The US forces in the north would lead with two BCT’s of the 1st Cavalry Division, the 3rd BCT being in Saudi Arabia south of Kuwait with the 1st USMC Division. Immediately behind 1st Cav, would come the iron hammer of Old Ironsides, 1st Armored Division, and then 3rd Infantry Division. 4th I.D. was still in the Sinai, but it had detached its 1st Stryker Brigade and another of these, the 3rd Stryker Brigade, was send over from 2nd Division for the operation. These two mobile brigades would stand as the US ground element reserve. The force was then augmented by the whole of the 101st Air Assault Division, with the 173rd Airborne Brigade acting as the airmobile reserve.
In the south, the European Coalition forces moved out of Jordan to Arar in Saudi Arabia, which was on the Saudi Highway 85, about 40 road miles from the Iraqi border. This force was composed of the French 7th Armored Brigade under General Lemont, the British 20th Armored Infantry Brigade under Major General Wilson, and their Strike Brigade under Brigadier Grant, the German 21st Panzer Brigade arrived under Brigadier Berg, and the Italian Ariete Brigade under General Romano. With five brigades, it was a much smaller force compared to the American contingent, which had all of ten ground BCT’s and four air mobile brigades in its generous order of battle.
The plan that night was to move rapidly through the vast empty western desert of Iraq in a 150 mile lightning dash that would take both contingents to the joints of that cross bar on the letter H. First to move was the massive helicopter force of the 101st Airborne, which would rise like a dark horde of metal locusts, thumping its way east, low over the ground. The Apaches of 1/17th Cav would lead the way, scanning the dark ground ahead on infrared as they moved to a point a little north of the junction to carve out the first occupied territory of Iraq in this war, appropriately called FOB Alpha. Stretching 15 x 15 kilometers, it would become a massive arming and refueling and point for the helicopters, which had already delivered their BCT’s to positions deep inside Iraq.
While the flat open desert offered little in the way of obstacles to the Coalition advance, the approaches to Baghdad would soon be compressed into two chokepoint sectors. It was not stony mountains that formed these chokepoints, but water barriers. The long Euphrates river ran out of Syria and made its winding journey south through Iraq. In 1956, the great Tharthar depression was filled with the diverted floodwaters of the Tigris river to the east, and became an imposing obstacle that stood as a massive water shield for the region between Baghdad and Tikrit in northern Iraq.
South of Tharthar was the much smaller Lake Habbaniyah, and between the two lakes, Highway-1 ran through the Ramadi-Fallujah Gap, about 20 miles wide from north to south. That was where the US column was headed, intending to simply bull its way through the gap, and then drive another 50 miles to Baghdad.
The European Contingent would push up highway 22 until it bent south of another water barrier, the large Lake Razzazah. Just east of the lake sat the city of Karbala, nestled between Razzazah and the Tigris river. That city was their first objective prior to forcing the Tigris to secure Al Hillah and Alexandria. After that, they were to drive north to Baghdad as well. The entire operation was aimed at that one massive city, the heart of Iraq, designated Objective Babylon.
As the Weasel had suggested to Major Philips that night, the Iraqis could read a map well enough. They had been watching the big buildup in Israel and Jordan nervously for weeks, hoping it was just there to deliver the coup de grace to the operation aimed at the Suez Canal. When the Egyptians signed an armistice, all bets were off, and Chinese intelligence informed Baghdad that it was very likely the Coalition forces were there to invade Iraq.
That started the mad scramble to get combat worthy divisions out of Saudi Arabia and north to Baghdad, because they could easily see where all the roads leading east would bring the invaders if they came. So by the time Able Fire was set to be kindled, the entire 1st Corps of the Republican Guard had already left Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and moved north to Baghdad. Yet it was not the same force that had started the war with its bold invasion of Kuwait many weeks earlier. Both the Talwalkana and Nebuchadnezzar Divisions were so badly depleted that they were disbanded, and their remaining troops and equipment used to build the other three divisions (Baghdad, Al Medina, and Hammurabi) up to strength.
The first two deployed to Baghdad to join Qusay Hussein’s personal division in defense of the capital. The Hammurabi went south to Alexandria to watch the river crossing there. All the rest of the force that was returned to Iraq was composed of territorial infantry brigades, and these were all sent to their respecting cities and districts to prepare defensive positions there.
In the north, all the national guard brigades were scraped together to form three makeshift divisions, with one posted at Tikrit, another at Samarra and the third at Mosul. Other forces in the north included territorial brigades at Erbil and Kirkuk. All the special forces battalions that had swept into Kuwait were withdrawn with their helicopters to form the screening defense in Al Anbar province, the first to be invaded by the Western Coalition forces.
If General Abdul Bakir could have concentrated the bulk of all these forces at the two chokepoints, he might have presented a formidable defense, but Qusay Hussein overruled that option.
“We will not bunch our forces in one place,” he said. “It will leave the rest of the country defenseless, and you know how restless the Shia tribes are in the south.”
General Bakir folded his thick arms. “But if we occupy these natural gaps near the lakes, we can hold them at bay. They will never get into the rest of the country.”
“Oh? Do not be so certain of that. They have airmobile forces. Furthermore, if we bunch the army up as you suggest, then it will offer them one massive target for their air force to pummel us night and day. No, we will disperse the Army throughout the country, with all the territorial brigades at their home bases. This way, even if Baghdad were to fall, the greatest part of Iraq will remain unconquered. We will fight them here, to be sure, and with our three best divisions, but if we fail, there will be many bastions of defense remaining in all our cities. This is the way we will fight. The Americans call it Distributed Lethality.”
“Military jargon,” said General Bakir. “I call it dispersion, lack of concentration. You will end up giving them the chance to destroy our best troops if we fight this way, and what will the rest do when they see them beaten?”
“Perhaps, but if we cannot save Baghdad, then all surviving forces here will simply withdraw to the next bastion city. It will be up to you, General, to preserve these good divisions, and keep them from destruction. We must hold the north! That is the heart of our Baath Party power base. So if we must yield Baghdad, then we will fall back on Samarra and Tikrit.”
“Look here,” the General pointed at the map. “The first contact will be along the upper Euphrates, and certainly at Ramadi. If they take that city, then they could swing to the north of Fallujah through the Ramadi Gap. Do not forget those airmobile forces you mentioned a moment ago. They will look to seize good air bases for further operations in theater. Suppose they strike at Al Muthana here, or at Balad here.” His thick finger moved around the map, pointing out those bases. “That would prevent any withdrawal north to Tikrit as you advise.”
“Then I will post a full brigade of the Qusay Division here, at Al Taji north of Baghdad. They will be able to move north to those airfields if they are threatened. So if they storm the capital, then we fall back on Tikrit, and certainly Baqubah. If they come here, and take Baghdad, they will think they have defeated us, but will just look up and see we still control 90% of the country. You see? They will never defeat us.”