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Liberating Kuwait
against Iraqi forces in Kuwait. The raids served multiple purposes. First, they were aimed at specific Iraqi artillery forces; second, they were designed to confuse and bewilder the Iraqis by making the ultimate Marine breaching points unclear; and third, they permitted Marine air to strike against the Iraqi artillery (considered Iraq’s most dangerous conventional asset), which inevitably replied with counterbattery fire. Each raid followed the same basic pattern, with some variations. A Marine artillery battery would advance to the border and fire a carefully planned barrage. As soon as the shells cleared the barrels, they would limber the artillery pieces and drive away. Within minutes, the firing location would be empty desert. When Iraqi artillery attempted counterbattery fire, it would fall on the abandoned position, and then waiting Marine aircraft would pounce on the revealed Iraqi artillery and destroy it.12 The composition of the raid forces followed a pattern as well. The ground element consisted of a battery or two of artillery with a small security force and a company of light armored vehicles from one of the light armored infantry battalions. The 3d Marine Aircraft Wing would provide an aviation element: this usually comprised an OV-10 Bronco acting as an airborne forward air controller, a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18D Hornet* and two A-6E Intruders to strike the enemy artillery sites, an F/A-18D and two F/A-18s to suppress enemy air defenses, and an EA-6B Prowler to provide electronic countermeasures support.13 The first artillery raid (unprotected by a light armored infantry force) occurred on the night of 21 January and was fired from a location just north of al-Khafji against Iraqi artillery positions north of the border. The 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, part of Task Force Taro, launched the raid using two of its batteries of M198 155mm howitzers. The hope was to find an Iraqi rocket system, but none fired. Instead, 80 rounds of dual-purpose improved conventional munitions were fired at suspected Iraqi artillery positions, and Marine aircraft bombed the positions as well.14 The next raid was on 26 January near the elbow of the Saudi-Kuwaiti border at al-Jathathil. It was conducted by Batteries Q and S of 5th Battalion, 11th Marines, and screened by Company B, 1st Light Armored Infantry Battalion. The Iraqis attempted to counterbattery fire this time, but it was *
The F/A-18D was a two-seat version of the F/A-18. It was often used to perform coordination duties or to act as an airborne forward air controller.
inaccurate. Marine artillery fired on three different targets, and Intruders and Hornets bombed and rocketed the Iraqi positions as well. While the artillery retired as planned, B Company destroyed an Iraqi vehicle on the Kuwaiti side of the border berm. Unfortunately, this raid was not without casualties. Two of the light armored vehicles of Company B collided as the company left the area. Three Marines were killed in the crash: Staff Sergeant Michael R. Connor Sr. and Lance Corporals Arthur O. Garza and Michael A. Noline.15 The 2d Marine Division conducted its first combat action of the conflict with an artillery raid on the night of 27–28 January. Security for this raid was provided by 2d Light Armored Infantry Battalion, and the raid was conducted by Battery Q and Battery R of the 5th Battalion, 10th Marines. The 5th Battalion’s commander, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew F. Mazzara, was the raid force commander. In support of the raid was Battery A, 92d Field Artillery Regiment of the U.S. Army, commanded by Captain Edward L. Hughes, USA. This multiple-launch rocket system battery was prepared to conduct counterbattery fire against Iraqi artillery fire. In the event, there was no return fire from the Iraqis. Battery Q, armed with M109A1 155mm self-propelled howitzers, fired 72 rounds, and Battery R, armed with M110A2 8-inch self-propelled howitzers, fired 36 rounds on their targets: a vehicle park and a logistics site. Then the raid force returned to its staging area.16 On the night of 28–29 January, Task Force Shepherd, made up of companies from the 1st Light Armored Infantry Battalion and the 3d Light Armored Infantry Battalion, conducted a raid on the Kuwaiti police station at Umm Hujul, across the border from Observation Post 4. The light armored vehicles of Company A, 1st Light Armored Infantry Battalion, fired their 25mm cannon and Emerson 901A1 TOW 2 (tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided) antitank guided missiles at the police post. There was no Iraqi return fire, so the two batteries from 5th Battalion, 11th Marines, that had been assigned to conduct counterbattery fire withdrew without firing.17
Iraq’s al-Khafji Plan With its diplomatic options exhausted, and enduring the effects of an air campaign much longer than anticipated, Iraq determined to launch a large spoiling attack centered on the Saudi town of al-Khafji. This attack signaled the beginning of the Battle of al-Khafji, the first major ground combat of the Gulf War.18
