The Gulf War of Desert Saber

At 1 a.m. on August 2, 199, 1, Iraqi troops crossed the Iraq-Kuwait border and launched a surprise attack, occupying Kuwait in just 1 hours, thus detonating the Gulf crisis that shocked the world. In the last five and a half months, the international community's peace efforts finally came to nothing. At 2: 3 am on January 17th, 1991, the first Tomahawk cruise missile launched from an American warship in the Gulf exploded in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, which finally opened the curtain of the Gulf War.

The multinational forces led by the United States carried out 38 days of strategic bombing and tactical air strikes against Iraq, flying 112, sorties, launching 288 cruise missiles, and dropping more than 2, tons of bombs, which seriously paralyzed Iraq's military machinery and destroyed more than 5% of the front-line troops of the Iraqi army. In this case, the United States is determined to launch a decisive battle on the ground to completely defeat Saddam Hussein's army and drive the Iraqi army out of Kuwait to relieve the hatred of the United States. By mid-February, the multinational force * * * had assembled about 6, ground troops, 3,7 tanks (including 2, US troops), 3, armored vehicles (2, US troops), and 1,6 large and medium-sized artillery and rockets (1,2 US troops). There are about 45, people in attack force who directly participate in ground operations. They come from the United States, Britain, France, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. The main force is naturally the United States, and other countries, except Britain and France, each sent a multi-division. The armies of Arab countries mainly participated in the war as symbolic forces. The commander-in-chief of the multinational force is Norman, commander of the US Central Headquarters. Schwarzkopf, four-star general.

Its main contents are as follows: with a large-scale landing feint and some troops breaking through the Shaq border, the main force of the Iraqi army will be contained and pushed to Kuwait City and its north; Concentrate on the main armored forces, cooperate with the rapid assault forces, make a deep detour from the flank of Iraqi defense to Basra, and take a double attack with the advancing troops to surround and annihilate the main Iraqi forces.

to implement the "desert saber" plan, the multinational forces deployed three attack groups from left to right (from west to east) along the border between Shay and Shaq. The left wing is the western attack group, which is deployed in the middle of the Shay border. It is composed of the 11st Airborne Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 6th French Light Armored Division of the 18th Airborne Army under the command of Lieutenant General Luck. Its task is to weave detours into the hinterland of Iraq-the Euphrates Valley, cut off the communication lines of the Iraqi army in Kuwait, and cooperate with the central attack group to encircle the Iraqi army and the National Guard; In the middle is the central attack group, which is deployed in the eastern section of the Shai-i border. It consists of the 1st Armored Division, 3rd Armored Division, 1st Cavalry Division, 1st Mechanized Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade and 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment of the 7th Army of the United States under the command of Lieutenant General Franks, and the 1st Armored Division of the British Army. Its task is to be the main attack of the campaign, plan to detour to the southern part of Iraq, carry out a major assault on the area south of Basra, and, with the cooperation of the east and west attack groups, panic in the elite Iraqi troops-* * * and the National Guard deployed in this area; The right wing is the east attack group, which is deployed in the western section of the Shako border section. It is composed of the 1st Marine Division, 2nd Marine Division under the command of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force of the US Navy, and the participating troops of Arab countries. Its task is to recover Kuwait, attract the attention of the Iraqi army, and squeeze the Iraqi army from south to north. In addition, more than 3 amphibious assault ship ships are deployed in the coastal waters of Kuwait, carrying 18, marines with them, ready to land on the beach to contain the Iraqi army.

This deployment embodies schwarzkopf's idea of a large-scale circuitous attack, with the frontal and depth of the attack being nearly 5 kilometers. This descendant of German immigrants has a Germanic style and tradition, and his "air-ground battle" and "desert saber" are also reminiscent of Germany's "blitzkrieg" and its "sickle-wielding action" sweeping France. Schwarzkopf claimed that when attacking Saddam's army, "we should be everywhere, on their heads, feet, left and right, back and forth, below, inside, anywhere!"

