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Wolfowitz Asserts Value of Ground Forces, Touts Their Role in Joint By John D. BanusiewiczAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2003 – Ground forces are an important part of the Defense Department's plans in transforming itself to meet 21st century challenges, the department's deputy secretary asserted here. Speaking at a luncheon for members of the Association of the U.S. Army, Paul Wolfowitz said he's puzzled by media reports that say civilian leaders think ground forces are obsolete. "Yes, the armed forces today have mind-boggling long-range precision-strike capabilities," Wolfowitz said, "and yes, we intend to take full advantage of...

They call them "lessons learned" reports in the Pentagon, and few are getting as much attention as the review of the Army's lumbering M1-A1 Abrams tank's performance in Iraq. Revered by soldiers as the world's best, the report found that lone Iraqis armed with simple rocket-propelled grenades halted a few Abramses in their tracks. Just like those Battle of the Bulge scenes of GIs firing at the bellies of Nazi tanks, a rocket aimed at the armored skirts on the side and back of the Abrams would occasionally disable the tank. That's led some to question the plan to replace...

AL AZIZIYAH, Iraq – The Iraqis fired rocket-propelled grenades from behind a taxi parked along a distant canal. One grenade zipped across the nose of an armored amphibious vehicle and exploded in the dirt. That angered Maj. Andrew Bianca, executive officer of the Marines' 2nd Tank Battalion. Sheathed in aluminum plate, the tracked amphibious vehicles known as amtracks can withstand rifle fire, but not rocket grenades. And Maj. Bianca's support team was in amtracks. He ordered his tank crew to fire a round at the Iraqis. The 120 mm cannon barrel dropped slightly, then erupted with smoke and flame. The...

Tanks for the Memory By Ralph Kinney Bennett TCS One of the enduring images of the recent war in Iraq is a column of M-1A1 Abrams tanks barreling down the streets of Baghdad on a "thunder run," deep into the city. This spring, American tanks in Iraq gave a small reprise of their astounding successes in the 1991 Gulf War. The superiority of both American and British tanks (and their superbly trained crews) was beyond question. When they engaged Iraqi armor directly, their ability to get off the vital first shot and make it count was decisive. Iraq is littered...

Kim Burger JDW Staff Reporter, Nick Cook JDW Aerospace Consultant, Andrew Koch JDW Washington Bureau Chief, Michael Sirak JDW Staff Reporter With the regime of Saddam Hussein soundly defeated by overwhelming military force, coalition leaders are analysing what initial lessons can be drawn from Operation 'Iraqi Freedom'. A high-level Pentagon team is already sifting through the data. The team-members will be aware that their conclusions will be leapt upon by proponents of two quite disparate camps: those who will use the war to bolster the process of the military's transformation from a Cold War-era fighting force to one that is...

Despite being outnumbered, the U.S. group vanquished the Iraqi Republican Guard force within minutes, thanks to superior armed vehicles and devastatingly powerful ammunition. "My commander called me, gave me the warning order to be prepared to conduct an attack on 22 stationary T-72s [Soviet-built tanks used by the Iraqis] that the [U.S.] Air Force had identified," Lyle said. "I selected a force, tank heavy, almost all the tanks in my troop, with some Bradleys [armored fighting vehicles] to go with it."

WASHINGTON, April 5 (UPI) -- On Saturday, an armored task force from the 3rd Infantry Division started south of Baghdad, pushed through the city and ended its journey at Baghdad International Airport, west of the capital. In the raid, the task force is believed to have killed about 1,000 Iraqi defenders. Apparently, most of those killed were members of the Special Republican Guard. American losses were one killed and six wounded. The results of this raid should not be taken as proof that the capture of Baghdad will be easy. It is, however, a strong indication that it won't be...

"America's Stunning Victory"by J. R. Nyquist  It is now apparent that Iraq is on the verge of defeat. The threat to U.S. lines of communications has been countered. Any delays to America’s forward advance were therefore insignificant. At the same time, Iraqi forces were unable to launch an effective counterattack. As these words are written, Iraq’s best divisions are being shredded, the Iraqi people are turning against the regime of Saddam Hussein, and the prospect of a sudden Iraqi collapse is before us.If Saddam’s army collapses or surrenders in the next two or three weeks the war will be...

