US puts tactics before tanks with a fraction of Schwarzkopf's force
By Ben Rooney, Defence Staff
(Filed: 26/03/2003)
When American ground troops take on the "might" of the Iraqi army, the attacking force may be less than one fifth the size of the forces that General Norman Schwarzkopf used to rout the Republican Guard in 1991. But, say Pentagon planners, it will still defeat them.
General Tommy Franks, the allied commander, is planning to deploy his small force in a revolutionary new way, which, if successful, will transform the conduct of future battles.
Nevertheless, should things not go to plan, and resistance from the Republican Guard prove more tenacious than expected, the Pentagon is also ready to fight a more traditional war.
Concerns have been raised about the size of Franks's force, pointing to the fact that the 1991 liberation of Kuwait against only a part of Saddam's army took a force of more than 11 divisions, with some 2,000 tanks and around 550,000 troops.
By contrast, Gen Franks has the 230 tanks, 130 AH64 Apache helicopters, and 18,000 men of the 3rd Infantry Division, 70,000 men, 58 AH1 Super Cobra attack helicopters and about 200 tanks of I Marine Expeditionary Force, and the 270 helicopters and 15,000 men of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) division. The British 1st Armoured Division is not involved in the Battle for Baghdad.
But, say US military planners, number-crunching paints a misleading picture
By Ben Rooney, Defence Staff
(Filed: 26/03/2003)
When American ground troops take on the "might" of the Iraqi army, the attacking force may be less than one fifth the size of the forces that General Norman Schwarzkopf used to rout the Republican Guard in 1991. But, say Pentagon planners, it will still defeat them.
General Tommy Franks, the allied commander, is planning to deploy his small force in a revolutionary new way, which, if successful, will transform the conduct of future battles.
Nevertheless, should things not go to plan, and resistance from the Republican Guard prove more tenacious than expected, the Pentagon is also ready to fight a more traditional war.
Concerns have been raised about the size of Franks's force, pointing to the fact that the 1991 liberation of Kuwait against only a part of Saddam's army took a force of more than 11 divisions, with some 2,000 tanks and around 550,000 troops.
By contrast, Gen Franks has the 230 tanks, 130 AH64 Apache helicopters, and 18,000 men of the 3rd Infantry Division, 70,000 men, 58 AH1 Super Cobra attack helicopters and about 200 tanks of I Marine Expeditionary Force, and the 270 helicopters and 15,000 men of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) division. The British 1st Armoured Division is not involved in the Battle for Baghdad.
But, say US military planners, number-crunching paints a misleading picture
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