February the tankers, Bradley gunners, and helicopter crews and artillerymen of the 1st and 4th Battalions, 64th Armor, fired at hundreds of vehicles trying to redeploy to meet the new American attack from the west, or simply to escape  north across the Euphrates River valley and west on Highway 8. With no intelligence capability left to judge the size or location of the oncoming American armored wedges and attack helicopter swarms, as well as insufficient communications to coordinate a new defense, Iraqi units stumbled into disaster. Unsuspecting drivers of every type of vehicle, from tanks to artillery prime movers and even commandeered civilian autos, raced randomly across the desert or west on Highway 8 only to run into General McCaffrey's firestorm. Some drivers, seeing vehicles explode and burn, veered off the road in vain attempts to escape. Others stopped, dismounted, and walked toward the Americans with raised hands. When the division staff detected elements of the Hammurabi Division of the Republican Guard moving across the 24th's front, McCaffrey concentrated the fire of nine artillery battalions and an Apache battalion on the once elite enemy force. At dawn the next day, the twenty-eighth, hundreds of vehicles lay crumpled and smoking on Highway 8 and at scattered points across the desert. The 24th's lead elements, only 30 miles west of A1 Basrah, set up a hasty defense along phase line VICTORY.

The 24th Division's valley battles of 25-27 February rendered ineffective all Iraqi units encountered in the division sector and trapped most of the Republican Guard divisions to the south while VII Corps bore into them from the west, either blasting units in place or taking their surrender. In its own battles the 24th achieved some of the most impressive results of the ground war. McCaffrey's troops had advanced 190 miles into Iraq to the Euphrates River, then turned east and advanced another 70 miles, all in four days. Along the way they knocked out over 360 tanks and armored personnel carriers, over 300 artillery pieces, over 1,200 trucks, 500 pieces of engineer equipment, 19 missiles, and 25 aircraft, and rounded up over 5,000 enemy soldiers. Just as surprising as these large enemy losses were the small numbers of American casualties: 8 killed in action, 36 wounded in action, and 5 nonbattle injuries. And in the entire XVIII Airborne Corps, combat equipment losses were negligible: only 4 MlA1 tanks, 3 of which were repairable.

In VII Corps' sector the advance rolled east. The battles begun the previous afternoon continued through the morning of 27 February as General Franks' divisions bore into Republican Guard units trying to reposition or escape. As the assault gained momentum, Franks for the first time deployed his full combat power. The 1st Cavalry Division made good progress through the 1st Infantry Division breach and up the left side of VII Corps' sector. By midafternoon, after a high-speed 190-mile move north, General Tilelli's brigades were behind 1st Armored Division, tying in with the 24th Division across the corps boundary. Now Franks could send against the Republican Guard five full divisions and a separate regiment. From left (north) to right, VII Corps deployed the 1st Armored Division, 1st Cavalry Division, the 3d Armored Division, the 1st Infantry Division, the 2d Armored Cavalry, and the British 1st Armored Division.

Photo: The battlefield at Burgan Oil Field where the United States Marine Corps destroyed 60 Iraqi tanks during the 1st Gulf War



The dust storms had cleared early in the day, revealing in VII Corps' sector the most awesome array of armored and mechanized power fielded since World War II. In a panorama extending beyond visual limits 1,500 tanks, another 1,500 Bradleys and armored personnel carriers, 650 artillery pieces, and supply columns of hundreds of vehicles stretching into the dusty brown distance rolled east through Iraqi positions, as inexorable as a lava flow. To Iraqi units, depleted and demoralized by forty-one days of continuous air assault, Vll Corps' advance appeared irresistible.

Turning on the enemy the full range of its weapons, Vll Corps systematically destroyed Iraqi military power in its sector. About 50 miles east of Al Busayyah, the 1st and 3d Armored Divisions tore into remnants of the Tawalzalaa, Madina, and Adnan Divisions of the Republican Guard. In one of several large engagements along the advance the 2d Brigade, 1st Armored Division, received artillery fire and then proceeded to destroy not only those artillery batteries but also 61 tanks and 34 armored personnel carriers of the Madina Division in less than one hour. The 1st Infantry Division overran the 12th Armored Division and scattered the 10th Armored Division into retreat. On the south flank the British 1st Armored Division destroyed the 52d Armored Division, then overran three infantry divisions. To finish destruction of the Republican Guard Forces Command, General Franks conducted a giant envelopment involving the 1st Cavalry Division on the left and the 1st Infantry Division on the right.