<p>U.S. Army and Marine Corps ground forces smashed two of President Saddam Hussein's prized Republican Guard divisions and then moved relentlessly yesterday to attack other units to clear a direct invasion path to Baghdad.</p> <p>American divisions moved within 15 miles of the capital and began chasing down two other Republican Guard divisions in a two-sided buzz saw of tank fire from the ground, and bombs and missiles from allied jets and AH-64 Apache helicopters. One U.S. military official said Baghdad's outer ring could be cleared of Republican Guard troops in the next two days.</p>

<p>US ground forces punched through a crucial pathway known as the Karbala Gap at dawn today and surrounded the city of Karbala, advancing toward a much-anticipated assault on Baghdad. The movement occurred after elements of the US Army's Third Infantry Division unleashed an assault on key Iraqi Republican Guard divisions. The attack signaled a new phase in the war: engaging Iraqi tank divisions in ground fighting within a defensive perimeter less than 50 miles from the capital.</p>

U.S. Forces Drive Within Sight of Baghdad By RAVI NESSMAN and ELLEN KNICKMEYER .c The Associated Press SOUTH OF BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. forces fought to within sight of the Baghdad skyline 20 miles away Wednesday, seizing key bridges and shattering two divisions of the vaunted Republican Guard as they thrust north from two directions - the Army from the southwest, Marines from the southeast. Along the way, some Iraqi soldiers shed their uniforms for plain robes, and smiling civilians proffered the troops Iraqi-brand cigarettes. ``It feels better going north,'' said Marine Cpl. John Edwards of Clovis, N.M. ``The...

Col. Hunt on O'reilley: 3rd ID Has killed 10,000 Iraquis and lost 6 in battles. AMAZING.

<p>The ground offensive to capture Baghdad began last night, as tanks and helicopters from the Army's 5th Corps started a major attack against the Republican Guard Medina division defending the city's southern approach.</p> <p>In the battle for Baghdad, heavy fighting was reported north of Karbala, a holy Shi'ite Muslim site about 50 miles from the capital.</p>

April 2, 2003 Onward Toward the Tigris, With Iraq's Capital in MindBy DEXTER FILKINS ITH THE FIRST MARINE DIVISION, in central Iraq, Wednesday, April 2 — Heavy armor and troops from the First Marine Division crossed the Tigris river overnight and continued to move north along the east bank of the river toward Baghdad. Troops and equipment were continuing to pour across after sunrise this morning. Overnight there was a heavy firefight employing tanks and artillery as well as AC-130 gunships. Marine officials said 85 prisoners were taken in the fight. The move by thousands of troops and tanks was...

Army Battles to Clear Way to Baghdad By DAVID ESPO .c The Associated Press Army ground forces attacked Republican Guard units Tuesday near Karbala, scarcely 50 miles from Baghdad, part of around-the-clock combat pointing toward an assault on the capital. An American POW was rescued in Iraq. Defense officials said Army units attacked elements of the Medina Division of the Republican Guard in the clash near Karbala, hitting an elite Iraqi force weakened by heavy air bombardment over several days. Pfc. Jessica Lynch, a 19-year-old supply clerk from Palestine, W.Va., was freed after nine days in Iraqi hands. Military officials...

LONDON - US-led forces are poised for an "imminent" attack on Baghdad which according to senior military sources at US Central Command in Qatar is likely to begin "within 48 hours," the British press said Wednesday. The "big push" for Baghdad would begin "within 48 hours" with an intensive artillery bombardment supported by close air cover before the main body of troops stepped forward, said The Times. The assault is likely to start to the southwest of Baghdad with an initial strike to breach Iraq's elite Medina division's lines north of Karbala and head on to the capital, it said....

American forces attacked a Republican Guard division tonight at Karbala, on the Euphrates River approach to Baghdad, in what officials said was the beginning of a drive to push through the outer defenses of the Iraqi capital, 50 miles to the north. Officials also said that several thousand marines positioned south of Baghdad were veering east and pushing toward the Tigris River to confront a Republican Guard division reported to be massing southeast of the capital. ``This is the big battle,'' a senior American military officer told reporters at the forward headquarters of the United States Central Command, in Qatar....

THE “big push” by coalition forces on Baghdad was said to be imminent last night as thousands of frontline US troops learnt that their four-day operational pause was over. More than 60,000 men from the US 3rd Infantry were poised to begin the ground war against the Republican Guard ringing the capital. Senior military sources at US Central Command said that Operation Iraqi Freedom’s main ground offensive would begin “within 48 hours” with an intense artillery bombardment supported by close air cover before the main body of troops stepped forward. Preparations for an offensive that would answer the growing chorus...

The Government warned the public last night to prepare for a fierce last stand by Saddam Hussein's forces as US troops resumed their advance on Baghdad. Allied officials said a major battle that may decide the fate of Saddam's regime could be "no more than hours away". Gen Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "serious combat" operations against Iraqi forces had begun. The US 3rd Infantry Division, which had been consolidating its positions on a narrow front 50 miles south of the capital, moved towards the Medina Division of the Republican Guard. Allied intelligence believes it...

