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    U. S. Marines In Battle - Al-Khafji 28 January-1 February 1991 Operation Desert Storm [Illustrated Edition]
    U. S. Marines In Battle - Al-Khafji 28 January-1 February 1991 Operation Desert Storm [Illustrated Edition]
    U. S. Marines In Battle - Al-Khafji 28 January-1 February 1991 Operation Desert Storm [Illustrated Edition]
    Ebook144 pages1 hour

    U. S. Marines In Battle - Al-Khafji 28 January-1 February 1991 Operation Desert Storm [Illustrated Edition]

    By Paul W. Westermeyer

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    Includes over 20 maps, diagrams and illustrations.
    “The Battle of Khafji was the first major ground engagement of the Gulf War. It took place in and around the Saudi Arabian city of Khafji, from 29 January to 1 February 1991 and marked the culmination of the Coalition’s air campaign over Kuwait and Iraq, which had begun on 17 January 1991.
    Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who had already tried and failed to draw Coalition troops into costly ground engagements by shelling Saudi positions and oil storage tanks and firing Scud surface-to-surface missiles at Israel, ordered the invasion of Saudi Arabia from southern Kuwait. The 1st and 5th Mechanized Divisions and 3rd Armored Division were ordered to conduct a multi-pronged invasion toward Khafji, engaging American, Saudi and Qatari forces along the coastline. These three divisions, which had been heavily damaged by Coalition aircraft in the preceding days, attacked on 29 January. Most of their attacks were repulsed by U.S. Marines as well as U.S. Army Rangers and Coalition aircraft, but one of the Iraqi columns occupied Khafji on the night of 29-30 January. Between 30 January and 1 February, two Saudi Arabian National Guard battalions and two Qatari tank companies attempted to retake control of the city, aided by Coalition aircraft and American artillery. By 1 February, the city had been recaptured at the cost of 43 Coalition servicemen dead and 52 wounded. Iraqi Army fatalities numbered between 60 and 300, while an estimated 400 were captured as prisoners of war.
    The battle serves as a modern demonstration that air power in a supporting role to ground forces can be of great assistance in halting and defeating a major ground operation. It was also a major test of the Saudi and Qatari armies. Although the capture of Khafji was a propaganda victory for the Ba’athist Iraqi government, its subsequent recapture by Saudi and Qatari ground forces provided a major morale boost for Coalition forces.”-Wiki
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNormanby Press
    Release dateAug 15, 2014
    ISBN9781782893370
    U. S. Marines In Battle - Al-Khafji 28 January-1 February 1991 Operation Desert Storm [Illustrated Edition]

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      Book preview

      U. S. Marines In Battle - Al-Khafji 28 January-1 February 1991 Operation Desert Storm [Illustrated Edition] - Paul W. Westermeyer

       This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

      To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books –

      Or on Facebook

      Text originally published in 2008 under the same title.

      © Pickle Partners Publishing 2013, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

      Publisher’s Note

      Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

      We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

      U. S. Marines in Battle

      Al-Khafji

      28 January -1 February 1991

      On The Cover: The crew of a Marine LAV-25 scans the desert. The LAV-25 was the backbone of the light armored infantry battalions, an untried concept prior to the Battle of al-Khafji. The battalions were used in a traditional cavalry role, providing a screen in front of the main body of I Marine Expeditionary Force. History Division Photo

      At Left: A Qatari AMX-30 tank leads two Saudi V-150 Commando armored cars, the first of which is an antitank variant, into al-Khafji through the town arches. The arches were the focal point of each Saudi counterattack into the city. Used with permission of Jody Harmon (www.jodyharmon.com)

