ANTHOLOGY AND ANNOTATED BIBLiOGRAPHY                                      101


Allies Used a Variation of Trojan Horse Ploy

by Molly Moore

The Washington Post, 17 March 1991


   For two weeks before allied forces stormed into Kuwait and Iraq, a phantom
Marine division stalked the border armed with loudspeakers blaring tank noises.
It filled sand berms with dummy tanks and artillery guns.  Helicopters landed
daily, never delivering or picking up a passenger.
   Military creators dubbed the team Task Force Troy--a subtler alternative to
the original designation of Task Force Trojan Horse--460 troops trying to imitate
the activity of 16,000 Marines who, in a major last-minute change of allied war
plans, were actually racing more than 100 miles to the west for a new assault
position.
   11We wanted to avoid the appearance of the truth--that there was nobody
home,' said Brig. Gen. Tom Draude, who commanded the operation.          "We
wanted to create the illusion of force where there was none.
   In the end, the team worried that it may have been too successful in its
efforts. `,It was touchy on G-Day. There wasn't very much in that area and we
hoped no one counterattacked across the border," said Draude. `1We didn't even
have a TOW (anti~ank missile)."
   It was to become only one of dozens of major risks that allied forces took
in launching their free-flowing ground war against Iraqi forces, much of which
was revised on the backs of cardboard cartons and etched in the sand as troops
roared through Kuwait and Iraq at speeds far more rapid than commanders
anticipated.
   The entire Marine attack plan changed so dramatically in the days before the
land war began Feb. 24 that one division did not receive its last pieces of
mine-breaching equipment until the day before it crossed the border into Kuwait.
   Allied forces moved so quickly through some parts of the battlefield that
wide flanks were left vulnerable to attack from the estimated 80,000 Iraqi forces
that American and Arab troops simply bypassed once inside Kuwait.    The pace
was so swift that some Marine commanders feared that front-line units would
outrun the artillery batteries supporting them from behind.

                        Changed Plans on the Move

   At the same time, the Marines pushed all of their ground forces through the
breaches, leaving no reserves behind to fill gaps if the first troops encountered

Copyright 1991 The Washin8wn Posi. Reprinted with Permission