Stalemate.
We were a short drive southwest of Mosul.
Two problems.
Problem one: There were a bunch of little towns southwest of Mosul. I wasn't worried about them being heavily defended or even a bunch of Javelins. I was worried about them telling the Iraqis we were coming. And there was fuck all I could do about it.
Problem Two: There was at least another full brigade of armor pushing in on Mosul. They weren't great, but it was a brigade of armor. We had, at max, the makings of a company with the Abrams I'd kept. Think outnumbered ten to one.
The Kurds weren't going to be much help. They were raid fighters. Hit hard and run. In fact, the Parthians (Persians) were the guys who gave us the term "Parthian Shot." That is, hit somebody, run away and keep shooting at them as you run away. (Very difficult to do with a bow over your shoulder on a running horse by the way.) Getting the last word in as you leave the room is a Parthian Shot not a Parting Shot. (Yeah, I know, how many pet peeves . . . )
Anyway, the idea being to get them to chase you. Then you flank them and roll them up.
Hmmm . . .
They're going to get word we're coming . . .
People, it is not the "Centurion Maneuver." It's not even a "Parthian" maneuver. They got it from the Ugyar (Mongols) and it was probably used way back when by the Scythians. It's been used by every mobile force in history at one time or another. It was used by Native Americans and Colonial forces. (Battle of Yorktown.) It's not new.
Doesn't mean I'm not proud of how we used it.
The road southwest out of Mosul crosses a tributary of the Tigris near the town of Khuwaitla. Northeast of Khuwaitla, between it and Mosul, is a low ridge.
The tributary was crossable with our bridging equipment, which was still hanging in there.
It started with a thunder run. We got on that road and barreled ass for Mosul. There were some checkpoints set up to control people in the area and some "tax collectors." We fired them up. But I ordered no main guns to be used. I wanted survivors.
Most of us barreled ass down the road. My ten remaining Abrams and four Stryker gun vehicles carrying Javelin teams swung north towards Tall Zallat. They killed anything they saw and drove over the few phone poles to make sure commo was as down as they could make it.
Another Stryker force went south avoiding most of the villages. That was a good share of my available U.S. infantry and, notably, my bridger.
The group on the main road took its time. We even took a couple of breaks away from the villages. The Nepos got out and set up fires. We were in no hurry.
In Khuwaitla we stopped, again. This time we did a full commo shut-down. And I dropped Jav teams in houses along the northeast side. Those were all Nepos. We'd given them the best training we could on the Javs. Javs are not that hard to use and they took to it like ducks to water. They could see all the way to the ridge and could engage at least half that distance. They had lots of Javs, too. I also left my LOG trail.
After Khuwaitla we sped up. Sort of. I got the Scouts well out in advance and we rolled in stately procession down the road.
I had no intel on what was up ahead or what was going to happen until the Kurds called me and said they'd heard from the guys in Mosul that a big tank force was moving out. I wasn't in direct commo with the Mosul guys. I couldn't ask for details even if they could give them. All I got was "many tanks."
Now, I've got about half my Strykers (fully loaded with infantry again) and my bridging equipment to the south. I've got my tanks to the north. It's a fraction of the total unit, mostly Strykers crewed by Nepos and with barely crews for that, rolling down the road. Exept for about half the Scouts who are barrel assing for the ridge.
They get to the ridge. Every fucking tank on the planet is headed their way. The road from Mosul is "packed with armored vehicles as well as a long column of trucks."
They back up and unass some of their dismounts. With Javelins. They fire up the approaching tanks.
Now, a Javelin has a long damned range for an infantry anti-tank rocket. Two klicks by the book, two and a half in normal conditions and sometimes something like three or so. (There's a trick to that.)
An Abrams, which we'd given these fuckers, has four klicks of range. And it can fire while in movement.
Which the Iraqis did. Badly. They fired at our Scout vehicles and missed. They fired at the Jav teams, who were up in a pass and moving after each shot, and missed.
But as they got closer, the gunnery improved. The Scout vehicles went behind the pass. The Jav teams continued to fire them up.
We counted four trucks, two Bradleys and nine Abrams burning on the road to Mosul east of Centurion Ridge. They did a damned good job, all things considered.
One thing they did was piss them off. The Abrams and Brads could outrun just about anything else. They sped up on the road, getting strung out in a long line. (I found out later that was against orders. Good thing the commander, who was a pretty good guy, didn't have really effective control.)
When they got to within a kilometer, the Scouts pulled out. That was the sucky time.
We were cruising along halfway between Khuwaitla and the ridge when the Scouts pulled out and ran. Right after them came first one Abrams then two then nine then . . .
In all, there were forty Abrams tanks, nine Paladins and sixty-three Bradleys. There was also a convoy of trucks filled with a shit-pot of infantry, many carrying Javelins.
My "main" force was caught on a flat open plain with the enemy on a ridge overlooking us and with superior firepower and range.
I had them right where I wanted them.
I put out dismounts and had them open up with Javelins as the Strykers spread out and opened fire. It was a pointless exercise. Except for keeping the Strykers moving. The enemy wasn't unloading to use Javs. And tank rounds do not track. They fired at the Strykers, the Strykers ran around in circles. We lost one Stryker to tank fire. We should have lost them all. To an American unit we would have lost them all.
The tanks and whatnot were slowing down as they came across the ridge. That was backing them up. I couldn't have that. If I'd had decent artillery, sure. They'd have been dead-meat. But I needed them to attack.
We turned back around and picked up the infantry dismounts. They'd shot out their Javs anyway. More smoking vehicles.
We ran like hell as the Scouts finally passed us. We'd dropped the dismounts down the road and now weaved to pick them up. They were continuing to take the enemy under fire the whole way.
We ran into Khuwaitla. We ran through Khuwaitla. Then we turned back around and drove into buildings, only the 25mm cannons of the Strykers sticking out.
Khuwaitla had a mosque. Just about every little town did. This one had minarets, those towers where the muzzarein call the faithful to prayer.
They make dandy viewing points.