Battle of Nasiriyah

Battle of Nasiriyah
Part of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq
A United States Marine Corps Amphibious Assault Vehicle destroyed at Nasiriyah, Iraq, in a mantainance area. April 11, 2003.
Date March 23, 2003 - March 29, 2003 Location Nasiriyah, Iraq Result Coalition victory
Belligerents
Ba'athist Iraq	United States United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Ali Hassan al-Majid	Richard Natonski
Casualties and losses
359-431 killed 300+ captured 1,000+ wounded	30 killed (1 by friendly fire) 6 captured 60 wounded

The Battle of Nasiriyah took place from March 23, 2003 to March 29, 2003, and was one of the first major battles of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Heavy fighting took place in the city of Nasiriyah, Iraq in the southern portion of the country, between Ba'athist Iraqi forces and United States Marines over control of key bridges crossing over the Euphrates River and the Saddam Canal.

The battle began early on 23 March when a supply convoy of the United States Army took a wrong turn into the city and was ambushed. Eleven soldiers were killed and six soldiers, including Private First Class Jessica Lynch, were captured.

Some soldiers escaped the ambush. Forming a screen around their wounded, they fought off Iraqi counterattacks for several minutes, until being rescued by the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. After rescuing the soldiers who managed to escape the ambush, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, under the call sign Task Force Tarawa, attacked north into the city, seizing two major bridges along "Ambush Alley". Eighteen Marines were killed in heavy urban fighting, including at least one Marine who was killed when A-10s mistakenly strafed a company of Marines north of the Saddam Canal.

On the night of March 24–25, the bulk of the Marines of Regimental Combat Team 1 passed through the city over the bridges and attacked north towards Baghdad. However fighting continued in the city until 1 April when Iraqi resistance in the city was finally defeated.

The battle

Prelude

In late March Task Force Tarawa, the ground force for the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, with the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division on their left and the 1st Marine Division on their right, advanced on Nasiriyah. The main target of Task Force Tarawa was the three bridges over the Euphrates River. The western bridge on Highway 1 had already been captured by the 3rd Infantry Division, however the two eastern bridges were inside the city itself.

The original plan was for Task Force Tarawa to take & hold the two bridges inside Nasiriyah, creating a corridor for the RCT1 to pass north through the city along Route 7.

Nasiriyah was the headquarters of the Iraqi Army's 3d Corps, composed of the 11th ID, 51st Mech ID, and 6th Armored Division — all at around 50 percent strength. The 51st operated south covering the oilfields, and the 6th was north near Al Amarah, which left three brigade-sized elements of the 11th ID to guard the An Nasiriyah area.

U.S. Army convoy ambushed

At around 0600 on the morning of 23 March, an 18-vehicle convoy of 31 soldiers of the United States Army's 507th Maintenance Company and two soldiers of the 3rd Forward Support Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Division made a wrong turn along Highway 7 into the city. The convoy was led by Captain Troy King, a supply officer with no training as a combat officer. Iraqi technical vehicles began shadowing the convoy as it passed an Iraqi checkpoint near the Euphrates River. After passing the Al-Quds headquarters on the northern outskirts of the city, King realized that he was lost and the convoy began turning around to retrace its steps through the city.

At around 0700 the convoy began taking small arms, RPG, mortar fire, and fire from Iraqi tanks, and in the resulting ambush 11 soldiers were killed and a number of soldiers, including Specialist Shoshana Johnson and Private Jessica Lynch, became prisoners of war. At least 15 of the 18 American transport vehicles in the convoy, ranging from Humvees to Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMTTs), were destroyed by small-arms fire, RPGs, mortar rounds, and tank gunfire. Some of them swerved out of the road or crashed while attempting to avoid incoming Iraqi fire. One truck was crushed by the traversing gun barrel of a Type 69-QM tank.

Iraqi Type 69QM tank destroyed near Nasiriyah hospital

The remaining able-bodied troops formed a screen around their wounded and fought off further Iraqi attacks. At 0730, King's three surviving vehicles made contact with the tanks of Major Bill Peeples' Alpha Company, 8th Tank Battalion on Highway 7, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Nasiriyah. One of Peeples' tankers noticed American vehicles in the road ahead. Peeples ordered his tanks forward to rescue as many soldiers as possible. They rolled up on ten beleaguered soldiers from the five disabled vehicles of the second element of the convoy (known in the official U.S. Army report as Group 2) which had also managed to escape the ambush and set up a defensive perimeter about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of the city. In heavy fighting, several Iraqi platoon-sized units, two ZSU-23-4 "Shilka" anti-aircraft weapons and several mortar and artillery positions were destroyed by a combined force of M1 Abrams tanks, Cobra helicopter gunships and the artillery of 1st Battalion, 10th Marines.

