Battle of Al Khafji: Struggling Saddam Hussein and the First Drop of Blood in the Gulf War

199 1 year 1 month. The Persian Gulf region has been clouded by war. However, to the surprise of many people, the seemingly weak Iraqi army actually took the initiative to attack the multinational force defense zone. After careful selection and arrangement, Saddam's elite troops entered the Saudi border town of Al Khafji. However, in the face of the huge gap in military concepts, the Iraqi army's attack quickly evolved into a total rout. At 3 am in Baghdad (1991117), the multinational forces launched desert storm air strikes as planned. The Iraqi army faces 1700-3000 ultra-high intensity air strikes almost every day. After half a month of indiscriminate bombing, the entire Iraqi air force has lost most of its combat capability, and the ground forces and command system have also suffered heavy losses. Faced with the infinite tilt of the scale of the war, Saddam did not want to sit still. He believes that his army still has more than 2,500 tanks in Kuwait, and the Coalition forces can only rely on bombing for fear of land war. According to the historical accumulation in his mind, in the Vietnam War of 10, 58,000 American soldiers were killed, and finally they chose to retreat because of the tragic casualties. On the other hand, its own powerful army can kill more than 50,000 people in a battle of the Iran-Iraq war and insist on making peace. Therefore, the appearance of the US military seems to be strong, but in fact it is afraid of death and vulnerable. In a letter to Palestinian leader Arafat, the U.S. F 15E fleet deployed at Saudi airport even claimed that when the Arab people really went to war, they would fight the United States in any corner and eventually defeat the United States. In the face of skeptical subordinates, Saddam did not forget to inspire them: the United States has bid farewell to young adults and entered the twilight of aging. So that the Iraqi army at that time really believed that it still had the advantage of land war and could win the final victory. Saddam Hussein's personal poster before the Gulf War. Since then, Iraq has carried out many operations beyond the scope of conventional military operations. For example, in order to force the Arab countries to withdraw from the Coalition forces, Saddam ordered missile bombing of Israel in an attempt to drag it into the war. However, with the help of American Patriot missiles, only/kloc-0 people in Israel were killed by Iraqi attacks. After that, Saddam tried to blow up Kuwait oil fields and dumped oil into the sea to pollute them. Finally, the Iraqi army continued to launch shelling and missile attacks in Saudi Arabia, trying to provoke the Coalition forces through such provocations and force them to enter the long-awaited ground war as soon as possible. The multinational forces were indifferent to this and continued to complete the bombing mission as planned. Of course, all the setbacks and increasing casualties did not discourage Saddam. He quickly came up with a more whimsical operational plan: taking the initiative to launch a surprise attack and causing heavy casualties to the multinational forces. After the enemy's morale collapsed, several American prisoners of war were taken back to Kuwait as bargaining chips with the United States. At the same time, it will arouse anti-war sentiment in the United States to force the United States to withdraw its troops. Therefore, the oil town of Al Khafji, which is 0/5km away from the border between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, has become an ideal target. Saddam Hussein, who is encouraging soldiers to die in the front line, at this time, the Iraqi army has absolute military superiority on the border from the coast to the Wafra oil field. The 7th, 8th, 14, 19 and 29th infantry divisions are deployed along the borderline, relying on a "Saddam defense line" with anti-tank bunkers and mine nets. This is a death trap designed by Iraqi military engineers based on the experience of the Iran-Iraq war. In addition to * * * and the National Guard, the most elite third and fourth armies are also rubbing their hands at the border. The U.S. military only set up a few observation posts and the 1 reconnaissance, surveillance and intelligence cluster of the Marine Corps in this area, and did not deploy heavy defense at all. Saddam's plan is also very simple: the 3rd Tank Division will attack from the side of the Wafra oil field and cooperate with the flanking 1 Motorized Infantry Division to attack the US military post. They can not only attract the attention of the US military, but also cover the 5th motorized infantry division's raid on Al Khafji along the Gulf Expressway. After occupying the city, the two divisions immediately retreated to the Kuwaiti border, leaving the fifth motorized infantry division to defend and destroy the allies. Brigadier General Hu Sang Zadin, who is in charge of commanding the Third Tank Division, plans to launch at 8 pm on October 29th, 65438/KLOC-0. Al Khafji is expected to be occupied at 1 the next morning. Finally, we must persist until February 3, and then retreat with the prisoners. All Iraqi troops participating in the war were under the command of Major General Mahmoud Abd, while Brigadier General Hu Sang Zaddin was in charge of the Third Tank Division. On the other side of the front line, Khafji deployed only eight observation posts, and the main force was the "Shepherd" task force of the Marine Corps 1 Light Armored Infantry Battalion. Three companies of this battalion are also scattered in three posts of OP4/5/6, with a distance of about 15-20km. Even more deadly, the large-scale mobilization of the Iraqi army was very hidden and successfully deceived the investigation force of the US military. The Iraqi army has an absolute advantage near Al-Khafji, and took a group photo with the 1,000-member defense sentry of the US Marine Corps. 