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has deployed more than 54, men from 41 divisions in Kuwait and the southern tip of Iraqi territory, equipped with more than 3, tanks, 2,8 armored vehicles and 2, guns, in order to defend Kuwait, which he has declared as a province of Iraq. These troops are centered on Basra, an important town in southern Iraq, and distributed in a fan shape in three directions: Kuwait, the "neutral zone" on the border between Iraq and Saudi Arabia and the western town of Sellerman, with Kuwait as the main direction. In these three directions, the Iraqi army is basically from south to north, in a three-line echelon configuration. On the first line, 19 divisions were launched along the Yisha-Kuwait border and the east coast of Kuwait; The second line is located about 55 kilometers behind the first line, with about 15 divisions; The third line is along the Iraq-Kuwait border and along the line from Basra to Nasiriyah. Seven divisions are launched, five of which are stationed in the south of Basra. This step-by-step deployment in the north-south direction makes the Iraqi army's defense focus completely on Kuwait, and the western forces are empty, which is the main direction of the multinational force.

the strength of the Iraqi army was greatly weakened by the air strikes of the multinational forces. Saddam realized that Kuwait was hard to hold on to, so he announced the conditional withdrawal from Kuwait on February 15th. However, it was not so easy for Saddam to pull his leg out of Kuwait. Americans don't give him a chance to retreat gracefully in diplomacy, and Saddam Hussein, who is headstrong, is not very good at playing the trick of "a hero doesn't suffer immediate losses" with America. On February 21st, Saddam announced through the Soviet Union that he accepted a new plan to end the war peacefully, that is, if the United States agreed to a cease-fire, Iraq would withdraw its troops from Kuwait and withdraw them within three weeks. President Bush's mediation efforts against the Kremlin have set a lot of harsh conditions for Saddam's withdrawal. According to Bush's words: "This is just to coax the Russians. Our aerial bombing has been going on for more than a month. I don't want to make any more deals, but I don't want to ignore Gorbachev. After all, he has supported us for so long." The situation has developed to the present, and his and Saddam's ideas have been completely reversed. Saddam wants to run and he doesn't want him to run. His interest is no longer in Kuwait. He is concerned about Saddam Hussein's army. He will take this rare opportunity to get rid of this menace, at least so that the Iraqi army will not pose a threat to the interests of the United States in the Middle East for a long time.

Before launching the ground attack, the multinational forces kept conducting training exercises along the Iraqi army's frontal defense in the area south of the Shaq border, and constantly attacked the Iraqi army in the north of the border, creating an illusion that they would attack from this area and luring the Iraqi army to hit the main force in the southern defense line of Kuwait. At the same time, the U.S. Navy held landing exercises in the coastal waters of Kuwait, and bombarded Iraqi positions on the eastern coast of Kuwait with naval guns. It also stepped up its propaganda offensive and deliberately leaked false information to confuse the Iraqi army. At this time, under the air strikes and electronic interference of the US military, the Iraqi army had lost its reconnaissance means and could not accurately grasp the deployment of the multinational force. It mistakenly thought that the focus of the multinational force's attack was the Iraqi army in southern Kuwait, so it stuck to its original position, which was exactly what schwarzkopf wanted. On the day before the launch of the ground offensive, schwarzkopf urgently transferred the main forces of the attack, such as the 7th Army and 18th Airborne Army, from the border area of Shaq to the western flank of the Iraqi army, where the defense was weak. He said: "Kuwait is like a small courtyard. I just want to surround Saddam Hussein's divisions in the Kuwaiti courtyard and eat them."

At 22: pm on February 23rd, President Bush announced at the White House: "As the Iraqi government has not agreed to withdraw its troops from Kuwait after the noon deadline today, I have ordered schwarzkopf, commander of the US forces in the Gulf, to use American ground forces to drive Iraqi troops out of Kuwait together with other participating countries." He claimed that this decision was made after extensive consultations with the Allies, and he believed that General schwarzkopf could "accomplish his mission quickly and decisively".

Two hours after Bush made the above announcement, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein made a radio speech in his underground command post, calling on Iraqis to use all weapons in their hands to fight to the death. He said that Iraq made concessions for a peaceful solution to the crisis, and the multinational forces led by the United States forced Iraq, so there was only a fight to the death. He kept calling his troops to "strike them". He said that he believes that "all advanced weapons are meaningless" in this ground battle, and the Iraqi army with "loyalty and belief" is "bound to win."