Iraqi general surrenders to coalition forces
|
| Iraqi Maj. Gen. Muhammed Thumayla, commander, Iraq's Western District, reviews the articles of capitulation while Col. Curtis D. Potts, commander, 4th Brigade, explains the surrender to him through an interpreter. (Photo by Spc. Jacob Boyer) |
AR RAMEDI, Iraq (Army News Service, April 18, 2003) -- United States and coalition forces accepted the surrender of the first enemy general in Operation Iraqi Freedom when the commander of all armed forces in the western district of Iraq capitulated in Ar Ramedi April 15.
Maj. Gen. Muhammed Thumayla, Western District commander, surrendered himself and more than 16,000 soldiers under his command to Col. Curtis D. Potts, commander, 4th Brigade, in a special operations compound 60 kilometers west of the city.
"This is the only official surrender of Iraqi armed forces to the coalition," Potts said. "I presented our conditions and accepted the surrender from him."
Although Thumayla had more than 16,000 soldiers under his command, he told Potts the bulk of his force had deserted five days after the beginning of the current conflict. He controlled military forces from Ar Ramedi, a town 50 kilometers west of Baghdad, to the border with Jordan and Syria.
Both Thumayla and his deputy commander were held at the compound by soldiers from the 5th Special Forces Group and other government agents.
Potts flew to the compound in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, and the surrender was signed in a central courtyard. After 40 minutes of discussion, Potts and Thumayla signed the documents on a small field table Potts brought to the site.
"I told him I appreciated what he was doing for his nation and the people of Iraq," said Potts, a Skokie, Ill., native. "This will limit any future bloodshed."
Potts asked Thumayla to stay in uniform for 30 days, take control of his soldiers and restore order in the Ar Ramedi area.
"At the end, I saluted him," he said. "I gave him that respect because he is a superior officer. I also gave him and his deputy some very good cigars, as professional soldiers, one to another."
Potts said he was "honored" to represent coalition forces in accepting the surrender.
After the ceremony, explosives and ordinance disposal soldiers disabled explosives wired to a bridge on Highway 1, allowing C Troop, 3rd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment to move across the Euphrates River and disable 119 enemy vehicles, including over 50 tanks and 20 fighting vehicles, Potts said. AH-64 Apaches from A Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment kept aerial security for the operation, Elements from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Brigade and B Co., 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment also aided the mission.
"First, we downloaded any ammunition on the vehicles and put it in a truck," said Staff Sgt. Paul Sheppard, commander's driver, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Brigade. "We didn't destroy the vehicles, but we made sure it would be a while before they could be repaired."
Sheppard, a Waltham, Mass., native, said they poked holes in the vehicles' radiators, disabled their batteries, cut their fuel lines and disarmed the firing mechanisms. All of the damage was done with bayonets and sledgehammers. Sheppard said that while he was happy to see such a large force capitulate, he had mixed emotions seeing the general after the ceremony.
"In a way it was sad, because it seemed like they had nothing to go back to," he said. "But I think they were happy their men had defected, because it saved lives. I wish more units had capitulated."
(Editor's note: Spc. Jacob Boyer is assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs Office.)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
