Desert Storm - The Ground War, Days 4 & 5 - The Battle of Medina Ridge and Victory - Animated

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a bonus gift with a huge discount that's coupon code ops room or nordvpn.com ops room as the clock ticks through midnight into day four the us armored divisions continue their advance east pulverizing the tower counter republican guard division with few losses the armoured fist punch that began with the battle of 73 eastern yesterday has broadened into the battle of norfolk overnight with hundreds of iraqi tanks destroyed over the hours of the early morning the american tanks continued the tactic employed thus far to use their superior range against the iraqi t-72s to keep them at arm's length while destroying them a brigade of the adnan republican guard division of motorized infantry moves south against the u.s first armored division overnight and wounds 23 american soldiers with artillery fire the adnan are motorized and fast moving as their vehicles are mostly made up of trucks and light armor they are attacking to slow the first armored division's advance to give their comrades in the medina republican guard division to the east more time to set up defensive positions the u.s mlrs batteries launch a devastating counter-attack of cluster bomblets in return throughout the night using their night vision optics an entire battalion of apache attack helicopters and air force a-10s move in and reign hell on the adnan division from above within a few hours their resistance has ceased and the hastily organized adnan division dissipates into the night with those unable to escape surrendering behind the republican guard the coalition air forces continue to hammer iraqi commandeered vehicles retreating from the kuwait theatre along what would become known as the highway of death throughout days 3 and 4 the iraqis have been setting fire to the kuwaiti oil wells as they retreat the burning oil causes a massive environmental disaster in the area despite the iraqis believing that the rugged terrain south of the euphrates valley is too difficult for an armored division to negotiate the 24th infantry division reached their objective securing highway 8 east of where the 101st had done so a couple of days earlier they blockade the highway destroying over 100 vehicles retreating westwards with tank and toe fire bedouin nomads watching from atop a nearby ridgeline politely applaud as tank rounds hit their targets despite being slow out of the blocks the egyptian saudi syrian and kuwaiti armoured divisions of joint forces command north have carefully advanced into kuwait against concentrated iraqi defenses they have successfully destroyed multiple iraqi frontline divisions and advanced northeast towards kuwait city itself the arab forces of joint forces command east also advance towards the city the first marine division sets its sights on the kuwait city international airport and the second marine division moves towards the west side of the city to cut off any vehicles still retreating as the sun rises at six am the first marine division's task forces shepard and papa bear who had held off a fierce iraqi counter-attack two days earlier breach the airfield perimeter and advance across the runways towards what's left of the hangars the fight that they have planned for never materializes u.s battleship gunfire bombardment and airstrikes have reduced the airport to ruins and the area is deserted of iraqis a u.s and a kuwaiti flag are raised over the airport but after consideration of political etiquette the u.s flag is lowered demonstrating excellent political awareness general schwarzkopf orders all u.s marines to halt their advance into kuwait city itself he knows how important it is to the people that kuwaiti forces advance into and liberate their own capital at 9 00 am kuwaiti troops enter the suburbs of their beloved city with the liberation of kuwait city in sight the other coalition war goal to eliminate the republican guard as an effective fighting force in the region is ongoing with the battle for objective norfolk ongoing to their south at just after midday the second brigade of the us first armored division edged forward in the haze towards the medina republican guard division with the tower counter nearly finished off and the adnan republican guard division swept aside earlier the medina division are now the last organized force to stand up to american armor behind the medina lie seven iraqi logistics sites for the kuwaiti theater to the rear and left of the us first armor division is the third armoured cavalry regiment of 18 corps trying to catch them up on the outside with the 24th infantry division poor positional coordination between 7 and 18 corps results in gunners from the third armored cavalry mistaking the rear of first armoured for iraqis a brief friendly fire incident results in one american killed with ongoing airstrikes harassing them the medina have been slow and disorganized in arranging their defensive line some units are still pointing southwest expecting a coalition thrust from the area of the ongoing battle of norfolk in that direction as the 348 abrams tanks of the first armored division approach from the west the iraqi troops are using the false safety of overcast rainy weather to eat a lunch of rice and tomatoes with a distinct lack of onions outside of their vehicles in a similar tactics to the tawakawana division yesterday the medina's tanks are waiting on the other side of a small hill ready to hit american tanks as they crest it but they've made a critical error they have failed to verify their exact distance to the crest of the hill and are entrenched out of range of it with their t-72s as the american tanks in the center and left flank crest the hill their commanders begin to pick out targets through their thermal imaging sensors in the merck at 12 17 pm the first rounds rip into the unsuspecting iraqi t-72s the american commanders calculate that they are beyond the range of the enemy tanks and so halt on the high ground the iraqis scrambling into their tanks helplessly returned fire at the muzzle flashes in the miss their rounds falling short of the american line for the next 40 minutes the engaged elements of the first armored division simply sit there picking off iraqi tanks and armoured vehicles with impunity the iraqis desperately call in artillery support but the rounds fall behind the front line of abram's tanks without any real way of knowing where the rounds are landing the artillery continues without correction and misses the 75th field artillery brigade and the 1st and 25th field artillery regiments respond using artillery acquisition radars the us artillery is able to detect the firing of an iraqi artillery piece pinpoint its exact position and return counter artillery fire on it before the iraqi round has even landed within just a few minutes two entire artillery battalions of the medina division have been wiped out and the us artillery can focus its attention on the iraqi armor to their north the 24th infantry division began a similar attack on the jabar and talil air bases defended by the significantly weakened