Photo: A view of the Basra-Kuwait Highway near Kuwait City after the retreat of Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm. In the background are British AFVs (including FV510 Warrior), and in the foreground is an abandoned loaded Iraqi ZPU-4 anti-aircraft gun.




The trap closed on disorganized bands of Iraqis streaming north in full retreat. The only setback for VII Corps during this climactic assault occurred in the British sector. American Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft supporting the British advance mistakenly fired on 2 infantry fighting vehicles, killing 9 British soldiers.

At 1700 Franks informed his divisions of an imminent theater-wide cease-fire but pressed VII Corps' attack farther east. An hour later the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, set a blocking position on the north-south highway connecting Al Basrah to Kuwait City. The next morning corps artillery units fired an enormous preparation involving all long-range weapons: 155-mm. and 8-inch (203-mm.) self-propelled pieces, rocket launchers, and tactical missiles. Attack helicopters followed to strike suspected enemy positions. The advance east continued a short time until the cease-fire went into effect at 0800, 28 February, with American armored divisions just inside Kuwait.

In ninety hours of continuous movement and combat, VII Corps had achieved impressive results against the best units of the Iraqi military. Franks' troops destroyed more than a dozen Iraqi divisions, an estimated 1,300 tanks, 1,200 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 285 artillery pieces, and 100 air defense systems, and captured nearly 22,000 men. At the same time, the best Iraqi divisions destroyed only 7 MlA1 Abrams tanks, 15 Bradleys, 2 armored personnel carriers, and 1 Apache helicopter. And while killing unknown thousands of enemy troops, VII Corps lost 22 soldiers killed in action.

In the Marine Central Command's sector on 27 February the Tiger Brigade, 2d Armored Division, and the 2d Marine Division began the fourth day of the ground war by holding positions and maintaining close liaison with Joint Forces Command North units on the left flank. The next phase of operations in Kuwait would see Saudi-commanded units pass through General Boomer's sector from west to east and go on to liberate Kuwait City. At 0550 Tiger troops made contact with Egyptian units, and four hours later Joint Forces Command North columns passed through 2d Marine Division. During the rest of the day Tiger troops cleared bunker complexes, the Ali Al Salem Airfield, and the Kuwaiti Royal Summer Palace, while processing a continuous stream of prisoners of war. The Army brigade and the 2d Marine Division remained on Mutla Ridge and phase line BEAR until the ceasefire went into effect at 0800 on 28 February. Prisoner interrogation during and after combat operations revealed that the Tiger Brigade advance had split the seam between the Iraqi 111 and IV Corps, overrunning elements of the 14th, 7th, and 36th Infantry Divisions, as well as brigades of the 3d Armored, 1st Mechanized, and 2d Infantry Divisions. During four days of combat Tiger Brigade task forces destroyed or captured 181 tanks, 148 armored personnel carriers, 40 artillery pieces, and 27 antiaircraft systems while killing an estimated 263 enemy and capturing 4,051 prisoners of war, all at a cost of 2 killed and 5 wounded.

Combat operations (Air, Land and Sea)

Photo: A U.S. Army Grumman OV-1D Mohawk surveillance aircraft taxis for takeoff on a mission



