Operation Iraqi Freedom - The Invasion Begins - Animated

[Music] six shanuk transport helicopters start their engines at Al Jaffer Airbase in Jordan 60 men of D Squadron 22 regiment SAS jump to their feet and run to the waiting Shooks through the swirling dust kicked up by the spinning rotors the SAS operators bought their transports and Captain Jim Watkins settled in for a long flight ahead he can still taste the port from his troops good luck toast the shinuk lift off into the night sky and proceed across the Jordanian desert in three waves their target is a suspected chemical plant and scud missile site in the Iraqi town of Alim the date is the 17th of March 2003 they are taking part in operation Row in 2 days the invasion of Iraq will begin the culmination of more than a decade of hostility ities with Saddam Hussein but first a quick word from this week's sponsor War Thunder a free-to-play military vehicle online combat game take command of a vast Fleet of more than 2,000 historically accurate playable tanks aircraft helicopters and ships spanning over 100 Years of development from the 1920s to the present day in exciting combat arms battles enjoy great 4K Graphics authentic sound effects with realistic physics and dynamic damage models instead of General hit points Vehicles suffer damage to their components that affect their fighting ability my favorite vehicle is the Desert Storm Challenger 1 tank with the longest tank kill in history she's a beast follow my link to download and play War Thunder for free with nothing more than a mouse and keyboard on PC or controller on PS5 and Xbox series X and S or the previous console generation for a limited time only new players across all platforms as well as those that haven't played for at least 6 months can claim a large Bonus Pack including multiple premium vehicles premium account an exclusive 3D decorator for your vehicles and more Saddam Hussein has been clinging to power after his defeat in the 1991 Gulf War and his nation has become a global Pariah it is believes that Sadam is harboring militant enemies of the West within his nation and it is publicly claimed by some that he still maintains the ability to deploy supposed weapons of mass destruction today of course we now know how reliable these claims were Sadam has continued to act defiantly despite his precarious position cheering recent attacks and often barring wmd inspectors from Iraq US President George W bush decides that now is the moment to rid the Middle East of Saddam Hussein once and for all he intends to finish what his father started and deposed the Iraqi dictator in a military campaign The Invasion itself is Coden named Cobra 2 a nod to the Normandy Breakout during the second world war but the public name is Operation Iraqi Freedom the objective will be to overthrow Saddam Hussein and install a democracy in Iraq we know today that the justifications made by politicians and government officials for the invasion of Iraq were shall we say less than sound however this series will focus solely on the actions of the young men and women sent to conduct the military campaign to invade Iraq in 2003 operation Iraqi freedom and those Iraqis who defended against it beginning in 2002 the American president sets out to build a coalition to achieve his aim British Prime Minister Tony Blair pledges the UK support but unlike in 1991 Global support for military action is lacking key Partners from Desert storms such as France Spain Egypt and turkey refuse to take part citing a lack of Hard Evidence of wmds and a belief that removing Saddam Hussein will disable stabilized the region the looming invasion is controversial around the world despite an impassioned proar speech by US Secretary of State Colin Powell at the UN regardless Bush and his cabinet have made up their mind to attack by early 2003 and another Desert Shield style buildup begins in the Middle East commander of United States Central Command General Tommy Franks has stepped into the shoes of his Gulf War predecessor Norman Schwarz kov and will conduct the coming operation his staff promised that the plan will inspire shock and awe among the Iraqis compelling them to surrender on mass like they did during Desert Storm on the 17th of March President Bush sends an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein leave Iraq with your sons within 48 hours or face severe consequences it is under this cloud of uncertainty that the SAS begins their secretive Mission which takes place 24 hours before Tony Blair will ask the House of Commons to sanction in The Invasion the shano continue to Alim flying low across the barren desert of Western Iraq they are soon overtaken by American ah6 little bird helicopters who move to Rocket and strafe suspected Iraqi positions nearby the little birds are flying low to avoid radar detection the Iraqi Defenders are caught by surprise and offer insignificant resistance enemy machine gun nests Radars and Supply depos are hit hard by quick gun run before the small and Nimble helicopters Escape back into the night sky the SAS men spot the little birds their many gun barrels glowing white hot in the night sky one operator thinks to himself there's no turning back allied forces are now committed having stopped to refuel on Route the first wave of shinuk arrives at the Target area after a 75 M flight from their forward refuel base near the Iraq Jordan border and land at a remote position on on the outskirts of the Iraqi town of al-qaim the helicopters disembark The Operators and Pinky Land Rovers known as desert Patrol vehicles or dpvs the plan is for D Squadron to set up an encampment and awaits the arrival of B Squadron which is driving over land from Jordan in more dpvs together they will assault and destroy the water