Marines Resume Their Northward Push Toward Baghdad Marines Resume Their Northward Push Toward Baghdad
By DEXTER FILKINS
ILLA, Iraq, March 31 � The main column of American marines set to attack Iraq's capital raced northward today, rolling on the country's main highway to within 70 miles of Baghdad and drawing only minimal resistance.
The convoy, including dozens of tanks and some 14,000 combat troops, began its journey in the Iraqi desert and ended 40 miles away, along the newly formed front lines that Iraqi soldiers had retreated from just hours before.
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Night fell here to sounds of American artillery bombarding the remnants of an Iraqi force that soldiers said had been decimated by an American advance team early today. Two Iraqi missiles streaked across the afternoon sky, fired from a few miles up the road. Otherwise, the Iraqi guns were silent.
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We're in bad-guy country," Col. John Pomfret said, surveying this newly captured piece of Iraqi territory. "I like it."
The swift movement of the troops was made possible by the furious battle overnight, in which the marines devastated a battalion of Iraqi soldiers. An American soldier standing at the farthest edge of the American advance said that the fighting had lasted until morning and that the Iraqi soldiers had been either captured or chased away.
"The Iraqis are lying around here," Staff Sgt. Kristian Lippert said, looking into the barley fields that lined the roadway.
The Iraqis seemed to have left in a hurry. American soldiers arriving at the scene found an array of ammunition, including shoulder-fired antiaircraft rockets and a pair of surface-to-surface missiles.
The two missiles, 3 feet in diameter and 25 feet long, had been hidden aboard a freight truck in a rural neighborhood outside the city. The missiles, which appeared to be the short-range type known as Frogs, bore the recent stamps of United Nations weapons inspectors. American soldiers said the placement of the missiles in an area populated by civilians suggested that Saddam Hussein was hoping to complicate America's plans to destroy his arsenal.
>>
Indeed, a kind of electricity seemed to fill the air as the American forces moved northward. At last, Baghdad was getting closer again, and everyone seemed to feel it. Marine officers strutted about their headquarters compound, set up hours before in an abandoned building at the highway's edge. American jets streaked freely about the skies.
The horizon, too, offered its own display of American power. To the left, an Iraqi city glimmered in the distance. Then, with an airstrike, its lights faded black. To the right, a huge orange glow rose in the darkness, illuminating the night sky, until it, too, shrank to nothing. Seconds later, a pair of American jets skylarked to the south.
>>
The Marines' advance today left them somewhat farther away from Baghdad than the American Third Infantry Division, which is advancing from the southwest. As the two columns press on, their respective roles appeared to emerge: the Third Infantry Division as the main wedge, with the First Marines protecting their right flank. American officers say both divisions appear headed for significant concentrations of Iraqi soldiers soon.
>>
Thirteen days ago, the Army and the Marines plunged across the Iraqi border with great speed, covering more than 200 miles in four days. But with supply lines stretched back to Kuwait, they became vulnerable to attack, and last Tuesday a column of marines was ambushed. At Duwaniya, the Marines decided to stop.
Marine officers said they spent the last several days clearing the areas around them of irregular Iraqi forces. Maj. Hunter Hobson, one of the senior officers here, said the Marines had fought nearly 100 engagements in the last five days.
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Major Hobson and other officers said the Marines had decided to bypass the city of Duwaniya itself. Officers said American bombs had already destroyed a Baath Party office as well as a stadium in the town where many of the party loyalists were said to have gathered. Marines conducted raids around the outskirts of the city, which is thought to be a holdout for die-hards of the Hussein government.
By DEXTER FILKINS
ILLA, Iraq, March 31 � The main column of American marines set to attack Iraq's capital raced northward today, rolling on the country's main highway to within 70 miles of Baghdad and drawing only minimal resistance.
The convoy, including dozens of tanks and some 14,000 combat troops, began its journey in the Iraqi desert and ended 40 miles away, along the newly formed front lines that Iraqi soldiers had retreated from just hours before.
Advertisement
Night fell here to sounds of American artillery bombarding the remnants of an Iraqi force that soldiers said had been decimated by an American advance team early today. Two Iraqi missiles streaked across the afternoon sky, fired from a few miles up the road. Otherwise, the Iraqi guns were silent.
>>
We're in bad-guy country," Col. John Pomfret said, surveying this newly captured piece of Iraqi territory. "I like it."
The swift movement of the troops was made possible by the furious battle overnight, in which the marines devastated a battalion of Iraqi soldiers. An American soldier standing at the farthest edge of the American advance said that the fighting had lasted until morning and that the Iraqi soldiers had been either captured or chased away.
"The Iraqis are lying around here," Staff Sgt. Kristian Lippert said, looking into the barley fields that lined the roadway.
The Iraqis seemed to have left in a hurry. American soldiers arriving at the scene found an array of ammunition, including shoulder-fired antiaircraft rockets and a pair of surface-to-surface missiles.
The two missiles, 3 feet in diameter and 25 feet long, had been hidden aboard a freight truck in a rural neighborhood outside the city. The missiles, which appeared to be the short-range type known as Frogs, bore the recent stamps of United Nations weapons inspectors. American soldiers said the placement of the missiles in an area populated by civilians suggested that Saddam Hussein was hoping to complicate America's plans to destroy his arsenal.
>>
Indeed, a kind of electricity seemed to fill the air as the American forces moved northward. At last, Baghdad was getting closer again, and everyone seemed to feel it. Marine officers strutted about their headquarters compound, set up hours before in an abandoned building at the highway's edge. American jets streaked freely about the skies.
The horizon, too, offered its own display of American power. To the left, an Iraqi city glimmered in the distance. Then, with an airstrike, its lights faded black. To the right, a huge orange glow rose in the darkness, illuminating the night sky, until it, too, shrank to nothing. Seconds later, a pair of American jets skylarked to the south.
>>
The Marines' advance today left them somewhat farther away from Baghdad than the American Third Infantry Division, which is advancing from the southwest. As the two columns press on, their respective roles appeared to emerge: the Third Infantry Division as the main wedge, with the First Marines protecting their right flank. American officers say both divisions appear headed for significant concentrations of Iraqi soldiers soon.
>>
Thirteen days ago, the Army and the Marines plunged across the Iraqi border with great speed, covering more than 200 miles in four days. But with supply lines stretched back to Kuwait, they became vulnerable to attack, and last Tuesday a column of marines was ambushed. At Duwaniya, the Marines decided to stop.
Marine officers said they spent the last several days clearing the areas around them of irregular Iraqi forces. Maj. Hunter Hobson, one of the senior officers here, said the Marines had fought nearly 100 engagements in the last five days.
Advertisement
Major Hobson and other officers said the Marines had decided to bypass the city of Duwaniya itself. Officers said American bombs had already destroyed a Baath Party office as well as a stadium in the town where many of the party loyalists were said to have gathered. Marines conducted raids around the outskirts of the city, which is thought to be a holdout for die-hards of the Hussein government.
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