Ambush Alley

The bloodiest day of the operations for the Marines was also 23 March, when 18 men of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, were killed and eight Amphibious Assault Vehicles disabled in heavy fighting with Iraqi forces around the Saddam Canal. The Marines were engaged by RPGs, mortar and artillery fire, as well as four Iraqi tanks hidden behind a building.

A friendly-fire incident occurred when two A-10s from the Pennsylvania Air National Guard strafed the Amphibious Assault Vehicles of Charlie Company by mistake, killing at least one Marine and wounded as many as 17 over the course of multiple passes at the canal and in Ambush Alley proper.. The A-10 strike was cleared by the battalion's forward air controller, who was with Bravo Company, bogged down on the eastern outskirts of the city and did not have contact with Charlie Company and was unaware that Marines were so far north.

Two other Marines, from the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, Corporal Evans James and Sgt. Bradley S. Korthaus drowned while trying to cross the Saddam Canal under fire the following day. A third Marine from the Marine Air Control Group 28 died from hostile fire.^{[citation needed]}

RCT-1 pushes through Ambush Alley

The advance of Regimental Combat Team 1 (RCT-1) through Nasiriyah was delayed by fighting there. On the evening of 24 March, the LAVs of 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (2nd LAR, commanded by Lt. Col. Eddie Ray) pushed north of the Saddam Canal, leading RCT-1 through Ambush Alley. With Apache Company in the lead, 2nd LAR attacked north on Highway 7, coming under fire from a heavily defended compound north of the city. Two anti-aircraft guns protected the approach to the compound. After coming under fire from LAVs, M1A1 tanks, Cobra gunships and artillery, Iraqi resistance subsided and at dusk, 2nd LAR established a perimeter 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of Nasiriyah. However, a huge sandstorm rolled in and a force of Iraqi reinforcements coming south from Kut took advantage of the worsening weather to attack the battalion from every direction. Using a combination of direct and indirect fire, as well as close air support, the battalion was able to defeat the Iraqi attack. The last attack was beaten off around dawn and a large number of Iraqi prisoners were taken. The battalion estimated that between 200 and 300 Iraqi soldiers were killed, with no U.S. casualties.

Meanwhile, the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (the "Thundering Third", commanded by Lt. Col. Craparotta) held open Ambush Alley as the rest of RCT-1 passed through Nasiriyah on the night of 24–25 March.

Partly as a result of RCT-1's delay, Colonel Joe Dowdy was later relieved of command of RCT-1.

Aftermath

By 27 March, most of the resistance in the city had been subdued and the focus of the battle shifted from full combat to cordon-and-search operations. Small groups of Fedayeen Saddam militia were hiding throughout the city and would launch attacks on Marine patrols with small arms and RPGs. These attacks were uncoordinated and the resulting firefights were lop-sided, with large numbers of militiamen killed.

During the morning of 27 March, two recon Marines found a sunken M1 tank at the bottom of the river. The tank had been missing since the night of March 24–25. Navy Seabees spent two days retrieving the flooded tank and three Marines from the 1st Tank Battalion were found inside.

According to a captain in the Republican Guard, morale amongst Republican Guard units was bolstered by the resistance offered by the regular army's 45th brigade in the city.

Iraqi casualties were 359-431 dead. More than 300 were wounded and 1,000 captured. U.S. losses were 32 dead, 60 wounded, and 6 captured.

Private First Class Lynch

Initial reporting of the battle emphasized the supposed heroism of Private First Class Jessica Lynch. On April 3, The Washington Post ran a front-page story which read: "Lynch, a 19-year-old supply clerk, continued firing at the Iraqis even after she sustained multiple gunshot wounds and watched several other soldiers in her unit die around her". The Post quoted an unnamed official who said "She was fighting to the death [...] She did not want to be taken alive."

This description soon came under question. On April 4, the Associated Press ran a story which stated that Lynch's father had heard from the doctors attending her, who said that "she had not been shot or stabbed during her ordeal." April 15, the Post ran a story questioning the accuracy of its own account from April 3, saying "Lynch's story is far more complex and different than those initial reports [...] She was neither shot nor stabbed."

On April 24, Private Lynch testified before Congress. She called the earlier reports a "lie", and said that she had in fact never fired her weapon, because she was knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed.

