AAR 1ST MARDIV IN SWA

File: 970725_dec96_decls34_0098.txt
Page: 0098
Total Pages: 130
Subject = AAR  1ST MARDIV IN SWA                                          

Parent Organization = MCCDC       

Unit = WDID        

Folder Title = AFTER ACTION REPORT 1ST MARINE DIVISION IN SOUTHWEST ASIA   WDID SWA 0073                       

Document Number =          1

Box ID = BX600145



                                 UNCLASSIFIED

                                                          7
          the battery was attached to Ist Marine Division;s.-ist Battalion,
          lith Mar'lnes while on the march no@th. As they approached the
          southwest edge of the Burqan Oilfields, they began taking
          incoming fire, so Brier placed some oi his artillery Marines into
          a skirmish line while the rest of his men set up the battery.
          S7uddenly, they spotted a Multiple Rocket Launcher System through
          the smoke which the enemy was preparing-to fire. Although the 5 U.S.C.
          M198 howitzer is normally used to engage targets at long range    '
          the quick witted gun commander, Sergeant             trained his 552 (b)(6)
          M198 directly at the MRLS which was only  a scant 800 meters away
          and fired it, scoring a direct hit. Shortly afterwards, the
          Battery scored another direct f ire hit on a nearly 152 mm c n of
                                                                       _ru
          a nearby Iraqi artillery battalion.

                           The Most Successful Tank comp@iny?

              "B" Company of the 4th Tank Battalion, is a reserve unit from
          Yakima, Washington. They were activated in early December, but
          left their aging M60 tanks at home. Enroute to Saudi Arabia, they
          paused for 23 days at Twentynine Palms, California to train on
          the newer MiAl tank. At Jubayl, they received 13 new MIAls which
          they took into battle with the 2nd Marine Division. The company
          was stopped near the division boundary'line about five miles
          north of the al Jaber airfield shortly before dawn at 0555 on the
          second day. The tankers were now surprised to hear, then see in
          their night vision devices, a formation of T72s - Iraq's most
          formidable tanks - coming through a position of what turned out
          to be another formation of T55 tanks that were dug into
          reve@lments. Although the company commander realized the tanks
          were actually in the ist Marine Division's area of
          responsibility, he engaged them immediately. In an action that
          lasted only a few minutes, the company destroyed or stopped 34 of
          35 enemy tanks. In a total of four engagements, "B" company
          accounted for 59 tanks including 30 T72s. one tank fired seven
          "first rounds" and got five hi,:s.

                     Cobras and the Smoke: How Low Did 'rhey Go?

             Early on the morning of the 26th (G+2), - lst Marine Division's
          Task Force Ripper was preparing to push north to the key
          objective of Xuwait International Airport from its position near
          the southwest edge of the Burqan Oilfield. Unhappily, the wind
          was from the southeast, whidh pushed a dense cloud of black smoke
          from the burning oilfield across the avenues of approach. Indeed,
          it was so dark that the sun was completely obscured and lights
          were required to see. Areas obscured by this phenomenon were
          nicknamed the "Land of Darkness".
                                     I
             By all normal criteria, operations by close-in fire support
          AH-IW helicopters should have been impossible, but the commanding
          officer of Marine Light Helicopter Attack Squadron 369,
          Lieutenant Colonel Mike Kurth, decided to check for himself.
          Taking off from Landing Zone "Lonesome Dove" about 25 miles
          inside of Saudi Arabia early that morning, he set four of his
          Cobras down on the desert near the recently captured al Jaber


                                      2


                               UNCLASSIFIED