An order of battle was now being drawn up by military headquarters in Iraq. That American authorities were about to retaliate against Fallujah for the Blackwater contractor slayings became increasingly obvious to the world and to the inhabitants of Fallujah. It must be noted that a number of citizens both in Fallujah and throughout Iraq were combat veterans of the long and bloody Iran-Iraq war that ended in 1988 with a pyrrhic Iraqi victory, and that some of these veterans were now helping to organize a hasty defense of Fallujah, and they may not have necessarily considered themselves members of any insurgent or guerrilla faction, but simply defenders of their city.
On April 2, 2004 Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmit removed any lingering doubts about US intentions by vowing to hunt down the killers and retake Fallujah. The American-managed Coalition Provisional Authority's Iraqi Governing Council seconded these sentiments and authorized the Iraqi National Guard to participate. The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force moved into various positions to begin a massive operation, not only in Fallujah, but throughout Anbar Province, part of the Sunni Triangle, to strike broadly at the insurgency.
According to GlobalSecurity.org, on or around April 4, 2004, Operation Vigilant Resolve was launched, originally publicized as a combined US Marine-Iraqi National Guard operation, but the recently created Iraqi units had little stomach for combat. Most, if not all, deserted, some declaring that they did not sign up to fight fellow Iraqis. So this became, essentially, a Marine Corps operation, combining infantry and armored divisions, artillery, and Marine and Navy air support. The Marines had at their disposal Navy F/A-18 Hornet carrier-based Fighter-Bombers equipped with 20-mm cannon for strafing and 500-pound GBU-12 laser guided bombs, as well as lethal AC-130 "Spectre" gunships, F-15 Fighters and Cobra Attack Helicopters.
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/oif-vigilant-resolve.htm)
The huge AC-130 gunship is fitted with a battery of Gatling guns and cannons capable of saturating an entire football field with heavy fire in mere seconds, and incorporates an ultra high-tech fire control and night vision system second to none in the world. An earlier model was first employed in the Vietnam War with devastating effect and was nicknamed, with blackest humor, "Puff, the Magic Dragon", the title of a popular children's song by Peter, Paul and Mary.
As the Marines slowly plodded ahead, explosions and gunfire could be heard on Monday, April 5, as skirmishes between the Marines and random Fallujan gunmen began to break out. Monday's attacks could well be considered probing actions by both sides. On Tuesday, things began to intensify dramatically as the Marines drove toward the center of the city, drawing increasingly heavy hostile fire. The Marines soon realized that they were facing an enemy experienced in Russian-style defense-in-depth tactics, most likely led by army veterans from the Iran-Iraq war. The Marines' advance now morphed into a fierce battle against guerrillas holed up in a residential neighborhood and laying down fire that included mortars and RPGs (Rocker Propelled Grenades), a firefight that lasted for hours, causing exasperated commanders to call in an AC-130 "Spectre" that duly sprayed Iraqi positions with a hailstorm of bullets. How many insurgents or hapless residents were caught in this deadly fusillade is not really known, but the fact that the command was even willing to deploy the AC-130 over a residential neighborhood would serve as a grim omen for the city.
Casualties were now beginning to mount on all sides, including among non-combatants. The hospitals in Fallujah were starting to see a steady stream of the wounded and dying. As night fell, the Marines pulled back from their forward-most positions and called in air strikes, American warplanes, according to a Fox News report, firing rockets that destroyed four houses, with a doctor claiming, the report continues, that 26 men, women and children were slain in this attack, another 30 wounded. Throughout the night in various parts of the city, Marine squads weaved in and out of buildings, engaging guerrillas sporadically and trying to stake out posts, while the heavy whirl of rotary blades could be heard overhead as Marine helicopters circled, hovered or darted about above the rooftops, laying down intermittent fire against perceived enemy positions.
As the night wore on and the first rays of sunlight began to illuminate the horizon, violence, which had yet to reach its apex in the City Of Mosques, was also beginning to erupt throughout Iraq, as if Fallujah had been but the fuse to ignite an even larger powder keg.
(Combat source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,116262,00.html)
Next article, Part 3:
Protests Amid the Onslaught
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