"Air supremacy" is achieved, and allied combat air patrols pushed further into Iraqi airspace. 21 packages (two from Proven Force) were flown. 1 package was canceled due to tanker availability, and 1 was re-tasked from an airfield strike to Scud storage sites and a hydroelectric power plant. United States A-10s, AV-Ss, F/A-18s, and coalition Jaguars conducted battlefield preparation missions using "kill zones" in Western and southern Kuwait to attack artillery position, revetments, and command posts. USAF F-111s destroyed the Iraqi III Corp headquarters building with possible heavy loss to corps leadership. Also, F-111s using GBU-15s made a direct hit on the pipeline manifolds at the Al Ahmadi refinery in an effort to minimize oil being pumped into the Gulf. Targeting of bridges showed positive results as eight were dropped or significantly damaged. Scuds continued to receive high priority. USA-F A-10s continued daytime Scud hunting missions while F-15Es and F-16s continued night airborne and ground Scud alert. Four packages attacked Scud Production and storage facilities. Multiple night strike responses were completed both before and after Scud launches aimed at Israel and Saudi Arabia.

After G-Day, the next two days, simultaneous sea and ground operations ensued: special forces conducted mine countermeasures in Arabian Gulf, threatened coastal flanks with amphibious operations; carrier and ground-based air strikes and restrikes prevented bridge rebuilding; U.S. and coalition forces deployed to block a Republican Guard avenue of egress out of Kuwait; set up a flanking guard position preventing attack from any force; with naval gunfire support, began attacks to the east to engage remnants of Republican Guard tank units; 1st Marine Division engaged and seized Kuwaiti International Airport; 2nd Marine Division encircled and cut off avenue of egress out of Kuwait City.

General Schwarzkopf declares massive destruction of Iraqi army: states Iraq is no longer a regional military threat. "unless someone chooses to rearm them in the future." 

United States and coalition air strikes and sporadic ground attacks continued until 2400 (EST) deadline. 103,000 sorties have been flown (3,000 today) focusing on battlefield air interdiction and close air support.

USMC AV-8B is downed. Pilot, Captain Reginald Underwood, is killed.

While off Kuwaiti coast, to assist ground forces to secure and enter Kuwait City, USS WISCONSIN's Remotely Piloted Vehicle detects 2 small boats fleeing Faylaka Island. Navy A-6s were called in and destroyed the boats, believed to be carrying Iraqi secret police.

Over fifty thousand enemy prisoners of war have been captured. (48,000+ between January 24th to February 27th), the United States casualties are 28 KIA. 89 WIA. 5 MIA since start of ground offensive. Overall total: 79 KIA, 213 WIA, 35 MIA, 9 POW. To-date, 3,008 Iraqi tanks (42% of initial inventory), 1,856 armored vehicles (28% of initial inventory), and 2,140 artillery pieces (31% of initial inventory) have been destroyed.

Photo: A port bow view of the Canadian operational support ship HMCS PROTECTEUR (AOR-509), underway in support of Operation Desert Storm.

[lordroel]

DAY 44 of operation Desert Storm, Day 1 of cease fire, February 28th 1991

DOD announces temporary cease fire is holding with U.S. and coalition forces in defensive position, conducting combat air patrols and reconnaissance operations. However, there have been several incidents of Iraqi troops firing on U.S./coalition forces, attributed to isolated Iraqis cut off from communications unaware of ceasefire.

Photo: A British Challenger main battle tank, the squadron leader of D Sqn, Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, moves into a base camp along with other Allied armor during Operation Desert Storm.



Over 110,000 sorties have been flown by U.S. and coalition forces. DOD reports 42 Iragi divisions have been destroyed or rendered combatineffective.

An additional division of Iraqi troops has been able to avoid capture or destruction, and flee to safety.

USS NIMITZ (CV-68) and USS FORRESTAL (CV-59) Carrier Battle Groups will depart on 5th and March 7th 1991 for overseas deployment. The battle groups will provide operational and maintenance flexibility for carrier battle groups in support of OPERATION DESERT STORM and ensure maximum readiness and deployment stability of naval forces in that area.

Iraq agrees to meeting to work out cease-fire issues.

[lordroel]

DAY 45 of operation Desert Storm, Day 2 of cease fire, March 1st 1991

DOD announces cease-fire remains in effect, only one minor violation. U.S./coalition forces remain on alert, in strong defensive positions. DOD reports Marines captured, destroyed, or damaged, 1,060 tanks, 608 armored personnel carriers, 432 artillery pieces, five FROG launchers and 2 SCUD transporter erector launchers during 100 hours of offensive combat. Marine sweeps also uncovered a bunker containing chemical artillery shells.

