AAR 1ST MARDIV IN SWA

File: 970725_dec96_decls34_0092.txt
Page: 0092
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 battery was attached to ist Marine Division's Ist Battalion,
            lith 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
            a. 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 r.
            M198 howitzer is normally used to engage targets at long rangep U.S.C.
            the quick witted gun commander, Sergeant@@trained hiscr
            M198 directly at the MRLS which was only a scant $00 meters awh@P2 (b)(6)
            and fired it, scoring a direct hit. Shortly afterwards, the
            Battery scored another direct fire hit on a nearby 152 mm gun of
            a nearby Iraqi artillery battalion.

                            The Most Successful Tank Compiny?

               "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 Ma!rine Division. The company
            was stopped near the division boundaey line about five miles
                                  airfield shortly before dawn at 0555 on the
            north of the al Jabe-
            second day. The tankers were now surprised to hear, then see in
            their night vision devices, a formation of T72s - Iraq's Post
            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 ene-y 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 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 Internatiohal 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
            f.-om 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".

              -By ill 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