Battle for Baghdad airport caps drive north
by Sgt. Craig ZentkovichBAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, April 9, 2003) -- A 72-hour assault north last week by 3rd Infantry Division soldiers ended with the seizure of Saddam International Airport.
The "raiders" of the 1st Brigade Combat Team began their assault April 2 when they pushed past the Karbala Gap and seized a bridge crossing the Euphrates River at Yasin al khudayr.
After refueling and resupplying throughout the night, the 1st BCT rolled north Thursday morning under the cover of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, multiple-launch rocket systems and 155-mm Howitzer cannons.
While traveling through the winding roads and canal system of central Iraq, troops were greeted by hundreds of residents in the town of Yusufiyah, who lined the streets cheering and waving to the passing soldiers.
Not all the locals seemed happy to see the troops, said Lt. Col. James E. Lackey, 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment commander. "I suspect that some of them were wearing uniforms a couple of days ago." The first tanks of TF 3-69 breached the walls of the airfield at approximately 7:30 p.m., following a fight on Highway 1, approaching the entrance to the airfield, with C Company, 2nd Bn., 7th Inf., pitted against a two-company-sized element of the Iraqi Republican Guard.
"We got here so fast, we caught (the Republican Guard) while they were still mounted on their vehicles," said Lt. Col. Ernest Marcone, TF 3-69 commander. "We were able to knock out their perimeter security, vehicles and dismounts before breaching the series of walls leading to the airstrip.
"When we got through the walls, there was no illumination and we had no idea where the enemy were. We essentially did a movement-to-contact in the dark - probably the most difficult mission a task force can undertake."
Following the initial fight to get onto the airfield, 1st BCT Commander Col. William Grimsley described the scene at the airfield as "eerie," because there were no signs of enemy within the perimeter, and all of Baghdad was without power. The only illumination filling the sky was the burning remains of targets taken out by bombs, rockets and artillery rounds.
Five hundred artillery rounds and 90 rockets were fired in the area in a 12-hour period. Four 2,000-pound bombs were also dropped on the Special Republican Guard's headquarters on the airport's east side that night, according to Lackey. Additionally, three Air Force satellite-guided bombs struck barracks and hangars on the airport's northern side.
While TF 3-69 was clearing the runways early the next morning, around 4:30 a.m. the "enemy came alive," Grimsley said.
A Company, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment and B Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment attacked a Special Republican Guard compound to the east side of the airfield while C Co., 3rd Bn., 69th Armor and C Co., 2nd Bn., 7th Inf., conducted a simultaneous attack on the west side of the airfield.
"The fighting was vicious for about three hours," Marcone said. "By the end of (the fighting), we killed upwards of 250 Special Republican Guard soldiers, captured 40 and destroyed 3 tanks, numerous artillery and mortar pieces, and a couple anti-aircraft guns."
One of the Iraqis killed was an SRG brigade commander.
"We captured his personal journal, radio and night vision goggles - the first we've found in the enemy's possession," Marcone said.
A TF 3-69 soldier lost his life when the element he was traveling with came under hostile fire and the vehicle he was in went off the road into a canal. Eight other TF 3-69 soldiers were wounded during the 12 hours of fighting for control of the airport, that has since been renamed Baghdad International Airport by allied forces.
(Editor's note: Sgt. Craig Zentkovich is a member of the 50th PAD, traveling with the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st BCT.)
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