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[[ar:معركة الناصرية (2003)]]
[[ar:معركة الناصرية (2003)]]
[[vi:Trận Nassiriya]]

Revision as of 04:19, 3 January 2009

Battle of Nasiriyah
Part of 2003 Invasion of Iraq

U.S Amphibious Assault Vehicle destroyed at Nasiriyah
Date23-29 March 2003
Location
Nasiriyah, Iraq
Result American tactical victory
Belligerents
Iraq 3rd Corps United States Task Force Tarawa
Commanders and leaders
Ali Hassan al-Majid Richard Natonski
Casualties and losses
359-431 killed
300+ captured
1,000+ wounded[1]		 29 killed
6 captured
60 wounded

The Battle of Nasiriyah occurred during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Heavy fighting took place between Iraqi forces and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade under the call sign Task Force Tarawa of the United States Marine Corps between about March 23 and March 29 2003. During the fighting, 18 Marines and 11 Army soldiers were killed, and about 60 were wounded; while the Iraqi resistance was defeated fairly rapidly thereafter.

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[2].

The original plan was for Task Force Tarawa to take & hold the two bridges inside the city, creating a corridor for the RCT1 to pass north through the city along Route 7[2].

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[2].

File:TruckSmashed.jpg
U.S Army 5-ton truck ambushed by an Iraqi Type 69 tank, 23 March 2003

U.S. Army convoy ambushed

At around 0600 on the morning of March 23, 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[3] 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[4]. Iraqi pickup trucks armed with machine guns mounted in the beds began shadowing the convoy as it passed an Iraqi checkpoint near the Euphrates River[5]. 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 fire and in the resulting ambush 11 soldiers were killed and a number of soldiers, including 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 rounds. One truck was crushed by the traversing gun barrel of a Type 69-QM tank[6].

Iraqi Type-69 tank destroyed near Nasiriyah hospital

At 0730, King's three surviving vehicles made contact with the tanks of Major Peeple's Alpha Company, 8th Tank Battalion on Highway 7, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Nasiriyah[7]. Ten soldiers from the five disabled vehicles of group 2 also managed to escape the ambush and set up a defensive perimeter about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of city and were later rescued by Peeple's Marines[3].

Ambush Alley

The bloodiest day of the operations for the Marines was also March 23, when 18 men of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, were killed in heavy fighting with Iraqi forces around the Saddam Canal.

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.[8] 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[2][9].

Two other Marines, from the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, Corporal Evans James[10] and Sgt. Bradley S. Korthaus[11] 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.

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 March 24, 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, while not one Marine was injured.[12][13]

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[14].

Partly as a result of RCT-1's delay, Colonel Joe Dowdy was later relieved of command of RCT-1[15].

Aftermath

By March 27, most of the resistance in the city had been crushed 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.[16]

During the morning of March 27, 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.[17]

Participating units

US military[18]

Iraqi Army

  • 3rd Corps
    • 11th Infantry Division
    • 51st Mechanised Infantry Division
    • 6th Armored Division

In Popular Culture

The ambush of the 507th Maintenance Company was re-created at the beginning of the 2003 NBC made-for-TV movie Saving Jessica Lynch. The ongoing battle for Nasiriyah is the backdrop for the rest of the events of the film.

The battle of Nasiriyah is featured in the 2008 HBO miniseries Generation Kill, in episode 2, "The Cradle of Civilization."

Notes

  1. ^ Wages of War -- Appendix 1. Survey of reported Iraqi combatant fatalities in the 2003 war | Commonwealth Institute of Cambridge
  2. ^ a b c d Rohr, Karl. "Fighting Through the Fog of War". Marine Corps Gazette. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  3. ^ a b c "Attack on the 507th Maintenance Company" (PDF). U.S. Army. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  4. ^ Lowry, p. 88
  5. ^ Lowry, p. 131
  6. ^ Lowry, p. 139
  7. ^ Lowry, p. 143
  8. ^ The Final Roll Call: Deadly Day for Charlie Company
  9. ^ Lowry, pp.198-199
  10. ^ DefenseLink News Release: DOD IDENTIFIES MARINE CASUALTIES
  11. ^ Defenselink News Release: Dod Announces Change In Marine Casualty Status
  12. ^ Lowry, pp. 308-309,310
  13. ^ "With the 1st Marine Division in Iraq" (PDF). USMC. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  14. ^ Lowry, pp. 312-318
  15. ^ Ricks, Thomas (2003-04-05). "Key Marine Commander Is Removed; No Explanation Given for Decision". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  16. ^ Lowry, pp. 354-355
  17. ^ Lowry, p. 256
  18. ^ Lowry, pp. 395-399
  19. ^ West, Bing (2003). The March Up. Random House. p. 46. ISBN 1-8441-3425-3.

External links

Bibliography

  • 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.
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