treatment plant which is also a suspected chemical weapons facility the site was also used to launch scud missiles against Israel during the first Gulf War and could be again intelligence reports that two full regiments of the Republican guard are in the area promising a tough fight ahead Watkins and his team are digging in when a pair of headlights are seen approaching their position the men prepare to fire but the car passes by without spotting the encampment Watkins and his men relax and catch up on sleep they will spend the next day reconing the plant and and waiting for B Squadron to arrive while the SAS are laying low outside of al-qaim the British House of Commons officially approves the invasion of Iraq on the evening of the 18th of March there's still a day before the expiration of President Bush's ultimatum for Saddam Hussein to give up power but the Coalition partners are now past diplomacy various Special Forces teams and the cia's special activities division begin their own infiltrations across the Iraqi border awaiting the beginning of the air offensive a day when they will call in air strikes against key military targets and attempt to Rally Iraqi citizens to the coalition's cause in the evening B Squadron of 22 regiment SAS links up with d Squadron on the outskirts of al-qaim having driven throughout the day without being detected and just after midnight on the 19th of March both squadrons move out to probe the defenses around the water treatment plant they are backed up up by dpvs armed with rocket launchers and a sniper team the SAS squadrons approach the plant's perimeter when they are spotted by an Iraqi Sentry the night sky suddenly lights up with small arms fire as the Republican guard tries to drive the British troops away one of the snipers quickly gets to work seeking out targets with his Barrett 50 caliber rifle however a round from an Iraqi machine gun shatters the barrel and sprays the sniper with metal shatel nonetheless the sniper coolly switches to his sidearm and continues to fire back with such intense Fire coming there way the commanding officer of B Squadron orders a withdrawal back to the encampment one of the dpv crews find themselves pinned down and are forced to abandon their vehicle as the men Sprint through a hail of gunfire to safety the dpv is destroyed by the SAS with an anti-tank rocket before they slip away into the darkness they have suffered only one wounded and no fatalities many republican Guardsmen have been killed but their repulse means the SAS must try to penetrate the chemical plant the following night at 10 p.m. on the 19th of March the commander of combined Air Forces Lieutenant General Buzz Mosley receives orders to launch a short notice air strike within the next 6 hours Mosley is informed that the CIA has located Saddam Hussein and both of his sons with 99.9% certainty at a compound outside of Baghdad known as Dora Farms with Sadam showing no sign of leaving the country President Bush is Keen to decapitate Iraqi leadership right after his ultimatum expires at 4:00 a.m. the following morning Mosley quickly gets to work planning the mission before awaiting final orders from the president and general Franks when night falls B and D squadrons of 22 regiment SAS again attack the suspected chemical facility in alq but once more find that enemy numbers are too great instead they withdraw and are treated to the opening stage of shock and or starting at 9:00 p.m. the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation regiment along with two flights of mh6 Blackhawks armed with Hellfire missiles and 30mm cannons moved to engage Iraqi radar and observation posts along the border with Saudi Arabia Jordan and Kuwait the saw regiment known as the black swarm splits up into four groups each flight consists of two ah6 little birds and an mh6 little bird carrying a thermal imaging system to spot targets an mh-60 Blackhawk equipped with infrared sensors is also operating independently to support the operation also accompanying each flight are two A10 warthogs to engage any Targets too heavily armored for the little birds for 7 hours the helicopters and a10s systematically ially destroy Iraqi installations On the Border the Iraqis offer only limited resistance and no American aircraft are lost they turned back to base an sas officer recalled we sat in the desert watching what was a pretty impressive fireworks display with the path clear British and Australian Special Forces infiltrate into Iraq from Jordan Saudi Arabia and Kuwait using both vehicle mounted patrols and helicopter transport these Special Operations units moved to secure airfields and other valuable strategic assets meanwhile the news that the US Air Force could take out Saddam Hussein has set off a flurry of activity at alad Airbase in Qatar the eighth Fighter Squadron the black sheep have Reed two F-117 nigh Hawks piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Dave Tumi and major Mark hoen to launch by 3:30 a.m. the morning of March the 20th Mosley is discussing with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs General dick Meers who asks the president has one question can you get the pilots back Mosley replies I can get them to the Target I don't know if I can get them back there is a pause before Myers relays Bush's final order strike 8 minutes later Tumi and hoen are airborne and on their way to Baghdad to kill Saddam hin despite the short notice General Mosley wants to give the f-17 as much support as possible and orders three EA 6B Prowlers from the carrier USS Constellation to jam enemy Radars while two F-16 CJ Fighting Falcons are diverted from a patrol to Shadow the stealth aircraft and Destroy any samit the strike will be followed by approximately 