UMM QASR, Iraq (AP) - Striking before dawn, British tanks and infantry staged a lightning raid into besieged Basra on Saturday, destroying five Iraqi tanks and blowing up two statues of Saddam Hussein before withdrawing without casualties. The strike was the first thrust into the city confirmed by British officers, and it and other limited attacks around Basra could be a preview of how coalition commanders might deal with a siege of Baghdad. The move also was further evidence that British troops fighting for control of Iraq's far south are not here just as window dressing in the war to...

British tanks wipe out Iraqi Soviet-made tanks around Basra Iraqi armored units have proven to be no match to British main battle tanks. Officials said Britain's Challenger-2 tanks have easily picked off Iraqi T-55 tanks around the southern city of Basra. So far, they said, scores of Soviet-origin T-55 tanks have been destroyed in battles around Basra over the last two days. On Thursday, officials reported the destruction of 14 Iraqi tanks, believed to have been T-55s. Iraq first obtained the T-55 in the mid-1960s and some of them were upgraded in the 1980s. Officials said Iraq appears to...

Tough U.S.advance leaves Iraq bus full of corpses By Sean Maguire QAL'AT SUKKAR, Iraq, March 27 (Reuters) - United States Marines treated enemy wounded on Thursday and searched the blood-stained luggage of Iraqis killed inside a bus by a storm of bullets from advancing armoured units. Reporters counted four corpses outside the bus and marines said another 16 lay inside. All the bodies were adult men, wearing a mixture of civilian and military clothing and had papers that appeared to identify them as Iraqi Republican Guard. Two men who survived the attack, which appeared to have taken place on Wednesday,...

Gloating ... TV shows Iraqis clambering on overturned Land Rover SICKENING TV film showing two executed British soldiers lying in a dusty Iraqi street triggered outrage and tears last night.The Arab station Al Jazeera broadcast pictures taken by Saddam Hussein’s Fedayeen militiamen minutes after they killed the pair, both Desert Rats.One trooper had a massive chest wound and the other’s neck and upper chest was covered in blood.Both men’s faces were clearly visible on the film — shot at close range in the border town of Safwan. Nearby, dozens of Iraqi militiamen were seen clambering over the soldiers’ overturned Land...

WITH THE THIRD INFANTRY DIVISION, in Central Iraq, March 26 — The Army's 3rd Infantry Division encircled the city of Najaf early today after seizing three bridges across the Euphrates River in the division's fiercest clashes since the war began. The fight around Najaf — which lasted more than 36 hours — has considerably slowed the division's march northwards, as have the swirling winds and sand. The storm continued relentlessly today, reducing visibility to a few hundred feet and casting an eerie burnt orange glow as the sun set. Najaf, a city of more than 100,000 about 90 miles from...

<p>EAST BANK OF THE EUPHRATES RIVER, Iraq — Capt. Clay Lyle's voice on the radio gave no hint of the violence that was about to erupt.</p> <p>"We're in contact," Lyle said calmly.</p> <p>The fighting began at 8:30 p.m. Monday local time (12:30 p.m. ET Monday) when about 200 Iraqi troops ambushed the 500-vehicle convoy at night along the western bank of the Euphrates.</p>

Basra 'rises up' against Saddam By Donald Macintyre at Central Command, Doha, Qatar 26 March 2003 The British Army was massing outside Basra last night amid reports that forces loyal to Saddam Hussein were using mortars to quell a popular uprising in the city. British troops were preparing an attempt to seize the city in support of the mainly Shia Muslim population after civilians took to the streets in revolt against the Iraqi authorities, reporters embedded with the 7th Armoured Brigade, the Desert Rats, said. One report – which quoted Royal Scots Dragoon Guards intelligence sources – said Iraqi mortar...

U.S. Army Forces Kill at Least 150 Iraqis By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer WASHINGTON - U.S. Army forces killed between 150 and 500 Iraqi troops Tuesday in a fierce fight after coming under attack near the central Iraqi city of An Najaf, a senior defense official said. No U.S. casualties were reported, although the official cautioned that few details were immediately available. Elements of the 7th Cavalry Regiment were east of An Najaf when they suddenly came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, the official said. The Iraqis were on foot and it was not clear whether they were from...

U.S. Marines leave trail of death on road north By Sean Maguire NORTH OF NASSIRIYA, Iraq, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Marines pushing north towards Baghdad left a trail of death on Wednesday as they fought off sporadic Iraqi attacks along the way. This correspondent saw about two dozen corpses among wrecked vehicles littering the road north of Shatra, including a bus with its back end blown off and bodies hanging out of the back. Iraqi small-arms fire had erupted earlier in the town of Shatra, 40 km (25 miles) north of Nassiriya, where the Marines had fought their way...

