Fierce warriors when they were on the move, the Marines were hitting Iraqi motorized rifle troops and the Andan Republican Guards Division in the oil fields, and hitting them hard. Every attack they made shattered Iraqi company defenses and sent platoons retreating to the rear. Not even the Andan 12th Motor Rifle Regiment could hold its positions. It was the first time the entire Marine division had fought a major battle since WWII, and the men knew they were writing new history with every forward step they took, so it was a no holds barred fight.
The 1st Regiment had been mechanized, so it had a lot of Bradley AFV’s in the mix and some supporting Abrams tanks. The other two regiments of the division were motorized in trucks with lighter AFV support. 5th Marine Regiment was just west of the 1st Regiment, and they were advancing on the Tuba Oil Fields to put 6 billion barrels in the bank. On their left, 7th Marine Regiment was sweeping through the South Rumailah Fields. The Leathernecks were sweeping forward with any AFV’s in the company providing the close fire support. Eight or ten Iraqi tanks were encountered, and they were work for the Javelin teams, or the legions of Apache AH-64’s that were haunting the sky like unseen banshees.
Two thirds of all the helicopters the US brought to the fight were here in the south. The 82nd Airborne had a full aviation brigade, and in this organization of the Big Red 1, there were two Armored infantry brigades and an aviation brigade. That saw nearly 100 attack helicopters in the south, with scores of Blackhawks to move the 82nd Airborne troops wherever they were needed.
Just west of the Marines, the Saudi King Khalild Armored Brigade was manned with men who could smell all that oil in the ground, having had long experience in their own country. Now they were excited to be turning the tables on their Iraqi tormentors. On their right, all the US heavy metal was sweeping northeast through the desert, their first objective being the “liberation” of the Ratawi Oil Field. Long columns of tanks and APC’s were leaving trails of dust behind them, the telltale signs Rommel would look for in his desert wars.
That wide envelopment was being made by the reinforced 1st Infantry Division, where 3rd BCT of 1st Armored Cav was attached and leading the way. It was 95% of all the tanks and Bradley AFV’s in the south, as both brigades of the Big Red 1 were Armored BCT’s using the new Combined Arms Battalion structure. Each had four companies, two with mechanized infantry, and two with 14 M1A2 tanks each. That put 168 tanks in the field plus 70 more in 3rd BCT, 1st Cav, and thus far, they had encountered very little in the way of Iraqi armor.
The movement was basically a replay of the earlier Operation Clipper that had bagged five Iraqi Brigades and the Al Faw Republican Guard Division in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Determined not to repeat that disaster and lose all that remained of his army, General Ayad was ordering his troops to fall back towards Basrah. There was simply no way they could effectively defend those southern oil fields against the heavy Coalition forces now on the move.
Rumailah North was a particularly vulnerable spot, as marsh lined canals and lakes bordered that area to the north and west. There was one bridge over the canal near a section of oil tanks and two pumping substations, and that led the bulk of the motor rifle battalions north into the coveted Al Qurna Oil Field. Below that, and screening the city of As Zubayr, the Iraqi 11th Mech Brigade of the Andan Republican Guard consolidated in the Tuba Oil Fields, hoping to make a stand there.
The US 5th and 7th Marine Regiments moved up to front that line, preparing for a two regiment assault at noon on the 22nd of January. The big mechanized pincer would sweep the Ratawi and Rumalia North fields, then execute a bridging operation on the canal screening the West Qurna Field. In that they were already being aided by the intrepid 82nd Airborne, which leapt over the canal with two brigades in helicopters landing to secure a bridgehead. There were only a few sites suitable for bridging where the ground wasn’t too marshy on either side of the canal, and their engineers threw up one bridge that night, which allowed the Recon Squadron of 1st ABCT to cross just before sunrise. There they would soon have their eyes on the prize—West Qurna, with 15 billion barrels in proven reserves.
There were now four motor rifle battalions forming a rudimentary defense on the southern edge of that field, and they included a few companies of special forces. These were strengthened with the arrival of a battalion of tanks from the Iraqi 10th Armored Brigade, 30 Type 85-II Chinese built tanks in all, a model that was basically the Chinese copy of the Soviet T-72.
The Recon Squadron that had crossed into the 82nd bridgehead now moved rapidly forward to engage the enemy line at the edge of the oil fields, while 3/66th ABCT Battalion raced east along the north bank of the canal towards the only fixed bridge. Just as the Iron Rangers of the 1/16th ABCT pushed up to that bridge from the south, it was blown by Iraqi special forces. Now the arrival of 3/66th would fight to clear the north side of that bridge so the engineers could get in from the south and rebuild or repair that span. In the meantime, the US artillery was raining down on Iraqi positions north of the canal sending up dark plumes of smoke and sand that were soon twisted into smoke devils by the rising wind.
Everywhere, the smell of diesel and burning oil mixed with cordite and gunpowder, and it was the aroma of battle that would never be forgotten by any man who fought this oil war. Realizing what was now on the table, the Iraqis committed the other two battalions of their 10th Armored Brigade, their last armored reserve in the south. It began rolling in to the West Qurna Fields at 15:00, past the gaunt silent metal rigs and scattered drilling equipment and pipe stands. The decision had been made to send it there, while Qusay Hussein was on the telephone from his new roost in Tikrit, haranguing the Chinese in Beijing to get them to commit forces they had sent to Iran.
There, on the border south of Ahvaz, the Chinese 13th Army was assembling. Their 37th Motor Rifle Division was on the Iraqi frontier near Amara, reinforced by the 17th Armored Brigade with 81 Type 99 Tanks. The 37th Division had been scheduled to restructure as independent combined arms brigades, but when the Siberian war came, it remained a three brigade motorized infantry division. At Ahvaz itself, the Chinese 149th Motor Rifle Division could be quickly sent to Abadan or Basrah as a defensive formation.
But the Chinese were hesitating….
Committing either part of that force would put it right in the middle of a ground war, on foreign soil, with the United States. This army, and the 21st Army further north at Kermanshah, were now thousands of miles from the Chinese mainland. If they entered the war on the ground in Iraq, it would be a come as you are party, because that 2000 mile supply line from the Iraqi border to Xinjiang Province in northwest China was, to the say the least, overstretched. The movement of those troops had been a political move as much as a military one, meant to show their resolve to the West and throw down a proverbial gauntlet. Yet now the United States was poised to enter and seize the West Qurna Fields, where China had lucrative development contracts, and something had to be done….
Chapter 23
By sunset on the 22nd the crushing battle for the Tuba Fields had become a grinding chaos in the darkness. The Marines were advancing with night vision, sending tracer rounds like hot lead through the darkness. In places oil flare pipes were burning like vents from hell, and dark acrid smoke hung over the scene. Artillery fire directed at the regimental level plowed into the ground. Though they avoided any operational rig or well site, several pipelines were blasted open and began leaking dark crude. In places this caught fire, and silhouetted infantry on both sides, painting a macabre landscape that seemed to be writhing with demons on the oily field. The Andan Division was slowly being ground down, and in serious danger of being pocketed on that nightmarish battleground.