1At 8 o'clock on October 29th, Captain Ross stationed at Observation Post 4 suddenly heard the sound of a large number of tracks running over the ground. As the platoon leader of the reconnaissance platoon, he quickly reacted that the Iraqi army had launched a large-scale attack. At this time, the 6 th tank brigade of the 3 rd tank division of the Iraqi army is galloping towards this position. However, only Captain Ross's reconnaissance platoon and Company D of 1 Light Armored Infantry Battalion moved here at 3 pm. The company is equipped with 19 LAV-25 armored transport vehicles and some LAV-AT from self-operated departments as anti-tank means. When Captain Ross tried to warn the friendly troops by radio, the T55 main battle tank heavily equipped by the Iraqi army could not be connected because the channel was blocked. As a last resort, he had to try to lead the soldiers to retreat by themselves. His platoon has been divided into three teams and deployed 500 meters in front of the defensive position of the observation post. Because the raid came so suddenly, all the teams were in chaos. Instead of retreating in an orderly manner as planned, they took the initiative to fight back with weapons. They only have AT4 rocket launchers and other light weapons in their hands, so it is theoretically difficult to cause damage to Iraqi tanks at a long distance. But their counterattack firepower still threw the other side into chaos. Iraqi tanks can only stop moving forward and shoot indiscriminately in the direction of American troops. This move provided valuable time for Captain Ross, and Company D behind him found the Iraqi army. Captain Roger Pollard, the company commander, quickly organized his men to rescue the reconnaissance platoon. The brilliant LAV-AT anti-tank missile launcher could not move when LAV-AT fired, so Company D chose the tactics of alternating cover in each row. That is, 1 platoon stopped to delay the attack on the Iraqi army and covered another 1 platoon. Then the second platoon will cover them. Their LAV-AT is equipped with TOW II anti-tank missiles with a range of 3.75km and advanced thermal imager, which can kill Iraqi tanks at night. The Iraqi army is only under the T-55/62 and 69 tanks, and its infrared searchlight has a sight distance of less than 1 km, which can't be compared with the American army in the night battle. Soon, platoon 2 of company D joined the reconnaissance platoon and asked them to retreat by car. By 20: 30 p.m., because communication was restored, Captain Ross successfully informed the battalion headquarters of the news of the Iraqi attack. After the Iraqi tanks destroyed by American anti-tank missiles retreated to the U-shaped position of the observation post, the American army continued to carry forward the asymmetric advantages brought by night vision equipment. After 1 several hours of fierce fighting, 1 1 tanks and armored vehicles were successfully destroyed. As a result, the Iraqi army's offensive stagnated, and the gap ahead could only be filled with quantitative advantages. 2 1: 30, the long-awaited American air support finally arrived. Two air raid guides of the reconnaissance platoon guided the fighter plane into the battlefield by radio, and commanded LAV-25 to shoot Iraqi tanks with 25mm tracer bullets to illuminate the target for the fighter plane. This method is very effective. Two F- 15E and two F- 16C fighters of the Air Force entered the battlefield with ground attack pods and precision guided ammunition, killing Iraqi tanks accurately. By 23: 00 p.m., three AC- 130 air gunboats and four A- 10 attack planes also flew to the battlefield. They used Gatling machine guns and 105mm howitzers to pour death steel rain at the same time, completely crushing the Iraqi army's hope of winning. The American AC 130 air gunboat, which was being killed on all sides in the front line, was attacked by the enemy at the height of fierce fighting at sentry post 4. The 5th Motorized Infantry Division 1 Brigade of the Iraqi Army tried to cross the border into Haifuji from here. However, it was stopped by Company A of the 2nd Light Armored Infantry Battalion under the command of Captain Dennis. In the face of the Soviet-style steel torrent composed of 60- 100 infantry fighting vehicles and tanks, marines are not timid at all. They attacked with LAV-AT and all the weapons in their hands. Corporal Willis destroyed two T-62 tanks by himself. Subsequently, five naval A-6 fighter planes, two air force F- 16 fighter planes, two A- 10 fighter planes and two marine corps AV-8b also came to reinforce, completely repelling the Iraqi army. 1 Captain Potzler of Company A under the Light Armored Infantry Battalion also led an air strike to repel the Iraqi infantry who had captured Post 5. The U.S. A 10 attack plane took off to support front-line operations, and the garrison at sentry post 8 was not so lucky. The American troops here are just a group of light infantry units composed of navy seals, the third armed reconnaissance company and the ninth fire control team, without any anti-tank weapons. Captain Lang, who was in charge of the leadership, gave the order to retreat and led everyone to escape from the fire of the Iraqi army under the cover of darkness. Captain Landesman, who is located at No.2 sentry post, also commanded the naval