Site Navigation

• Introduction
  Introduction to the writer
• Breaking the News
  How I told my family I was leaving in ten days.
• The Road to War
  Planning for combat operations aboard the USS Bataan enroute to the Middle East
• Hurry Up & Wait
  Life in the assembly area - Camp Shoup, Kuwait
• Attack Positions
  Occupation of final staging areas in Kuwait
• Crossing the Line of Departure
  Attacking into Iraq.
• Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
  Speeding down the highway at night, without lights (going the wrong-way).
• Attack!
  Attack to seize key bridges in An Nasiryah.
• "Punch out the TAC CP"
  More action in the Battle of An Nasiriyah.
• Running the Gauntlet
  Racing through 4 miles of enemy held city.
• Return to Friendly Lines
  My encounter with an Iraqi tank on the return trip.
• Counter Attack!
  Iraqi night attack on our rear area.
• Jessica Lynch Rescue
  The rescue of Jessica Lynch and the next mission.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

A Personal Account of the Battle of An Nasiriyah

   Attack!

We traveled back the same route we had come. The Army’s traffic had cleared and we were the only traffic on the highway this time. After the crush of traffic the previous night, it felt lonely driving down that road. It was like returning to school after class had let out for summer. My strange feeling of emptiness multiplied as we passed the wreckage in which one of our Marines died only hours before. It was the 23rd of March 2003.

We were late in getting to our position south of the An Nasiriyah bridges. Late is the wrong word, since the timeline we had been given was impossible to meet under the circumstances. We heard on the radio that 1/2 had arrived in their attack positions at the two-zero grid line. Just south on Route 7, 1/10 was just pulling in to their attack position two kilometers to the south. Our maps indicated several dirt roads to the east leading to our destination. We kept slowing to investigate these routes. However, each shortcut we attempted turned out to be impassable, irrigated fields.

Tanks and tracks moving up

As we got off the highway to investigate another route, the radio crackled to life again. 1/10 did not have enough room to set up their guns. 1/2's Battalion Commander agreed to move two kilometers further north and establish their attack position in the vicinity of the two-two northing (grid line).

While we were moving the convoy back on the road, one of our vehicles got mired in the mud. We stepped out of our vehicles to stretch while we waiting for the stuck driver to free himself. In the distance, we heard shots and mortar bursts -- sporadically at first, then increasing in intensity. The sounds of battle were coming from where our battalions were positioning themselves for the attack. Some of the mortars were being launched from nearby. We all scanned the surrounding area for Iraqi soldiers as my Communications Chief (the "Master Guns") ran down to the mired vehicle to take charge of the its recovery. Master Guns was a huge man with 25 years in the Marine Corps. I’ll never forget the sight of him lumbering down the hill, pistol drawn, shouting orders to the Marines attempting to free the truck. Within minutes, we were back on the road and heading towards An Nasiriyah.

The fighting commenced around 0400 zulu as 1/2 was moving north to make room for 1/10. Unbeknownst to 1/2, their movement had penetrated the Iraqi’s southern defensive perimeter. The Iraqi’s were going to make a stand. 1/2 and RCT-2’s Main Command Post were strung out on Route 7, taking ineffective small arms and mortar fire. The Executive Officer instructed the Main Command Post to establish a hasty command operations center (COC). 1/2 dismounted a company to clear the Iraqi resistance in the area. They were 12 kilometers away from the southern bridge.

The TAC CP convoy decided to forgo any further attempts at a shortcut. We kept to the road and made good time. We passed by 2/8 staged on either side of Route 7 as we turned north to rejoin our command post.

When we arrived, I grabbed my gear and went over to the odd arrangement of radio vehicles that was serving as our command post. I positioned myself to operate the Satellite (SatCom) radio. I wanted to be where I could monitor the status of communications and still be useful in the COC. I asked my Lieutenant to bring some more radios online so we could have spare ready in case a key net failed.

At this point of the conflict, our higher headquarters was still in Jalibah, 60 kilometers southeast. Until we could establish a more robust communications system at the Main CP, our only means of contacting them was via SatCom. Talking through the crypto (voice scrambling software) on SatCom was a slow, laborious process. Also at Jalibah was our ALOC. They were stuck there trying to higher headquarters to take custody of the EPW’s we had detained the day before.

The King of Battle

By this time, our artillery battalion was shooting all kinds of missions. They were set up just behind us. The proximity of the cannon fire was startling at first, yet grew to be a comforting sound as the battle raged on. Their counter-battery radar was picking up dozens of enemy mortar and artillery positions as they fired on us. The radar’s targeting computers calculated the origins of the enemy fire and our artillery went to work silencing their guns.

As 1/2 was attacking north to the city, he came on the radio with information that had us all scratching our heads in confusion. He stated that ahead of him was an Army patrol that was in his sector and making it difficult for him to press the attack. 1/2's CO requested that we contact the Army and have them instruct their men to pull back. We were thinking, "How did the Army get up there?"

At the time we did not know that a convoy of trucks from the Army’s 507th Maintenance Company (of Jessica Lynch fame) had strayed into the town and gotten into a fight. The previous evening, during our wild ride, these soldiers were having an eventful journey of their own. The convoy had apparently gotten lost, driven east down Route 8 (a road that was not secured for another two weeks) and turned north into the heart of the city. The soldiers drove through the city, unmolested, traveling right in front of the Iraqi Army’s 23rd Brigade Headquarters. The convoy turned around, within sight of another Iraqi military compound and drove back through the city again. They were making their way south along Route 7, when the Iraqi’s ambushed them. Fortunately for the soldiers of the 507th, we were attacking north as they were attempting to escape south.

1/2's lead elements witnessed an Army truck moving swiftly southbound towards them. It stopped abruptly before reaching the Marine lines, turned around and drove back north. About twenty minutes later, the truck returned and linked up with the Marines. It was then that we learned of the 507th’s plight. We pressed north to affect the rescue.

Three kilometers south of the Euphrates River was a railroad bridge. As our forces moved over the bridge, nine entrenched Iraqi T-55 tanks greeted them with main gun rounds and machine gun fire. TOW gunners dispatched the majority of the tanks while Marine tanks, artillery and helicopters destroyed the rest of them.

It did not take long for our lead elements to reach the southern portion of the beleaguered Army convoy. They rescued 12 US soldiers. Five of the soldiers were wounded and we at the Main CP were working to get medivac helicopters to evacuate them. The rescued members of the 507th Maintenance Company indicated that there were more soldiers up north.

Fuel was starting to become a problem for our tanks. We had not been refueled since the first day of the war.

Before very long we had phones and SIPRNET (secure computer network) up at that Main CP. I was really pleased, because my communicators were doing exceptionally well. There were some problems as the battle progressed, but none of them were a result of an inability to communicate.

The author on the outskirts of An Nasiriyah

At some point late that morning, the Commanding General of Task Force Tarawa flew in on his helicopter. He wanted to know what was taking so long. He thought we should have control of the bridges by now. We wanted to know what the hurry was -- but some things are better left unsaid. He went forward to encourage the lead battalion commander to get moving.

1/2's lead unit, Alpha Company, secured the Euphrates River Bridge at approximately 1300. They suffered light casualties. Bravo Company passed through them to press the attack on the northern bridges, four kilometers away, over the Saddam Canal. Attempting to bypass the two miles of urban terrain that lay between the two bridges, dubbed "ambush alley", Bravo Company and 1/2's TAC CP turned right off of the main road to circle behind the danger zone.

Next...

"Punch out the TAC CP"
More action in the Battle of An Nasiriyah.