|
The Battle of 73 Easting was a decisive tank battle fought on 26 February 1991, during the Gulf War, between United States armored forces of the 7th Corps and those of the Iraqi Republican Guard and its Tawakalna Division. It was named for a UTM north-south coordinate line (an "Easting", measured in kilometers and readable on GPS receivers) in the featureless desert that was used as a phase line to measure progress of the offensive. The battle was later described in a documentary of the battle as "the last great tank battle of the 20th century." This battle took place several hours after another key tank battle known as the Battle of Al Busayyah. The main U.S. unit in the battle was the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2nd ACR), a 4,500 man reconnaissance and security element assigned to VII Corps. It consisted of three ground squadrons (1st, 2nd and 3rd), an aviation (attack helicopter) squadron (4th), and a support squadron. Each ground squadron was made up of three cavalry troops, a tank company, a self-propelled howitzer battery, and a headquarters troop. Each troop comprised 120 soldiers, 12-13 M3 Bradley fighting vehicles and nine M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Briefing, Battle of 73 Easting )〕 Task Force 1-41 Infantry performed counter reconnaissance missions prior to the 2nd ACR's actions. This generally includes destroying or repelling the Iraqi's reconnaissance elements and denying their commander any observation of friendly forces. The corps' main body consisted of the American 3rd Armored Division (3rd AD) and 1st Infantry Division (1st ID) and 2nd Armored Division (Forward) and 1st Armored Division (1st AD), and the British 1st Armoured Division (1 AD). The job of the 2nd ACR was to advance east as a forward scouting element, led by cavalry scouts in M2A3 Bradleys with highly advanced thermals to detect enemy positions. Following closely behind were M1A1 Abrams tanks covering them from the rear, ready at a moment's notice to move forward and engage the enemy. Originally advancing ahead of the 3rd Armored Division until late on February 25th, they would shift to the east and be ahead of the advancing 1st Infantry Division as it moved north from its initial objectives. The Regiment's mission was to strip away enemy security forces, clear the way of significant defenses and locate the Republican Guard's defensive positions so they could be engaged by the full weight of the armored forces and artillery of the 1st Infantry Division . On the night of 23/24 February, in accordance with General Norman Schwarzkopf's plan for the ground assault called "Operation Desert Sabre", VII Corps raced east from Saudi Arabia into Iraq in a maneuver later nicknamed the "Hail Mary." The Corps had two goals: to cut off Iraqi retreat from Kuwait, and to destroy five Republican Guard divisions near the Iraq-Kuwait border that might attack the Arab and Marine units moving into Kuwait to the south. Initial Iraqi resistance was light and scattered and the 2nd ACR fought only minor engagements until 25 February. The primary battle was conducted by 2nd ACR's three squadrons of about 4000 soldiers, along with the 1st Infantry Division's two leading brigades, who attacked and destroyed the Iraqi 18th Mechanized Brigade and 37th Armored Brigade of the Tawakalna Division, each consisting of between 2,500 to 3,000 personnel.〔 ==Plan== The 2nd ACR was to advance east, locate and engage the enemy and determine his dispositions and then allow the mechanized brigades of the 1st ID to pass through to finish destroying the Iraqis. The 2nd ACR's limit of advance changed during the operation. VII Corps Fragmentary Plan Seven, issued during the night of February 25–26, made the 60 Easting the Regiment's initial limit of advance. After 2ACR made contact with the Republican Guard's security zone, Corps changed the limit to the 70 Easting. Along that line, the 1st ID would pass through the Regiment and push on to objectives further east. Lieutenant General Frederick M. Franks, Jr., the commander of the VII Corps , ordered Colonel Don Holder, the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment commander, to locate the enemy and to avoid becoming decisively engaged.〔Atkinson, Rick (1993). ''Crusade, The untold story of the Persian Gulf War.'' Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 978-0-395-60290-4〕 The Regiment had its three armored cavalry squadrons operating on line with Second Squadron in the north, Third Squadron in the center and First Squadron in the south. The Fourth Squadron (the combat aviation squadron) flew reconnaissance and attack missions chiefly in the northern and central zones. Unusually for a corps covering force, the Regiment lacked a reserve tank or mechanized infantry battalion. Weather restricted flight operations severely, however, and kept Fourth Squadron grounded for about half of the daylight hours. Moving through the Republican Guards' security area on the morning of the 26th, the Regiment encountered Iraq's heavily armored Tawakalna Division 〔(Tawakalna Division )〕 in the north and the 12th Iraqi Armored Division in the center and south. All Iraqi units occupied well-constructed defensive emplacements and had prepared alternate positions which enabled them to reorient to the west to face VII Corps’s attack. The 12th Armored Division's assignment to the Republican Guard was not known at the time of the engagement.〔Michael D. Krause, “The Battle of 73 Easting, 26 February 1991”, A Joint Center of Military History and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Project, 24 May 1991〕 Despite extensive aerial and artillery bombardment by U.S. forces, most Iraqi units defending along the 70 Easting remained effective. The Regiment employed artillery fire from the supporting 210th Field Artillery Brigade, C Battery 4th 27th FA MLRS, air strikes, and attack helicopters (both Apaches of 2-1 Aviation and Cobras of Fourth Squadron) against the Republican Guard units as the armored cavalry squadrons moved east through the security zone. Sandstorms slowed this movement throughout the day, restricting visibility to as little as . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of 73 Easting」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|