War with Iraq
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Posted on Sat, Apr. 05, 2003
82nd's troops battle Iraqis in southern cities
Part of U.S. strategy is blocking reinforcements
TOM LASSETER AND MARK JOHNSON
Knight Ridder
For much of the night Thursday, an Air Force AC-130 gunship armed with a 105 mm howitzer pounded Iraqi positions along the north side of the Euphrates River as U.S. forces battled Iraqi paramilitaries in Samawah.
As the sun rose Friday, .50-caliber machine guns, grenades and Hellfire missiles from Kiowa helicopters firing on the Iraqi paramilitary soldiers could be heard across much of the city.
Troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and the 141st Mechanized Infantry Battalion pushed across two key bridges, flushed Iraqi soldiers into streets and buildings on the northern outskirts of the southern Iraqi city, and picked them off in house-to-house combat. The Iraqis either surrendered or were shot.
"We have people surrendering in this next building," an 82nd Airborne commander called over the radio. In another radio transmission, a U.S. soldier announced the discovery of three Iraqi artillery pieces.
By midday, three plumes of smoke were drifting from destroyed Iraqi vehicles.
U.S. commanders reported that three U.S. soldiers were wounded in the fighting and dozens of Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded. Several civilians, apparently wounded in the assault, sought medical help from U.S. troops after the fighting.
Friday's battle gave the 82nd Airborne, based at Fort Bragg, control of the bridges across the Euphrates and blocked the Iraqis from sending more fighters and supplies into the southern part of the city.
Some 80 miles up the road, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division won control of the city of Najaf and were ordered to move upstream to secure a key bridge across the Euphrates north of Karbala. Infantry units from the 101st Airborne, from Fort Campbell, Ky., and tanks from the 3rd Infantry Division are fighting what are believed to be Iraqi Republican Guard troops to secure the bridge to prevent Iraqi reinforcements from entering Karbala.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted on Sat, Apr. 05, 2003
82nd's troops battle Iraqis in southern cities
Part of U.S. strategy is blocking reinforcements
TOM LASSETER AND MARK JOHNSON
Knight Ridder
For much of the night Thursday, an Air Force AC-130 gunship armed with a 105 mm howitzer pounded Iraqi positions along the north side of the Euphrates River as U.S. forces battled Iraqi paramilitaries in Samawah.
As the sun rose Friday, .50-caliber machine guns, grenades and Hellfire missiles from Kiowa helicopters firing on the Iraqi paramilitary soldiers could be heard across much of the city.
Troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and the 141st Mechanized Infantry Battalion pushed across two key bridges, flushed Iraqi soldiers into streets and buildings on the northern outskirts of the southern Iraqi city, and picked them off in house-to-house combat. The Iraqis either surrendered or were shot.
"We have people surrendering in this next building," an 82nd Airborne commander called over the radio. In another radio transmission, a U.S. soldier announced the discovery of three Iraqi artillery pieces.
By midday, three plumes of smoke were drifting from destroyed Iraqi vehicles.
U.S. commanders reported that three U.S. soldiers were wounded in the fighting and dozens of Iraqi soldiers were killed or wounded. Several civilians, apparently wounded in the assault, sought medical help from U.S. troops after the fighting.
Friday's battle gave the 82nd Airborne, based at Fort Bragg, control of the bridges across the Euphrates and blocked the Iraqis from sending more fighters and supplies into the southern part of the city.
Some 80 miles up the road, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division won control of the city of Najaf and were ordered to move upstream to secure a key bridge across the Euphrates north of Karbala. Infantry units from the 101st Airborne, from Fort Campbell, Ky., and tanks from the 3rd Infantry Division are fighting what are believed to be Iraqi Republican Guard troops to secure the bridge to prevent Iraqi reinforcements from entering Karbala.
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