air artillery force liaison group to escape. At the same time, a small group of American troops from the nearby outpost No.7 were out of danger. While the US military bravely stopped the Iraqis, the Saudi army defending Al-Khafji opened its doors to the enemy. While defending the expressway, the 2nd Battalion of the 5th Brigade of the Army chose to retreat just because it was shelled. Although the U.S. military immediately dispatched 1 AC- 130 gunboats and AH- 1W helicopter gunboats of the 369th squadron to carry out air strikes and destroyed 13 tanks and armored vehicles, it was still unable to stop the Iraqi army 15 and the 26th Mobu Brigade from entering the city. In the Battle of Al Khafji, the AH 1 attack helicopter of the Marine Corps had retreated to the US 1 surveillance and intelligence cluster, the 5th support weapons liaison group and the 9th and 13 fire control groups of the Al Khafji seawater desalination plant, so it had to be evacuated to Mishab again to join the Saudi army. At this time, there is only one reconnaissance unit of the United States Marine Corps in the city. They were ordered to keep this secret and provide investigation and information for the subsequent counterattack. By the early morning of June 30, 65438+/kloc-0, Khafji officially declared the fall. However, only at 2: 30 am on June 3 1 day, the multinational forces launched a counterattack to recover Al Khafji. Instead of mobilizing heavy troops to fight back according to common sense, the US military deployed the support troops evacuated from Al Khafji and the Saudi-Qatari battalion to the gas station 4 kilometers south of Al Khafji. They were also covered by the artillery battalion of the Third Marine Corps. Subsequently, Saudi and Qatar troops rushed to the front, and the US military was responsible for providing fire support. After only a few hours of fierce fighting, the multinational forces successfully defeated two brigades of the Iraqi army and regained the city of Al Khafji. Ghost 03 AC 130 air gunboat was shot down in the battle of the angel of death, which was supporting the counterattack. Only 25 American troops were killed in the battle of Al Khafji, and 1 LAV-25 and LAV-AT were lost. Among them, 1 1 were marines, all of whom were killed by friendly forces, and all of them occurred in the battle of Outpost 4. There is also the 14 crew of the ghost 03 AC- 130 air gunboat, which was shot down by Iraqi portable air defense missiles in the early morning of March1,becoming the only Coalition aircraft lost in the whole battle. Saudi and Qatari troops killed 65,438+08 people and injured more than 50 others. They also destroyed two tanks and 10 armored vehicles. There are different opinions about the casualties of the Iraqi army. According to the data released by the Iraqi army, only 7 1 person was killed, 48/person was injured and 702 people were missing when the Iraqi army invaded Al Khafji. In fact, only the US Army 1 Air and Sea Fire Liaison Group reported that more than 90 Iraqi vehicles were destroyed, more than 300 people were killed and more than 680 people were captured. Of course, the greatest significance of this campaign is not the battle-damage ratio, but to help the allied forces defeat the morale of the Iraqi army and make the other side afraid to launch a counterattack. Qatari soldiers are inspecting the destroyed armored vehicles. In addition to the bravery of marines, the improvement of communication system and the tactical upgrade of air-ground coordination are the reasons why the US military can stop the Iraqi army 1 tank brigade with the strength of 1 company. In this battle, the US Air Force carried out 554 sorties of attacks on Kuwait's war zone, including Al Khafji, destroying 544 tanks and 3 14 armored vehicles, and destroying 425 artillery positions. Among them, only A- 10 of the Air Force dispatched 293 sorties, which established the reputation of "warthog" in anti-tank operations. The E-8 "United Star" early warning aircraft that participated in the war for the first time also subverted the traditional air strike mode. The aircraft can cruise in the war zone for a long time, survey and track the terrain and enemy targets, and serve as a tower to guide fighter air strikes. Especially at night, E-8 guided F- 15E 104 and F- 16' s 40 sorties to carry out air strikes, showing the high efficiency that ordinary airport towers do not have. As the E-8A ground-based early warning aircraft of the Air Force Command, in addition, the 3rd Air Wing of the Marine Corps has also made remarkable achievements in gun hunting. When performing such tasks, they usually dispatch six planes to cooperate with each other. 1 OV- 10 as reconnaissance mission, 1 two-seater F/A- 18D as front-line guidance. Then two F/A- 18 and EA-6B electric fighters suppressed the enemy air defense system and destroyed the fire to interfere with the Iraqi air defense position. Finally, the A-6E attack aircraft completed a fatal blow to the artillery. In Al Khafji, the US military destroyed hundreds of Iraqi artillery positions by this tactic without any loss. At the same time, the Coalition forces also creatively used the tactics of "killing boxes". They divided the whole Kuwait operation into several killing boxes 30 kilometers long. Then, with the frequency of 8 minutes during the day-at night 15 minutes, air strikes were launched continuously to destroy the Iraqi troops in those boxes. It is no exaggeration to say that the six-kill box and duty mode in the Battle of Khafji not only created the myth that 1 company blocked the whole tank brigade, but also opened the prelude to the new era war mode.