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


by the 2d Marine Division. The division order followed the four phases outlined
in the I MEF plan. During Phases I and I! (the air offensive period) Task Force
Shepherd   (light armored infantry battalion) would  continue covering the
division's front to preclude an Iraqi spoiling attack. Elements of the division
would conduct route reconnaissance for movement to attack positions and assist
in enemy prisoner of war control. On order, units were to conduct tactical
deception  operations. In Phase I!! (air offensive  and preparation of the
battlefield) all tactical units were to move to their attack positions and conduct
probes and artillery raids in zone. The final Phase IV consisted of ft~ur stages.
In Stage A the division would attack to penetrate forward Iraqi positions, hold
open the shoulders of the penetration, and assist in the passage of the 2d Marine
Division. Stage B entailed a movement to blocking positions along the main
supply route south of the Burqan Oilfleld, while also providing local security
at the point of penetration. In Stage C the division was to move to the 2d
Marine Division's left flank and attack northwest in zone to seize a key road
junction west of the Burqan Oil field. Finally, in Stage D the division would
continue attacking north while linking up with other CENTCOM components
and coalition forces and assist the ft~rward passage of Arab forces into Kuwait
City.33
    Several events  combined  to bring about    yet another reorganization.
Continued refinement of the division's offensive plan,  as well as General
Boomer's decision in early February to conduct a simultaneous two-division
breach, altered the scheme of maneuver envisioned in 1st Marine Division
Operation Order 1-91. The arrival of additional combat engineer equipment and
personnel coupled with an increase in assault amphibian vehicles gave General
Boomer the ability to alter the complicated division-size passage of lines.34
    The division frag order revising 1st Marine Division Operations Order 1-
91 that ft~llowed General Boomer's decision drastically altered the scheme of
maneuver. In the revised plan, the 1st Marine Division attack shifted further
west to a location near a border police station designated Observation Post 4 (the
2d Marine Division moved around the 1st Marine Division to an attack position
north of Observation Post 4). The division was to conduct a deliberate attack
to penetrate Iraqi defensive positions located between the Al Wafrali and Umm
Gudair Oil fields. That attack would initiate the allied ground offensive. General
Myatt envisioned a five-phased offensive. In Phase I, division units moved to
their assembly areas while engineers began reducing the bermed wall of sand
that marked the Saudi Arabia-Kuwait border and reconnaissance teams evaluated
the trafficability of the area. In Phase II, four task forces would breach the first
obstacle belt. Two of the task forces, mostly infantry units, were to infiltrate
the obstacle belt on foot and establish blocking positions on the division's right
and left flanks. They were to be followed by two mechanized task forces
conducting deliberate breaches and driving forward to the second obstacle belt.
Phase III  encompassed  a breach of the second obstacle belt by the two
mechanized task fbrces while the light armored infantry battalion moved ahead
to cover the division's front in the vicinity of the Burqan Oilfield. In Phase IV,
the division's focus of main effort was on seizing I MEF Obiective A, the Al