The Jessica Lynch affair evolved into a scandal for the Bush presidency. As first concocted —"a petite blond supply clerk [who] fearlessly mows down Fedayeen terrorists with her M16 until she runs out of ammo, whereupon she is shot, stabbed, captured, tortured and raped." Through the efforts of "master propagandist" Jim Wilkinson, spokesman for General Tommy Franks, The Washington Post was granted exclusive access to this now-discredited story.

Participating units

U.S. military & U.K. support

• Regimental Combat Team 2
  • 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 2nd Marine Division (Alpha and Charlie Co.)
  • 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines
  • 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines
  • 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines
  • 1st Battalion, 10th Marines
  • Alpha Company, 2d Reconnaissance Battalion,
  • Alpha Company, 8th Communication Battalion,
  • 2d Radio Battalion,
  • Combat Service Support Battalion 22 2nd FSSG
  • 8th Tank Battalion (Alpha Co.)
• Regimental Combat Team 1
  • 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division
  • 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines
  • Charlie Company, 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion
• 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic
  • Charlie Company, 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, Marine Forces Reserve
• Marine Aircraft Group 29
  • HMM-162
  • HMLA-269
• 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit
  • Battalion Landing Team 2/1
• 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit
  • Battalion Landing Team 2/2
• Elements of 507th Maintenance Company (US Army) (including two soldiers from 3rd Combat Support Battalion
• Elements of 183rd Maintenance Company (US Army))
• Battery G, 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery

3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Marine Wing Support Squadron 371

Ba'athist Iraqi forces

• Iraqi Army 11th Division
  • 23rd Brigade
  • 45th Brigade
  • 47th Brigade
  • 21st Tank Regiment (elements)
  • Unidentified Commando battalion
• Fedayeen Saddam paramilitary forces
• Al Quds Army

In popular culture

• The ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company was re-created at the beginning of the 2003 NBC television film Saving Jessica Lynch.

• The ongoing battle for Nasiriyah is the backdrop for the rest of the events of the film. The battle is also featured in the 2008 HBO miniseries Generation Kill, in episode 2, "The Cradle of Civilization".

See also

• Justin LeHew - One of the most highly decorated U.S. military personnel serving in the War on Terror. Recipient of the Navy Cross for his action during the Battle of Nasiriyah in 2003. Recipient of the Bronze Star Medal with Valor device for his actions during the Battle of Najaf in 2004.
• Luis Fonseca – A United States Navy Hospital Corpsman, who was awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during the battle.

Bibliography

• "The battle of an Nasiriyah" (PDF). Marine Corps Gazette 87 (9): 40, 42, 44, 46. September 2003. 411172841. http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.newcastle.edu.au/pqdweb?did=411172841&sid=2&Fmt=6&clientId=29744&RQT=309&VName=PQD. Retrieved 6 January 2009, from Career and Technical Education database. 
• Dunfee, David R. (March 2004). "Ambush Alley Revisited" (PDF). Marine Corps Gazette 88 (3): 44–46. 583358751. http://0-proquest.umi.com.library.newcastle.edu.au/pqdweb?did=583358751&sid=1&Fmt=6&clientId=29744&RQT=309&VName=PQD. Retrieved 6 January 2009, from Career and Technical Education database. 
• Lowry, Richard S. (2006). Marines in the Garden of Eden: The Battle for An Nasiriyah. Berkley Hardcover. ISBN 0-425-20988-1. 
• Livingston, Gary (2004). An Nasiriyah: The Fight for the Bridges. Caisson Press. ISBN 1-928724-04-3. 
• Pritchard, Tim (2007). Ambush Alley: The Most Extraordinary Battle of the Iraq War. Presidio Press. ISBN 089141911X. 

Further reading

• Feiring, Doug. "Memoirs of the Battle of An Nasiriyah, Iraq". http://www.iraqi-freedom-diary.com. Retrieved 6 January 2009. 
• Field, Walker M. (Nov-Dec 2003). "Marine Artillery in the Battle of An Nasiriyah" (PDF). Field Artillery: 26–30. http://sill-www.army.mil/famag/2003/NOV_DEC_2003/NOV_DEC_2003_PAGES_26_30.pdf. 
• Snakeberg, Mark K. (Summer 2010). "An Nasiriyah America's First Battle in Operation Iraqi Freedom". Army Historian (United States Army Center of Military History): 33–42. http://www.history.army.mil/armyhistory/AH76%28W%29.pdf.