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles from US Navy battle groups in the Persian Gulf and a submarine in the Red Sea and AGM 86 air launched cruise missiles from B-52 Strat Fortress strategic B bombers this mission is risky the Coalition forces have steadily worn down the Iraqi Air Force and air defense capabilities over the past year as part of a bombing campaign known as Southern Focus however the air defenses around Baghdad have not been targeted and many Air Force officers remember the intense Sam barrages directed at Coalition aircraft above the Iraqi Capital during Desert Storm the pilots have been told they must strike the Target by 5:30 a.m. or else their vulnerable aircraft will silhouetted against the Rising Sun at exactly 5:30 a.m. the two Nighthawks approach backd despite fears of overwhelming anti-aircraft fire the Iraqi capital is still asleep and the f-11 17s have not been detected Tumi and hoen locate the target area and release four 2,000 egbu bunker Buster bombs these are state-of-the-art satellite guided Munitions which have been designed with missions like this in mind the egbus explode in quick succession and the f-117's turn and run for the Persian Gulf Iraqi anti-aircraft guns file wildly into the sky but no hits are scored and The Nighthawks make a clean getaway General Mosley is jubilant when told that the Munitions hit precisely On Target in dudes in he exclaims to his subordinates a few minutes later the first of the tomahawks and B-52 launched cruise missiles arrived to further saturate the Dora Farms area Tumi and hoen will make it back to alad and on Landing are greeted by camera Crews and ground Personnel cheering them as Heroes for taking out the Iraqi dictator they have just won the war before it's even started however the celebrations of Victory are shortlived Saddam Hussein appears unharmed on Iraqi State television later that day and it is later determined that despite the 99.9% certainty of his location there the Dora Farms compound has not been used since 1995 the decapitation strike has failed the mission provokes an Iraqi response shortly after 1: p.m. on the 20th of March the Iraqi military launches aaka cruise missile at the Marine base at Camp Commando in Kuwait despite the heavy presence of patriot anti-missile batteries the seaka Flies so low that it is not detected the missile narrowly misses the headquarters of the Marine Expeditionary force and explodes just outside the camp fence two ballistic missiles are launched but Patriots successfully intercept them however Saddam Hussein has sent a message that he knows the invasion is imminent that night SAS units outside of al-qaim launched one last attack on the Water Treatment Plant but by now local militia have arrived to reinforce the already much larger Garrison when the SAS attack they are greeted by another wave of small arms fire including tripod mounted machine guns on civilian pickup trucks these trucks are known as technicals in military terms and prove to be a dangerous weapon although they are the most elite unit in the British army the SAS find themselves outgunned B and D squadrons are once again pushed back but this time they are in danger of being overrun as they Retreat the Iraqi militia and the Republican guard heavily outnumber the SAS and go on the affair iive they fight a pitched battle against the Special Forces operators outside of a bedwin village on the outskirts of al-qaim the rocket launchers aboard the dpvs prove vital in driving off the attackers and inflict casualties on the enemy as they attempt to overrun them after hours of fighting the Iraqis withdraw but the SAS Commander is informed that a convoy of 20 Iraqi military vehicles are looking for his unit knowing that storming the complex would result in unacceptable casual IES the commander instead orders an air strike to destroy the facility as Dawn breaks on the 21st of March 22,000 of Munitions are dropped on the area while the SAS Retreats into the desert two operators will receive the military cross for their actions outside of al-qaim the events of this day force a major change to the overall plan for Iraqi Freedom the date for The Invasion gday had been set for the morning of the 22nd of March in concert with the start of the air War however General Frank and leader of the ground offensive Lieutenant General David McAn fear that the now alert Iraqi government will conduct a scorched Earth policy and destroy their country's infrastructure to Halt The Invasion maintaining Iraq's infrastructure is a key priority for the Coalition leaders as such the decision is made to move the land Invasion up to the night of the 20th of March unlike Desert Storm the the ground attack will now begin before the massive air offensive the bulk of the forces involved in Iraqi Freedom will attack into Iraq from Kuwait the governments of turkey and Saudi Arabia are sympathetic to the Coalition cours but both have refused to allow ground troops to use their countries as staging areas with most Coalition forces in the South a rapid advance to Baghdad is required to topple the regime as quickly as possible on the Left Flank lie General Scott Wallace's fifth Corp represents the main axis of advance and will push through the tigis Euphrates Valley and Destroy any iraqy units they encounter the key armored capability of fifth core is the third infantry division Fielding M1 A2 Abrams Tanks M2 Bradley Fighting vehicles and M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers supporting them as ground infantry the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions altogether fifth call will fill 247 abam 264 Bradley and 132 artillery pieces the 101st will provide the bulk of the helicopters with 151 Apaches 52 kers 62 shinuk and 178 Black Hawks supporting