SOUTH OF BAGHDAD – The much awaited ground offensive toward Baghdad began at 2 a.m. Wednesday. By sundown, the US forces had decimated the Republican Guard
Medina Division's 14th Brigade and moved within 50 kilometers of the Iraqi
capital and into the 'red zone' defensive cordon, US military officials
said.
US forces from the 3rd Infantry Division were stationed on both sides of the
Euphrates River on the southern outskirts of Baghdad. The 3rd Infantry
Division's 1st Brigade moved across the Karbala Gap – a narrow 1.4-km.
strait of the Shi'ite city of Karbala – during the first nine hours of the
offensive.
'What we're seeing is a multipronged approach. The noose is quickly
tightening around the neck of this regime,' said Lt. Mark Kitchens, a
spokesman at US Central Command in Qatar.
Troops with the 1st US Marine Expeditionary Force moved north after seizing
the strategic town of Kut and an important Tigris River bridge. Marines
earlier routed the Baghdad Division of the Republican Guard that was
guarding the highway to the Iraqi capital, US officials said. There were no
reports of US casualties.
'The Baghdad Division no longer exists and the 1st Marine Expeditionary
Force is moving on,' said Navy Capt. Frank Thorp, at US Central Command.
Crossing the Karbala Gap, however, was one of the major challenges for US
forces.
The fear was that Iraqi forces would attack US troops with chemical
weapons from Karbala, as there are no populated areas in the gap and, once
committed, there is no easy means of retreat. Due to fear of chemical
attacks, Iraqi artillery pieces along the gap were attacked with rockets, an
artillery battery, and air force jets for several days before the ground
offensive.
Two hours before the offensive began, US forces were instructed to don their
protective rubber boots to prevent exposure to chemical agents in the event
of an attack.
Additionally, the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade moved to
a staging area south of Hilweh, due east of Karbala, early in the week as a
diversionary move to distract Iraqi forces from the 1st Brigade as it moved
west of Karbala.
By Tuesday afternoon, military intelligence concluded that Iraqi artillery
capabilities around Karbala were sufficiently disabled to allow for the
start of offensive operations.
The 2-7 Mechanized Infantry Battalion moved through the night to reach close
to Karbala's western edge, destroying Iraqi artillery and anti-aircraft guns
along the way, as two other 1st Brigade battalions moved farther west. By
the end of the night, two-thirds of the 3rd Infantry Division forces had
successfully moved north past Karbala and toward Baghdad.
During the Karbala Gap advance, US forces killed some 50 Iraqis and took
approximately 100 prisoners. The 2-7 Battalion was relieved by the 3rd
Brigade's 1-30 Battalion at 11:00 a.m. Thursday.
The 3-7 and the 3-69 Battalions of the 1st Brigade continued on to the north
and east some 20 km. south of Baghdad as the 2-7 Battalion moved east and
destroyed the 14th Brigade of the Republican Guard's Medina division around
the town of Mussaib.
During three hours of heavy fighting around the town, combined US ground and
air attacks killed some 500 Republican Guard forces, destroyed scores of
artillery batteries, RPGs, anti-aircraft guns and 40 tanks.
In addition, throughout the afternoon and evening, scores of Iraqi prisoners were taken. From their initial interrogations, it was discovered that Saddam's Republican Guard forces are in disarray. Ad hoc units have been patched together around Mussaib from the Medina, Hammurabi, Adnan, and Nebuchadnezer Divisions.
In the meantime, no casualties were reported among the US forces.
'We were able to use feints and multidirectional assaults to confuse the
enemy and force Saddam to divide his forces. As a result, resistance was
uncoordinated and ineffective,' said Maj. Rod Coffey, operations officer for
the 2-7 Battalion.
Despite oppressively hot and humid weather on Wednesday, the US forces
fought without interruption for 18 hours.
According to Iraqi prisoners taken along the Karbala Gap, Republican Guard
officers were holding militia and regular army forces at gunpoint to prevent
desertion. 'They waited for us to fire the first shot before surrendering,'
said 2-7 Battalion fire support officer Capt. Jason Happe.
Arms caches uncovered in the malarial marshlands around Mussaib included RPG
launchers, AK-47 rifles, grenades, and handguns.
'Some of the prisoners taken here are Republican Guard officers – we can
tell from their uniforms and general cleanliness,' said a dusty, glassy-eyed
1st Sgt. Benjamin Moore.
'What we have done today is what we do best – offensive operations,' said
2-7 Battalion commander Lt.- Col. Scott Rutter. 'Here we call the
initiative. We are most vulnerable when we are defending.
'When we stand in one place, we open ourselves up to RPGs, artillery
attacks, and terrorism. But when we move, with the integrated land-air
capabilities we bring to bear, it is impossible to stop us,' Rutter said.
With reporting from Associated Press
Originally published in The Jerusalem Post
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