21 years ago tonight
February 26, 1991 was the date of what has been called “the last great tank battle of the twentieth century”. It’s been known as the Battle of 73 Easting, for us in the 1st Battalion/41st Infantry it was Objective Norfolk. The actual battle began in the late afternoon by the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment when they made contact with elements of Iraqi Republican Guard and and an Armored Division and systematically reduced the units to scrap heaps before we arrived on the scene at about 2 am when we passed through their forward lines and picked up the battle.
There was a bit of confusion at our entrance into the battle which resulted in B Co. 1/41 losing a platoon (3 of their 4 Bradleys) to M1A1 fire. Like I said earlier in the month, 1/41st had the highest casualty rate of any infantry unit in the war because both sides were shooting at us, the price we paid for being in the lead.
Many Iraqi tank crews had turned their engines off to let their vehicles cool down in the night air which confounded our thermal optics and led to a 360 degree battle as we passed tanks we thought had been defeated by the 2nd ACR. The battle lasted until sun up.
The last shot was fired by COB6 when he launched a TOW missile into a T55 Iraqi tank. In the end, US 1st infantry Division had destroyed the 18th Mechanized Brigade and 37th Armored Brigade of the Tawakalna Division.
The Iraqis stood their ground at Norfolk which gave other Iraqi units time to escape from Kuwait, but at a terrible cost to the Iraqi army which lost hundreds of tanks and thousands of soldiers in the twelve hour engagement.
Category: Historical
Since you guys were there, are there any good books on the battle?
Spade, the only book I read on the battle was Tom Clancy’s “Into the Storm” which was taken word for word from our unit history, so it’s mostly fiction. Our unit history was written by a guy who wasn’t with us most of the war and taken from interviews with HQ POGs. So you get stories like the one of a sergeant major who took out a T55 with his 9mm, and the SFC who had his eye scratched by an RPG fin as it flew over his turret (I don’t explain ’em, I only recount ’em).
They’re showing a documentary of the battle right now on the Military Channel. It just started at 5:00 PM (PST).
Spade, the documentary MMX0311 is talking about is a good one. They show it a couple times a year….
Yep. Remember well when all that went down. Not there, but fairly close by. We had some C-130’s which carried many of you in. Thanks for sending them back “home” just dusty and smoky!
And IIRC…I w
Damn fat fingers. I was underway somewhere in the northern Pacific. No trade.
I was about to turn three when this went down. My earliest memory was watching M1 Abram’s rolling over dunes during desert storm on CNN. So I suppose it was appropriate that I went there to. Much respect to those who went before though.
This is not the turkey shoot at the end when they were retreating north to Basra, is it?
“Warrior’s Rage” by Douglas Macgregor. Naval Institute Press 2009. IIRC, he was S3 of 2/2.
It’s a book flawed by the huge amount of anger he seems to still have for a lot of his senior leadership. It would be a LOT better book if he’d tried to understand their position and what they were thinking, as his portrayal of them is almost comic book level. But still worth reading.
February seems to be the month for tankers.
Go back another 48 years to February 1943.
Eagle Troop 2/2 CAV “Blue 1” “Toujours Pret”. As for MacGregors book, the Scotsman was certainly a dominant figure and was the de facto commander. I can’t account for his internal dialogue, but to my knowledge the quotes attributed to others are true.
MG (then CPT) McMaster had the foresight to have every trooper write a personal account of the battle. I still have my xeroxed set in my war chest.
Please say a prayer for SGT Nels Moeller, the Gunner on Ghost 16, the only trooper we lost in the Squadron.
Cavalrymen MSH!
Toujours Pret!
I think we expended our basic load of chemlites for the FPOL by 1 ID. Very narrow lane wedged between us and 3rd Squadron to the south. A lot of tanks got double tapped all over the place. You would think they were dead and then the ammo in the open carousel would flame out and if the breach was open it would appear that the tank was engaging, even in the day. Of course then it would blow, launching turrets into the air. And that super sabot in some cases pushed the T-72 engine blocks 10 meters or more behind the tanks.
When Easting went down, I’m pretty sure my unit had just finished conducting the biggest, baddest, most awesomest air assault in Army history……to seize a big empty stretch of Iraq scrubland. Man, how they pumped us up on the PZ….what a let down….
I’ve always used “Norfolk” as a teaching point for people who incessantly bitch about ROE. Over restrictive ROE is easy to fix, just get yourself into a 360 degree fight and make sure your boss is with you. Don’t think I requested permission to do shit all night.
Old Soldier54 #9 – that was the 24th Infantry Division and two days after the ceasefire at Rumaila. Seymour Hersh called that the “worst war crime since My Lai”, because the Iraqis wouldn’t stop shooting at the 24th, so the 24th plastered them to the desert floor.
Thanks, Jonn. I didn’t think so, but wasn’t sure. They got their just desserts, IMO.
And screw Hersh.
Toujours Pret indeed.
During the mid to late 80s, I was honored that the separate Company I commanded was tied to 2nd ACR’s GDP in VII Corps.
There was not another unit in West Germany I would have rather gone to war with.
With an attached Bn of Bradleys and another Bn of Armor (both out of 3rd ID), the “Dragoon Battlegroup” was large, powerful and capable. The Regimental CO was COL Steele, one of the very few men to command that Regiment (or 11th ACR for that matter) not to see Flag Officer rank.
24th ID’s CG was a Warrior named Barry McCaffrey. The Iraqis engaged, and as Jonn noted, the 24th ID handed them their collective asses.
# 82nd ENG “Blue Babe” by any chance?
Negative…a separate Corps MP Company…the 536th, which no longer exists.
We supported 7th ATC’s DL&O mission at Graf, Hohenfels, Vilseck, and at Bindlach (The Rock) and Amberg.
GDP was with 2nd ACR.
The porcelain plate (St. George-Patron Saint of Cavalry) which the Regt Support Sqdn Cdr presented to me at my change of command ceremony is on my desk as I type this.
Awesome. I have my St Michaelsberg/ Bamberg Rider Beer Stein close at hand. Coburg was our border camp although I’ve been to Hof for the Baron’s golf tournament.