Wallace's divisions on the right flank one Marine Expeditionary force will again go toe-to-toe with sadams forces after taking part in Desert Storm the MEF is comprised of the first Marine Division and Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade a total of 50,000 men and 10,000 Vehicles will move to capture Iraq Southern oil fields and the port of um Kazar before also turning North to attack Baghdad the first Marine division is commanded by Major General Jim Mattis and is equipped with 120 ABS tanks the UK first Armored Division will move to cut off and capture bazra the most important city in southern Iraq with 66 Challenger 2 tanks 236 Warrior infantry fighting Vehicles 66 symmet light tanks and 36 as90 self-propelled artillery pieces in addition to those already infiltrating into Iraq to conduct Recon patrols combined special forces from the Coalition Nations will launch amphibious assaults against the al4 peninsula and offshore oil rigs to seize crucial oil installations in the South 250 Navy Seals from the United States a brigade of Royal Marines from the UK and 126 polish Grom Commandos are tasked with securing Iraqi oil infrastructure in the north Special Forces have been steadily trickling into Kurdish controlled areas for over a year to organize an offensive against saddam's regime rather than a northern front established from Turkey the Kurdish PESA will handle the bulk of the fighting to tie down Iraqi units the United States is providing 706 combat aircraft while the British contribute 68 and the Australians a squadron of 14 fa18 super Hornets altogether 309,000 Coalition troops will invade supported by just over 1200 aircraft including 790 Fighters and bombers it is less than half the total of the combined forces which took part in Desert Storm but us defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld has purposed F kept the number of troops low to him this campaign will be carried by American technological superiority and aggressive commanders on the ground who were told to avoid large population centers under rell's Doctrine there should be no need for a larger Invasion Force facing the Coalition is the Iraqi military which on paper is still a serious threat 300 to 350,000 ground troops are organized into 16 divisions in five cores however 2/3 of the Iraqi Army is composed of untested conscripts while the rest of the ground forces are equipped with outdated Soviet era Weaponry the 70,000 strong Republican guard once again represents the backbone of saddam's military they are organized into six divisions and have much better equipment than the regular army altogether the Iraqi military has around 2,000 tanks 3,700 AP PS and 2,300 artillery pieces yet most of this strength exists only on paper as the Iraqi military as a whole is in a far worse shape than it was before Operation Desert Storm the Coalition far outnumbers the Iraqi Air Force which is believed to have 300 mostly obsolete combat aircraft at 9:00 p.m. on the 20th of March 2003 the ground offensive starts with a short but sharp artillery barrage from 155 mm guns of the 15th Regiment of the US third infantry division after 20 minutes first and third battalions move to clear Iraqi border guards from the massive sand burms which Mark the boundary between Kuwait and Iraq Third Battalion encounters machine gun fire coming from two observation posts but both positions are quickly neutralized by Bradley's and Abrams armored tractors then move in to bulldoze holes through the BMS so the mechanized units can cross the border it is not long before the are cleared and The Invasion Force moves into the openings now at the tip of the Spear of the first Marine division are the 374 men of the first reconnaissance Battalion rolling into Iraq in a convoy of 70 Humvees first Recon is ordered into the breach early on the 21st of March with Sergeant Brad Colbert in the lead hanvey dat is breaking as Colbert notices that his rear Gunner Corporal James Trombley has fallen asleep as they cross the Iraqi border Colbert Taps trumbly on the shoulder to Rouse him from his sleep wake up trumbly you're missing The Invasion the Convoy continues into Iraq with Marine cobras flying overhead follow the links to download the game where for a limited time only new players across all platforms as well as those that haven't played for at least 6 months can claim a large Bonus Pack including multiple premium Vehicles premium account an exclusive 3D decorator for your vehicles and more thanks again to our patrons who help to make these videos possible your support is the reason we can produce series like this welcome to all our new patrons this month and a special thanks to our patron of the week Wolf Gang sites who's been a longtime supporter of the channel each week we select our favorite patreon reactions to shout out and our favorite comments this week are from a who says can only imagine what it was like to be on the receiving end of over 400 rounds of artillery fired simultaneously from five artillery battalions a thunderstorm Probably sounds like a week ASP by comparison and Alex 13 who says I can't wait to see more of the series and to see how the invasion proceeded if you'd like to join our patreon and get access to exclusive benefits such as Early Access to videos add and sponsor free we would love to have you as part of our community

Channel: The Operations Room

Views: 1,056,155

Keywords: Time-Lapse, History, Documentary, animated, war, operation iraqi freedom, iraq war, invasion of iraq 2003, saddam hussein, abrams tank, challenger tank, f-15 strike eagle, us army, us marines, us navy, british army, royal air force, sas, navy seals

Id: Ednt3yDM-SA

Length: 25min 24sec (1524 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 29 2023