AAR 1ST MARDIV IN SWA

File: 970725_dec96_decls34_0089.txt
Page: 0089
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
the bat .tery was attached to Ist Marine Division's ist Battalion,
ilth Marines while on the march north. As they approached the
southwest edge of the Burqan Oilfields, they began taking
incoming fire, so Brier placed some of his artillery Marines into
k skirmish line while the rest of his men set up the battery.
Suddenly, they spotted a Multiple Rocket Launcher System through
the smoke which the enemy was preparing to fire. Although the
M198 howitzer is normally used to engage targets at long range,
the quick witted gun commander, Sergeant trained his 5 U.S.C.
awa*
M198 directly at the MRLS which was only a scant soO ineters a
and fired it, scoring a direct hit. Shortly afterwards, tire 52 (b)(6)
Battery scored another direct fire hit on a nearby 152 mm gun of
a nearby Iraqi artillery battalion.

The Most Successful Tank CompAny?

"B" Company of the 4th Tank Battalion, is a reserve unit from
Yak4.ma, 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 Pal@as, California to train on
the newer MIAI 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
revetments. 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
accoun@-ed for 59 tanks including 30 T72S. One tank fired seven
".@irst rounds" and got five hits.

Cobras and the Smoke: How Low Did They Go?

Early on the morning of the 26th (G+2), Ist Marine Division's
Task Force Ripper was preparing to push north to the key
objective of Kuwait international Airport from its position near
the southwest edge of the Burqan Oilfield. Unhappily, the wind
was from the southeast, which 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.@knd 'ligh@@s
were required to see. Areas obscured by this phenomenon were
nicknamed the "Land of Darkness".
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
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UNCLASSIFIED