A YOUNG Iraqi boy in a torn red T-shirt was the first to show his face yesterday. He peered out from behind a gate, unsure what to do as two Royal Marine commandos strode down the muddy street towards him. Marine Andrew Chilvers dropped to one knee, rested his machinegun on the ground and beckoned the boy. He then held out a chocolate bar. The boy hungrily tore off the wrapper, calling for his brothers and sisters to join him. Soon the 21-year-old commando from Middlesbrough was surrounded by outstretched hands. “If only winning the rest of Iraq was...

Fleeing troops abandon tanks The Western Mail - The National Newspaper Of Wales THE road from the Kuwait-Iraq border to Basra is lined with abandoned Iraqi tanks. Just a few days ago they were set up along the road to fire on coalition troops advancing on Iraq's second biggest city. But now they lie derelict, abandoned by the Iraqis and left intact by the British Army so they can be used again by Iraq's army once Saddam Hussein's regime is toppled. Officers said the Iraqi soldiers had run away too quickly to attempt to take their tanks with them. On...

The United States ground led assault on Iraq is 'the greatest advance in the history of warfare,' even compared with the German blitzkrieg of Europe in World War 2 a Massey University defence analyist says.Piers Reid of the University Centre of Defence Studies said that United States coalition forces are 'going forward at an incredible rate.'Dr. Reid, a former New Zealand army chief, predicted the war in Iraq would be wrapped up in a few weeks.He said the superior firepower of Amercian forces was advancing virtually unchecked in the desert.'The Americans own the desert,' If the Iraqis try and stall...

After four days of fighting, the Iraqis have chalked up successes on the propaganda front, while the coalition has made achievements on the ground: A corps with a fleet of helicopters is approaching Baghdad, and its hold on western Iraq is deepening. For the first time since the war's outset, the fleet has begun air attacks on one of the Republican Guard divisions. On the propaganda front, the Iraqis have won more points. They have exploited the capture of American POWs, the killing of soldiers, the capture of an Apache helicopter, the continued resistance in some areas where American troops...

Rising JSTARS High-Tech Radar Plane to Coordinate Gulf Ground War By Paul Eng March 20 — When it comes to fighting in Iraq, military planners and analysts anticipate fleets of jets dropping thousands of precision-guided bombs will produce a swift and decisive blow from the air. The E-8 JSTARS' radar, seen in the bulge underneath the front of the plane, will help allied commanders spot moving Iraqi tanks and other threats to coalition forces advancing on Baghdad. (AP Graphics) Whether such massive air attacks in the opening days of the war will produce the desired "shock and awe" effect to...

Herald Correspondent Lindsay Murdoch, travelling with a Marines artillery unit, reports on one of the war's first battles on the Iraq-Kuwait border. There was little initial resistance as the United States Marines swept into southern Iraq early yesterday. One of the first encounters of the ground war was more like a massacre than a fight. The Iraqi gunners fired first, soon after United States President George Bush announced the attack on Saddam Hussein was under way. It was a fatal mistake. The Iraqi artillery unit, preparing for the American invasion, had tested the range by firing registering shots at a...

Per Brett Baer @ the Pentagon just moments ago

ABOARD THE USS BUNKER HILL - The United States is poised to launch massive simultaneous ground and air assaults on Iraq that would rely on speed to minimize casualties, according to Navy Read Adm. Barry Costello, who oversees the aircraft carrier Constellation battle group in the Persian Gulf. "If we can move quickly, if we can have that lightning strike, if we can take away [Saddam Hussein's] ability to communicate with his forces .. then that will save in fact a lot of lives by causing the Iraqi military to be in a confused state further enhancing the possibility of...

U.S. Forces Open Fire on Iraqi Troops With Howitzers, Rockets in First Stage of Ground War IN THE KUWAITI DESERT March 20 — The U.S. 3rd Infantry Division's artillery opened fire Thursday on Iraqi troops, using Paladin self-propelled howitzers and multiple launch rocket systems in the first stage of the ground war.Maj. Gen. Bufourd Blount, the division commander, had said the artillery barrage would signal the first phase of the ground war against Iraq.White light glowed in the sky above the cannons as more than 100 artillery shells were fired in the direction of southern Iraq. Explosions inside Iraq could...

GROUND ASSAULT BEGINS US troops have launched a major attack on Iraqi troops in southern Iraq. Sky correspondent Ross Appleyard said American artillery in northern Kuwait had opened up with what sounded like a "huge barrage" onto troop positions in southern Iraq. "We are guessing, but they are probably shelling the Iraqi frontlines," Appleyard said. The targets are around 30kms across the Iraqi border, Appleyard said. Up to 100 artillery shells are believed to have been fired. "The ground is shaking," he said. "You can feel the vibrations and the air is full of of aeroplanes and helicopters. "It feels...