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Contents

      TABLE OF CONTENTS 6

      The Battle of al-Khafji 7

      The Air Campaign 10

      Iraq’s Plan 12

      American and Saudi Arabian Relations 21

      Ra’s al-Khafji 30

      Coalition Dispositions 30

      Artillery Raids 32

      27-28 January 35

      Warnings 38

      29 January 39

      Outposts 43

      Night, 29-30 January — At the Observation Posts 48

      Assault on al-Khafji 62

      The Iraqi View 70

      30 January 72

      North of al-Khafji 81

      31 January 86

      Considerations 91

      REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 96

      Al-Khafji Order of Battle 97

      U.S. Marine Forces 97

      Saudi Arabian and Qatari Forces 97

      Iraqi Forces 98

      About the Author And Acknowledgements 99

      The Battle of al-Khafji

      by Paul W. Westermeyer

      In August 1990, Iraqi military forces invaded the neighboring nation of Kuwait. The invasion was part of an expansionist foreign policy that President Saddam Hussein established a decade earlier when he invaded post-revolution Iran. The Iraqi invasion of Iran failed, degenerating into a decade long war of attrition, but Kuwait was an easier target. Kuwait had financed the Iraq-Iran War for Iraq, but refused to forgive the debt, and Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing oil from the Rumalia Oil Field. Much smaller than Iran in terms of population and geography, Kuwait had focused its foreign and defense policies on negotiation and compromise rather than military force; inevitably, the large Iraqi Army quickly overwhelmed the small Kuwaiti armed forces.

      Inside Kuwait, Iraqi troops began wholesale pillaging as security forces moved to remove all those loyal to the Kuwaiti royal family. Iraq declared that Kuwait was now a province, thus eliminating its debt and adding extensive oil fields to its own. Saddam stationed conscript infantry divisions in Kuwait and began building extensive defenses along the Kuwaiti-Saudi border.

      While Saddam calculated the military balance between Iraq and Kuwait correctly, he underestimated the willingness of the world community, especially the United States and Great Britain, to intervene on Kuwait’s behalf. His invasion set the stage for a military confrontation that was larger in scope than any similar circumstance since the Cold War. Under President George H. W. Bush, the United States assembled a global coalition of concerned nations, first to defend Saudi Arabia against further Iraqi aggression, and then to eject the Iraqi military from Kuwait. Early in this Gulf War American military commanders designated the operation to protect Saudi Arabia Desert Shield, and the successive operation to free Kuwait Desert Storm. These military operations were massive undertakings, and they highlighted the paradigm shift from superpowers in precarious equilibrium during the Cold War to American global hegemony in the 1990s.

      The Gulf War would be the largest deployment of Marines since the Vietnam War. It challenged the entire warfighting establishment of the Marine Corps—aviation, ground, and logistics—forcing a generation of Marines to put two decades of planning and training to the test. The Corps would see many of its tactical and operational philosophies justified under combat conditions. The maritime prepositioning ships program, for one, proved its worth, enabling Marines to be the first combined arms task force in Saudi Arabia. In addition, Marines tested the air-ground task force concept within the joint environment.

      Marines of the 7th Marine Expeditionary Brigade arrived in Saudi Arabia in late August, where they married up with their equipment from the maritime prepositioning ships. Under Marine Forces Commander, Central Command, and Commander, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Lieutenant General Walter E. Boomer, Marines continued to deploy to the Gulf and solidify the defenses of Saudi Arabia. They trained, established defensive positions, and watched the diplomatic efforts attempt to resolve the crisis.

      As fall turned to winter, the Marine Corps continued the massive logistical enterprise, deploying personnel and equipment of I Marine Expeditionary Force: 1st and 2d Marine Divisions, 3d Marine Aircraft Wing, and the 1st Force Service Support Group.

      General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the United States Central Command commander, chose the Marines to evict the Iraqis from Kuwait proper, fighting alongside Arab members of the Coalition. As Lieutenant General Boomer’s I Marine Expeditionary Force and its partners prepared to breach the fortifications separating Kuwait from Saudi Arabia, the 4th and 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigades remained afloat in the Persian Gulf onboard the ships of U.S. Navy amphibious ready groups, providing a seaborne threat which would eventually tie up many Iraqi resources along the shoreline.

      Despite the threat of a Coalition military intervention, Iraq refused to withdraw from Kuwait. Saddam was convinced that the United States could neither maintain the Coalition, nor intervene militarily in a meaningful way. A military struggle to free Kuwait thus became inevitable.

      The Air Campaign{1}

      On 17 January 1991, Operation Desert Storm began with massive air strikes throughout Iraq and Kuwait. Although the operation had an expected ground component, U.S. Air Force strategists, who believed that bombing alone could compel Iraq to relinquish Kuwait, drove the first phases. As a result, the primary focus of the campaign was on achieving air superiority (accomplished the first evening), striking strategic targets inside Iraq, then annihilating Iraq’s elite Republican Guard centered in southern Iraqi,

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