but spirited nebuchadnezzar republican guard division 40 minutes after the battle began the medina's right flank has been completely destroyed and the right flank of the american force is just beginning to smash into the medina's left in this sector many iraqi tanks are pointing southwest the nearest tanks are destroyed before they can even rotate their turrets towards the americans those that do fire back find that they are again outraged scrambled air power is now arriving to expedite the destruction apache attack helicopters come to hover just behind the front line of abrams and bradleys they launch hellfire missiles over the heads of their comrades into the enemy a-10s also arrive overhead and pummel iraqi vehicles just outside the range of the ground forces in the midst of the carnage general franks commander of sevencore flies to visit major general griffith commander of the first armored division however the pilots of his helicopter get lost and they fly over the iraqi line his helicopter flies from the iraqi lines towards the us line with his blackhawk equipped with stub wings and external fuel tanks in the mist they could easily have been mistaken for a similar looking iraqi mi24 attack helicopter it's a miracle that neither iraqi nor american air defenses opened fire on him the battle would become known as the battle of medina ridge it lasts just two hours during which 186 iraqi tanks and 172 armoured vehicles are destroyed four american abrams tanks are lost after action reports conclude most likely to iraqi tank fire but that friendly fire by the apaches can't be ruled out after the war colonel montgomery mages the commander of the second brigade of the first armored division would pay tribute to the bravery of the medina republican guard division these guys stayed and fought he said in the afternoon of day four both the tawakawna and medina republican guard divisions are now effectively destroyed the adnan nebuchadnezzar and al-4 infantry divisions are routed and retreating the avenue to the coast is now open and the race is on to cut off these three divisions and the hammurabi armoured division before they can make their escape north of the euphrates airstrikes involving a-10s and four apache battalions of the 101st airborne are directed against all of them to try to slow down their retreat until 7 and 18 corps now struggling for fuel with a very long supply routes from saudi arabia can arrive to destroy them the bombing and killing is merciless on the retreating and disorganized iraqi forces both in eastern iraq and at the highway of death general schwarzkopf and president bush in washington agree that to continue the killing for the sake of killing risks the coalition losing moral authority on the world stage not to mention the psychological effects on their troops in the merciless killing of those who can no longer fight back they begin to discuss and prepare for a ceasefire in the meantime seven and 18 corps continue to chase east towards the coast attempting to envelop enemy divisions further south having completed their objectives ahead of schedule in the afternoon seven call commander general franks had planned for the british first armored division to head north east into the area of the fleeing republican guard but after another friendly fire incident this morning where gunners from the queen's royal irish hussars were wounded by tank shells of the us first infantry division he makes a political call more british troops have regrettably now been killed and wounded by us friendly fire than by iraqis and parading the british first armoured in front of the exhausted first infantry division is likely to result in further tragedy accepting a change in orders with good humor general rupert smith relays frank's instructions to his troops east and cut off any further retreating iraqis from kuwait city at the coast to the north refusing to once again be shot at by allies the british crews hoist union jacks and regimental colours atop their vehicles like their predecessors in north africa the desert rats rate across the desert thousands of flags fluttering in the wind the us air force is caught off guard for a special mission planned it was their intention to dispatch f-111s to baghdad in a final attempt to kill saddam hussein himself but the war is coming to an end far sooner than anticipated on wednesday afternoon a c-141 delivers a pair of gbu-28 bunker busting bombs which are swiftly loaded onto the aircraft and sent out the gpu-28s have been crash-developed over the last six months the two delivered are still warm to the touch from the molten explosive material pulled in by the armorers in florida just hours earlier at 8pm the two f-111s scream over a bunker complex northwest of baghdad and drop their large bombs the first misses but the second penetrates into the underground bunker system and kills everyone inside it turns out that saddam was not present while the f-111s were on route general schwarzkopf leaves his war room to host a press conference to the world media for the first time he explains the coalition's war strategy and progress up until this moment and reports that the gates are closed to iraqi forces retreating north as the coalition ground forces are still racing east to try to cut them off in time what he means is that he believes that air power alone is slowing the retreat fast enough that seven call will eventually get there in time unfortunately this isn't the case and the adnan nabushad nazar and al4 divisions and the remnants of the medina escape over the euphrates throughout the night seven call continues east into the following morning destroying struggling units seizing logistics areas and rounding up prisoners of war at 8am on the 28th of february 1991 the fifth day of the ground war of desert storm a cessation of hostilities order is sent to all coalition forces the gulf war is over over the coming months after the euphoria of victory wears off questions will be asked about the decision to cease hostility so soon and whether the imagery of the slaughter south of basra and the highway of death would have been worth the strategic war goal of destroying the republican guard for good but the primary war goal for the 35 nations that mobilized against saddam hussein was to rid kuwait of iraqi forces thanks to an elite display of generalship by coalition commander general norman schwarzkopf and the hard work dedication bravery and sacrifice of the armed forces that stood together the kuwaiti flag rightly flies over kuwait city you

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 1,983,045

Keywords: Time-Lapse, History, Documentary, aircraft, time lapse, animated, war, desert storm, operation desert storm, gulf war, iraq, kuwait, usaf, us air force, saddam hussein, abrams, abrams tank, challenger tank, us army, us marines, artillery, howitzer, a10 warthog, a10 thunderbolt, a10, republican guard, battle of 73 easting, tank battle, battle of medina ridge

Id: WgeqweUvD8U

Length: 15min 53sec (953 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 12 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Nukdae]

great video, thanks for sharing!