Navy, Marine and other aircraft are conducting defensive, counter-air, reconnaissance, SCUD reaction, and resupply operations.

Photo: A U.S. Navy LTV A-7E Corsair II from Attack Squadron VA-72 Blue Hawks bearing a desert camouflage paint scheme sits on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) following the cease-fire that ended "Operation Desert Storm". The aircraft was assigned to the deputy commander of Carrier Air Wing 3 (CVW-3).



Naval forces are conducting maritime interception and minesweeping operations. 125 mines have been destroyed to-date.

Hundreds of Iraqi soldiers waving white flags on Faylaka Island surrendered to the battleship USS MISSOURI's Remotely Piloted Vehicle flying overhead after their trenchline was bombarded.

The U.S., British, French and Canadian Embassies are open in Kuwait City and fully functioning. Kuwaiti International Airport is operational.

Photo: F-14A Tomcat aircraft from Fighter Squadron 14 (VF-14) and Fighter Squadron 33 (VF-33) rendezvous with an Air Force KC-10A Extender aircraft for an in-flight refueling while on patrol in the Persian Gulf region following the cease-fire that ended Operation Desert Storm. VF-14 is based aboard the aircraft carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY (CV-67); VF-33 is based aboard the aircraft carrier USS AMERICA (CV-66).

[lordroel]

DAY 46 of operation Desert Storm, Day 3 of cease fire, March 2nd 1991

By 11-1 vote, U.N. Security Council approves Resolution 686, outlining conditions Iraq must meet prior to a formal cease-fire. Conditions include release of all POWs, release of all Kuwaiti hostages, provide locations of all mines in Kuwait, and compliance with all previous U.N. resolutions.

Allied officials and refugees report that Basra, Iraq's second largest city, had been engulfed in chaos by the arrival of troops and vehicles driven from Kuwait in the last days of the war. Civil government had completely broken down, and foes of Saddam Hussein were taking advantage of the anarchic conditions to forment a popular revolt.

DOD announces cease-fire remains in effect. U.S./coalition forces remain on alert in defensive positions. Navy, Marine and other aircraft are flying reconnaissance, resupply and combat air patrol missions.

Naval forces are conducting continuing maritime interception and minesweeping operations. USS WISCONSIN's RPV gathered intelligence on Faylaka Island's defenses prior to evacuation of Iraqi EPWs.

Photo: Six ships of Battle Force Zulu (Task Force 154) steam in formation after the cease-fire that ended Operation Desert Storm. At left, from top, are the guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55), the aircraft carriers USS Midway (CV-41) and USS Ranger (CV-61) and the guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60). At right are the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), top, and the aircraft carrier USS America (CV-66) .



Marine LAV strikes a land mine, killing one Marine, wounding three others. Mine-clearing operations continue.

Over a thousand additional enemy prisoners of war surrender at Talil Airfield. To-date, over 50,000 EPWs in custody.

Photo: a close-up view of the markings on the side of a Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 126 (VAW-126) E-2C Hawkeye aircraft parked on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). The lightning bolts indicate the number of missions flown by the aircraft's crew during Operation Desert Storm

[lordroel]

DAY 47 of operation Desert Storm, Day 4 of cease fire, March 3rd 1991

YouTube (Gulf War Ceasefire, Peace Talks - 1991)



