Takedown: The 3rd Infantry Division's Twenty-One Day Assault on Baghdad

263 Pages·2007·5.61 MB·English

by  Jim Lacey

The latest edition of this work has been brought to publication with the
generous assistance of Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest.
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
© 2007 by Jim Lacey All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-61251-434-5 (eBook) The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as
follows:
Lacey, Jim, 1958– Takedown : the 3rd Infantry Division’s twenty-one day assault on Baghdad / James G.
Lacey.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Iraq War, 2003– 2. United States. Army. Infantry Division, 3rd. I. Title.
DS79.76.l325 2006
956.7044’34—dc22
2006036392
Print editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First printing All maps courtesy of the Center for Army Lessons Learned at Fort Leavenworth.
All photos are from the author’s personal collection and are available at the Military History Institute in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Contents
Maps
Acknowledgments
A Note on Sources
Introduction
1. The Colonels’ War
2. The Breach (20–21 March)
3. First Clash: Tallil Air Base (21 March)
4. The Ba’ath Armies
5. Samawah: We Planned a Parade (22–24 March)
6. Battle of the LOCs (22–30 March)
7. Objective Rams (22–23 March)
8. The Escarpment (23–24 March)
9. Ambush Alley (24–25 March)
10. “Tell Saddam We’re Winning”
11. Najaf: The Hornets’ Nest (25–27 March)
12. Al Kifl (26–29 March)
13. Riding to the Cavalry’s Rescue (27–29 March)
14. The Dark Hours
15. Karbala (1 April)
16. Objective Peach (2 April)
17. The Other Side of the Hill
18. Saints and South (3–5 April)
19. The Cavalry Heads West (3–7 April)
20. Before the Crash: Under the Sniper’s Scope
21. Baghdad International Airport (4–5 April)
22. Thunder Run I (5 April)
23. Titans (4–8 April)
24. Thunder Run II: Collapse of the Regime (7 April)
25. Reflections
Index
Maps
MAP 1. Breaching the border
MAP 2. Initial 3rd Brigade objectives
MAP 3. 3rd Brigade’s assault on Tallil and vicinity
MAP 4. Overview of initial 3rd ID plan
MAP 5. Samawah objective locations
MAP 6. 3-7 CAV attacks Samawah
MAP 7. The line of communications from Najaf southward
MAP 8. Airborne troops assume the battle of the LOCs
MAP 9. Objective Rams (showing company objectives)
MAP 10. 3-7 CAV moves to Objective Floyd
MAP 11. Initial plan to isolate Najaf
MAP 12. 3-7 CAV just before rescue mission was launched
MAP 13. Positions after 3-7 CAV moved to Rams
MAP 14. The Five Attacks plan
MAP 15. Objective Murray (just east of Karbala)
MAP 16. Pushing past Karbala
MAP 17. 3-69 AR advance to Objective Peach
MAP 18. Seizing Objective Peach
MAP 19. Attack to Objective Saints
MAP 20. Moving from Peach to Saints
MAP 21. Attack on Saints, Montgomery, and the Baghdad Airport
MAP 22. Vth Corps plan to isolate Baghdad
MAP 23. 1st Brigade assault on Baghdad Airport
MAP 24. Thunder Run I
MAP 25. 3rd Brigade’s Objective Titans
MAP 26. Iraqi counterattack at Titans
MAP 27. Thunder Run II
MAP 28. Moe, Larry, Curly
Acknowledgments
No book of this type can be written without the help and support of many
others. First, I want to thank Brigadier General Anthony Cucolo, without whose
support and indulgence this book would not have been written. I also want to
thank my family and all the friends who were continuing sources of
encouragement to finish it. I particularly want to thank Dr. Williamson Murray
and Sharon Moore, who made several painstaking edits of the manuscript. If this
book succeeds as a well-told narrative of the events of the Third Infantry
Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom, they are the primary reason.
I also have to thank all of the officers and soldiers of the 3rd ID whose
names the reader will find throughout this book. These great soldiers gave the
gift of their precious time, without which this book would have been a much
inferior product, assuming it could have been done at all. What the soldiers of
the 3rd ID collectively accomplished should be ranked as one of the greatest
military achievements of all time, and I only hope I can do it and them justice.
For many of them, the retelling of their personal stories took a serious emotional
effort; like countless silent heroes before them, many were initially reluctant to
tell their stories. Most were convinced to do so only by my appeals that they
owed an accurate history to their comrades in arms and the families of those
soldiers who together sacrificed so much.
I want to apologize to all those whose stories I did not tell. Many times, I had
to use the fight of a single platoon or company in order to present a detailed
personal view of various combat actions. Usually, the unit selected was
representative of fights that twenty or more other nearby platoons were fighting
at the same time.