April 5, 2003
MARKING YOUR TERRITORY:
Armored Force Comes Under Fire During Three-Hour Incursion (PATRICK E. TYLER, April 5, 2003, NY Times)An armored force of 50 American tanks and other vehicles wheeled suddenly into the center of Baghdad today, taking the city's defenders by surprise and triggering a rolling firefight along boulevards lined with some people waving and others shooting.Military officials said one American tank was lost in the three-hour incursion into the capital. One tank driver was reported killed when he was shot in the head during the hail of gunfire that at times rained down on the column.
A gunner in the column said that they had difficulty sorting out the civilians from the military.
A New York Times reporter traveling with the American troops near Baghdad said the push into the capital began as a reconnaissance mission spearheaded by a column of three to four dozen tanks of the Third Infantry Second Brigade. The tanks left their position south of the city this morning and used the main boulevards to drive into the heart of the city.
After moving into the city center, the armored vehicles turned west and rolled past crowds of people on the street and on to the airport where they met up with the Third Infantry First Brigade at its checkpoint. From the airport, the tank column swung south, completing a circuit back to their initial blocking position south of the city.
Officers at the United States Central Command in Qatar said that American forces in significant numbers had entered Baghdad, but they would not specify either the number of troops or their exact location.
"We do have troops in the city of Baghdad,'' Capt. Frank Thorp told reporters, "They're in the middle of the city.''
This is apparently a tactic adopted from the British experience in Northern Ireland, intended to show civilians that you're there to stay and can function on enemy territory with relative impunity. The Brits did something similar in their first day in Basra when they went into the city and toppled a couple of Saddam monuments. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 5, 2003 8:50 AM
Is it true that this one tank and the three they lost in a previous battle were the first time they ever lost an M1-A1?
What got them?
This tank wasn't lost, the driver was shot while poking his head outside.
Most of the other tanks weren't lost, they just had their treads blown off. That can be repaired.
As far as I know, we've lost one tank, apparently to a Russian-made Kornet missile, but I haven't followed the stories closely.
Paul's right about the Kornet missile being the only weapon that's actually ever killed an M-1.
I've heard that in every case the crew escapes the vehicle unharmed.
But that was the first loss of one of these tanks then? Is the Kornet some kind of shoulder fired thing, or is it a large installation type missile?
Posted by: RC at April 5, 2003 5:59 PMRC;
I believe that it's an average size RPG, i.e. small for an anti-tank weapon. It was apparently used
successfully only by closing in to point blank range and firing in to the rear grille (this was during a sandstorm with 5m visibility).
Sorry that the tank driver was killed but you'd have to think this was good ps-ops work. Iraqies seen on the tv that the govt claims the US is nowhere near Bagdad and then they see tanks rolling through. Maybe they'll start believing Saddam is gone and rise up.
Posted by: AWW at April 5, 2003 10:45 PM