The ceasefire meeting between coalition and Iraqi commanders was held at Safwan Airfield. Iraq. CINCCENTCOM General Norman Schwazkopf, and Li. C,en. Khalid bin Sultan, Commander Joint Arab Forces, met for two hours with Lt. G€n. Sultan Hashim Ahmad. Chief of Staff of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, and Li. Gen. Sala Abud Mahmud, the Iraqi III Corps commander. Prisoner of war exchange was the first issue discussed. Both sides agreed to let the international Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) handle the logistics of the trade. This agreement included Kuwaiti civilians (over 5,000) who were taken to Iraq and coalition troops still listed as missing in action. General Schwarzkopf made the recommendation that an immediate symbolic release of prisoners be accomplished by using ICRC aircraft- Another topic raised was the coalition desire for information on minefields in Kuwait and mines placed in coastal or international waters. The Iraqis immediately presented maps having the desired information. General Schwarzkopf then stated, "We would also like to know the location if there are any chemical biological, or nuclear munitions stored in anywhere within Kuwait [sic]." General Ahrnad replied, "There are no such things- There are some munitions, but they are just on the ground. . . . Nothing is hidden. Not chemical or biological. Just ammunition for artillery and the rest." The Iraqis agreed to provide information on munitions storage areas that their forces established in Kuwait. Regarding flight activity, General Schwarzkopf stated that coalition forces had control of the air over Iraq "and we intend to keep that until the cease fire is called." The purpose of the flights was safety, 'to make sure that we do not have any hostile aircraft attack us." General Ahmad cited the Poor condition of Iraqi roads and bridges and said. "We would like to agree that helicopter flights sometimes are needed to carry some of the officials, government officials, or any members that [need] to be transported. . . ." General Schwarzkopf agreed, ". . . military helicopters can fly over Iraq." But he added, "Not fighters, not bombers.

Photo: a M-551A1 Sheridan armored reconnaissance vehicle from Company A, 3d Battalion, 73d Armor (82d Airborne Division) guarding the main gate of Tallil air base in southern Iraq


DOD announces defensive air reconnaissance and combat air patrol operations continue. Naval forces continue defensive counter-air, reconnaissance, maritime interception and minesweeping operations.

Navy CH-46 helos with loudspeakers rounded-up 1,405 surrendering Iraqi troops on Faylaka Island. EPWs were ferried by helo to the USS OGDEN (LPD-5) for further transport to Saudi EPW facilities. 62,000+ EPWs in custody to-date.

Twenty Iraqi aircraft, including F-1s, MIG-21s, and 8 helos, were captured in bunkers at Talil Airfield.

A crew member waves to the camera from the back of his AMX-30 main battle tank of the French Division Daguet bivouacked near Al-Salman during Operation Desert Storm.

[lordroel]

DAY 48 of operation Desert Storm, Day 5 of cease fire, March 4th 1991

Iraq releases ten Prisoners of War (6 Americans. 3 of whom were designated MIA), including Navy LT Jeffrey Zaun, LT Robert Wetzel, and LT Lawrence Slade. No Marines repatriated. POWs were turned over to U.S. officials by the International Committee of the Red Cross near the Jordanian border station of Ruwayshid, then transferred to the hospital ship USNS MERCY (T-AH 19) for medical treatment.

DOD announces establishment of a demarcation zone in southern Iraq between U.S./coalition forces and Iraqi forces to prevent engagements between forces. Iraqis have provided information on location of land and sea mines.

Naval forces are conducting defensive counter-air, mine removal, reconnaissance, and maritime interception operations. Air reconnaissance operations continue, including over Baghdad.

DOD revises U.S. casualty data: 98 KIA, 308 WIA, 35 MIA, 6 POW (reflects release of 6 Americans). Enemy prisoners of war total 63,000+ in Saudi Arabia, 37,000 in U.S. facilities, 3,000+ in Turkey.

6,661 Naval Reservists are currently serving in the Arabian Gulf theater.

The wreckage of the Air Force AC-130 that was missing for more than a month is located in the Persian Gulf, one mile off the coast of Kuwait's Southern border. Pentagon officials believed all fourteen crew persons to be dead.

Supporters and foes of Saddam Hussein clashed in Basra and up to a dozen other cities in Southern Iraq, marking the worst civil unrest of the Iraqi president's reign. Defeated soldiers joined Shiite fundamentalists, long opposed to Saddam Hussein's rule, in an effort to bring down his government. Troops from the elite Republican Guard were said to back the Iraqi leader, and used their tanks and artillery on the protesters.

Photo: a destroyed Iraqi Air Force Su-25 FROGFOOT at Jalibah air base in southern Iraq