The VII Corps’ mission was to envelop and defeat the Republican Guard from the west. The Iraqi defense was mainly oriented to the south. On Februthe Second Armored Cavalry Regiment moved into Iraq and initiated an offensive covering force mission forward of Lieutenant General Frederick Franks’ VII Corps. The purpose of this essay is to reflect on the experience of Eagle Troop, Second Squadron, Second Armored Cavalry Regiment twenty-five years ago during Operation Desert Storm to identify enduring keys to success in battle.Ĭontext: Second Cavalry Regiment’s Covering Force and the Tawakalna Division’s Defense There are, however, general lessons and observations from combat experiences that apply at the tactical level across a range of enemies and battlefield conditions. Individual and unit experiences in the same battle often vary widely. The tactics that Army units use to fight future battles will vary considerably from those employed in Desert Storm. Harbingers of future armed conflict such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, ISIS’s establishment of a terrorist proto-state and growing transnational reach, Iran’s pursuit of long range ballistic missiles, Syria’s use of chemical weapons and barrel bombs to commit mass murder against its citizens, the Taliban’s evolving insurgency in Afghanistan and Pakistan, North Korea’s growing nuclear arsenal and that regime’s erratic behavior all indicate that Army forces must be prepared to fight and win against a wide range of enemies, in complex environments, and under a broad range of conditions. But McMaster ordered the troop to continue attacking, fearful that the Iraqis would be able to regroup and wage a strong counterattack.The Battle of 73 Easting (a north-south grid line on the map) was one of many fights in Desert Storm. Each of those battles was different. The American forces cut down 30 tanks, 14 armored vehicles, and hundreds of infantrymen before reaching their limit of advance, the line they were originally told to halt at. Mortar and artillery support opened up, raining fire onto the remaining Iraqi positions. The Bradley fighting vehicles joined the tanks, firing TOW missiles at the enemy armor and using their guns to cut down Iraqi infantry. The Troop was cutting a five kilometer wide swath of destruction through the enemy’s defense. Enemy tanks and BMP’s (Soviet-made armored personnel carriers) erupted in innumerable fire balls. The few seconds of surprise was all we had needed. As McMaster described it in his first summary of the battle: Nine American tanks were now bearing down on the Iraqi positions, destroying enemy T-72s and armored vehicles. As his crew targeted a third enemy, the driver realized they were driving through a minefield and began taking evasive action.Įnemy rounds began falling around the lead tank as the two tank platoons in Eagle Troop got on line to join the fight. His second shot, a depleted uranium sabot shell, shot through an Iraqi tank that was swiveling to fire on him. His first shot was a HEAT round that destroyed a tank cowering behind a berm. McMaster’s opening salvo set the tone for the battle. commanders when the two armored forces clashed, leaving them unable to capitalize on their position. This exposed the relatively weak top armor of the tank to the Iraqi guns.īut the Iraqis had lost most of their scout vehicles and so were just as surprised as the U.S. The enemy had parked themselves away from the slight rise so that they would be hidden and so incoming American tanks would be forced to drive down the hill towards them. Finding himself already in range of the enemy, he immediately gave the order to fire. 26, 1991, McMaster was pushing his troop through a sandstorm when he crested a rise and there, directly in front of him, was an entire division of Iraqi tanks with elite crews. Over the next couple of days, 2nd Squadron tanks and vehicles would encounter enemy observation and scout vehicles and destroy them with missiles and cannons, but they couldn’t find the Iraqi Republican Guard divisions they knew were dug somewhere into the desert. Fox troop made contact first, destroying a few enemy tanks.
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