78                                U.S. MARINES IN THE PERSIAN GULF, 1990-1991

from the dismounted Marines guarding them. Needing the AAVs forward,
Mattis remounted the infantry and engineer platoons and replaced them with
Marines from the battalion supply train. He first directed them to stage their
vehicles away from lane 3. Next, judging the Iraqi prisoners to be harmless and
realizing that maintaining the forward momentum of the offensive was all
important, Mattis instructed the battalion not to stop for surrendering soldiers
The Iraqis were to be pointed in the direction of the breach lanes and instructed
to make their way there on their own.
   While Lieutenant Colonel Mattis corrected the problem at lane 3, he directed
"Team Tank" to lane 4 and instructed it to move through following the passage
of the 3d Tank Battalion. Since the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, continued to be
responsible for Task Force Ripper's right flank, once through the breach, "Team
Tank" angled right and pushed ahead two and one-half kilometers. Its attack
uncovered abandoned bunkers and more surrendering Iraqi soldiers. It no sooner
pointed these soldiers in the direction of lane 3 than the Marine tankers and a
combined anti-armor team, "CAAT-2," encountered two enemy tanks manned
by crews determined to fight. Following a brief engagement, Marine gunners
destroyed both tanks. The momentum of "Team Tank"s attack carried it into
Task Force Papa Bear's zone. Lieutenant Colonel Mattis directed the unit into
the 1st Battalion's area and reoriented it to support Task Force Ripper's assault
on the Al Jaber Airfield. The assault entailed a major shift in direction from the
northeast to the west. Lieutenant Colonel Mattis moved the battalion to a
position south of a tree-covered area with several buildings known as the
"Emir's Farm."Its seizure was the battalion's next objective and Mattis intended
to use "Team Tank" to provide covering fire in the upcoming assault.'32
   During the period the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, was busy clearing the right
flank, the 3d Tank Battalion fanned out to cover the forward edge of Task Force
Ripper's breachhead. Its movement triggered a series of engagements. Within
15 minutes after getting past the minefield, Marine tankers destroyed three
enemy tanks and captured 60 Iraqi soldiers. A short time later, the battalion
destroyed a fourTh tank, a T-62. By t252 seven more enemy tanks in the same
area had been destroyed. After that engagement, the battalion commander,
Lieutenant Colonel Alphonso B. "Buster" Diggs, repositioned the unit for the
assault on I MEF Objective "Alpha," Al Jaber Airfield. When moving to the
new position, 3d Tank Battalion captured another 50 Iraqi soldiers.
   The ~st Battalion, 5th Marines, breached the minefield at the same time as
3d Tank Battalion and immediately deployed into an attack to clear the task
force's left flank. Each company engaged Iraqis as it came  on line. At 1300,
the battalion's attached tank company encountered two T-62s and quickly
destroyed one of them. The Iraqis responded with mortar fire but without effect.
A running fight developed as Marine tankers attacked a force of Iraqi T-55s.
The engagement cost the enemy two tanks destroyed. While Marine and Iraqi
tanks dueled, the battalion became inundated with surrendering Iraqi soldiers.
By 1410, the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, reported the surrender of 500 Iraqis,
including one colonel. To manage the prisoners the battalion commander,
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Cortez, dismounted an infantry company. It remained