“We certainly did,” said Fedorov. “Perhaps more than we know right now.”
It was another of those ominous statements Fedorov would often make, and it was quite true.
Part VIII
Intervention
“Providence is always on the side of the last reserve.”
Chapter 22
As darkness folded itself over the deserts of Southern Iraq, the 1st Marine Division was revving up to make its push north from the Kuwaiti border. The official “invasion” of the country had begun earlier that day for them, when 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment cleared the port of Umm Qasr. The rest of the division was lined up to cross the frontier after sunset and by 20:00, they were pushing north.
On their left, 3rd BCT of the US 1st Armored Cav Division and the King Khalid Armored Brigade swept through the southern reaches of the vast Rumailah Oil field. Behind them came 1st and 2nd Armored BCTs of the Big Red 1, which had pushed rapidly north through the open desert that day.
The entire region was replete with oil. The troops of the 82nd Airborne Division, which had air lifted the previous day to cut both Highway 1 and 8 were now securing the smaller outlying Suba Field. Directly east of their position was the Ratawi Field with 10 billion barrels in reserves, then came Rumailah North, with another 10 billion barrels, and Rumailah South with 8 billion more. Behind the long 40 kilometer reaches of those fields, the Tuba Field held another 6 billion barrels and then the Zubayr Field further west had 4.5 billion more totaling over 38 billion Barrels of oil in the ground. The less developed reserves north of Basrah at Qurna, Majnoon, and Narh Umr held about the same amount, some 34.6 billion barrels. Taken together, that amounted to 75 billion barrels of oil, and that was what this war was really all about.
Iraq and Iran had thought to enlarge their hold on the world’s oil by seizing Burgan in Kuwait and Ghawar in Saudi Arabia two supergiant fields that were the heart of Saudi and Kuwaiti production for decades. Now they were fighting simply to save their own oil from the avenging angels of the West.
It was the sweeping envelopment made by the US mobile brigades that was unhinging the Iraqi defense further east and south. If those troops did not retreat, they risked being cut off in a pocket, with their backs to the big water obstacle of the Shatt al Basrah, and the wetlands behind it. Tactically, all the ground south of Basrah itself was largely indefensible against a move like this, particularly when it was executed by well trained and superbly armed troops like 1st Infantry Division.
The Iraqi General Ayad in command of what was left of the old 1st Army could see his plight clearly enough. Once the frontier defense line had been breached and enveloped as it was, his only sound move would be to order an immediate retreat north to the line of the Shatt Al Arab. This was the swollen watercourse that carried all the waters of both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers after they met at Al Qurna. From there the Shatt flowed southeast, bending around Iraq’s second most populous city at Basrah and then flowed on through Khorramshahr and finally Abadan before it wound its way to the Persian Gulf at the oil terminal Port Fao.
That line was defensible, particularly because his own forces would be strongly supported by Iranian troops and Revolutionary Guard units. So as the Americans pushed, the Iraqis withdrew to escape that pocket, racing north in a mad rush through the night. Coalition air strikes found prime targets like columns of towed artillery, their bombs arcing down, guided by the infrared sensors that could see the warm columns glowing on their screens.
As his forces pull out to the north, General Ayad knew his position would strengthen with time when the front compressed. His only concern was Basrah itself, which was all mostly south of the Shatt al Arab. Qusay Hussein had sent him a direct order that the city should be held, and that any further movement by Coalition forces towards Al Qurna had to be stopped.
Thankfully, the terrain on the battlefield itself would heavily favor the defense. The most prominent obstacle was the wetland area known as the Mesopotamian Marshes, largely impassable to tanks and APCs or other vehicles. Extending from Basrah nearly all the way to Nasiriyah, these wetlands made the wide enveloping moves made thus far impossible. There were only a few areas where dry and firm land permitted them to be penetrated, and those would become bottlenecks or choke points favoring the defense.
As it approached Basrah, the Coalition would gain control of the existing production fields of Rumailah, but the two great untapped oil fields further north, West Qurna and Majnoon, would be difficult prizes to obtain. Above Al Qurna, the “Glory River” had once been a wide oblong shaped man-made channel filled with water from the marshlands and running north from that city for 50 kilometers before angling sharply northwest to completely screen Al Amara. Like a castle wall made of water, it was created during the fighting between Iran and Iraq before those countries reached an accord, and it was a natural barrier shielding the Majnoon Oil Fields. In recent years much of that had been drained, and a small canal now marked its western edge.
Any way you looked at it, the Generals on the US side were looking at the maps and scratching their heads, and many of the planners wondered if the mission to secure those last two fields ought to be abandoned. The Iraqi Foreign Minister was already promising the proverbial “Mother of all Battles” should Coalition forces enter Baghdad. Now they promised the same in the south, and they would not be alone.
US intelligence had noted the movement of Chinese military forces through Iran. A main line from Tehran ran south through the mountainous country to Ahvaz and then on to Abadan and Port Imam Khomeini on the upper Persian Gulf. That rail was a major artery allowing Iran to move reinforcements into the region, and that included elements of the Chinese 13th and 21st Armies.
“Gentlemen, If the Chinese move one or both those armies to Ahvaz or Al Amara, then we have a completely different ballgame here. At present, the political leadership has not authorized strategic bombing of Iran to interdict these rail lines. So it’s a question of when, not if, we may be face to face with the Chinese Army in this thing. I don’t have to tell you that will increase the stakes in this war, and ratchet up the tension another few notches. In that instance, politics may take the field here as well. Until that happens, we continue on our objectives, and if we can get them first, all the better. The question then is whether and how long we can hold them….”
The road north from Kuwait was trailblazed by 1st Recon Squadron, USMC, and it was Oscar Mike.[7] They had passed through a region of gas tanks and pipelines, finally reaching and occupying a pumping substation near the Saddah Marshland. All was quiet on the road as it bypassed that substation to the left, but when they reached the settlement of Khor al Zubayr, small arms and RPG fire came at them thick and heavy.
About 18 miles south of the main city of Zubayr, the Iranian 45th Takavar had prepared blocking positions there on the main road, so the Light Troops called up the heavier companies to join the fight. It was the first action in a series of engagements that would light up the desert that night. Soon the battle would extend a full 50 kilometers to the west, reaching from the marshland all the way to the South Rumailah Oil Field. That line was held by the entire 1st Marine Division, and it intended to sweep right through the South Rumailah field and reach Highway 8 that day.
7
This is the unit featured in the excellent “Generation Kill” miniseries on the Iraq war.