Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 27, 1991 TAG: 9102270436
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA LENGTH: Long
The fleeing Iraqis reportedly had Kuwaiti hostages.
"We're going to attack and attack and attack," a U.S. general vowed as Marines tangled with Iraqis fighting a rear-guard action at Kuwait City airport, and a vast U.S.-British armored force collided with Iraq's vaunted Republican Guard somewhere to the northwest.
In fierce battles, allied forces had knocked out 26 Iraqi army divisions - roughly 260,000 men - by early today, U.S. military officials in Riyadh said.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that American reconnaissance teams and other "lead elements" of U.S. forces were in Kuwait City, but the U.S. command did not regard the city as liberated.
"I'm sure we'll run into some pockets of resistance, but we fully expect it to belong to coalition forces at the end of today," one official said. He said some Iraqis probably remained in Kuwait City.
A news-pool report said Republican Guard units were setting up new defensive lines west of the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
That stand could precede the decisive armor battle between the allies and the top Iraqi force, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
The VII Corps, the heavy armor of the U.S. military, has lined up facing the Iraqi Guard's dug-in position west of the port city.
The U.S. officials said some Republican Guard units have moved from big divisions around the Iraq-Kuwait border and inside Kuwait to form their defensive line.
A senior Pentagon source said Tuesday that hundreds of M1A1 tanks and infantry from the Army's VII Corps, under cover of darkness and in a driving rainstorm, attacked and defeated one Republican Guard division.
The attack was led by the 3rd Armored Division and the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized), and the units were plowing forward and engaging a second Guard division in Iraq, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The attacks from the west were being conducted on a front dozens of miles wide west of Kuwait, the senior military officer said, adding that Guard units were offering "stiff resistance."
Officials said earlier Tuesday the U.S. and allied troops intended to draw a noose around Saddam Hussein's vaunted Guard, "destroying them in place" unless they surrender.
The source said Apache helicopters were flying over the VII Corps attack into western Kuwait to challenge a regular Iraqi army division.
Military officers said the Guard has three choices: remain hunkered down and force the coalition armor to dig them out, go on the offensive in the rugged desert plain west of Basra or make a run toward the city.
The officer described the VII Corps push as "the largest armored attack since World War II" by U.S. forces.
The official said at least 500 tanks, using thermal imagery and night-vision goggles, were able to defeat the unprepared Guard.
"They weren't ready for what was coming from the West."
Separately, 50 of the Guard's top-of-the-line Soviet-made T-72 tanks were captured as they attempted to flee north along a road near the Euphrates River, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The official said U.S. forces intended by morning to trap the remaining forces of the Republican Guard - two armored divisions and three infantry divisions - between the northern border of Kuwait and the Euphrates River.
The Guard has no way to retreat across the Euphrates or the Tigris rivers, the official explained, because all bridges have been blown apart in the relentless air strikes since Jan. 17. Also, the area is filled with bogs making any retreat impossible for armored vehicles.
There is no sanctuary in Basra, the official said, because if the units chose to move they would be attacked from the air.
The official said he had "no indication" that individual Guard soldiers were breaking away from their units and fleeing toward Basra or Baghdad.
U.S. commanders said the Guard and Iraqi military's communication network is so shattered that they have been unable to coordinate enough to mount an artillery or chemical weapons counterattack against allied forces.
Marine Brig. Gen. Richard Neal said at a news briefing in the Saudi capital of Riyadh that coalition forces were succeeding against Republican Guard units in southern Iraq. He did not elaborate.
Some tanks were coming out of their dug-in positions, but surveillance plane pilots said no coherent plan was evident in their movements.
According to best estimates, the Iraqis "are trying to conduct some kind of strategic withdrawal," said Capt. Gary Stahlhut, 34, of Cleveland, from the VII Corps' 2nd Military Intelligence Battalion.
No one in authority was saying how deep into Iraq the allied forces might pursue the withdrawing army.
Saddam sought to label the withdrawal a "victory." President Bush called that an "outrage" and said Saddam was trying to cling to formidable military power with his pullback.
More than 30,000 Iraqis have been taken prisoner, the U.S. command said.
The exiled emir of Kuwait declared martial law over his war-torn nation Tuesday and began preparations for an immediate return home.
The decision by Sheik Jabir Ahmed Sabah, Kuwait's hereditary ruler, to proclaim martial law for three months came amid unconfirmed reports that Iraqi soldiers had kidnapped thousands of Kuwaiti citizens and blown up the city-state's National Assembly, banks and hotels as they retreated.
by CNB