Battle of Samawah (2003)

The headquarters of the 3rd Infantry Division of the US Army , which received an order to move north to Baghdad , decided to avoid protracted battles in urban areas and bypass heavily fortified Iraqi cities on the way to the capital. Americans planned to cross the Euphrates River directly to the south of Baghdad, at Kerbela .

Approaching Samawah on March 22 , units of the 3rd Infantry Division came into contact with the Iraqi forces defending the city. In response to an air strike, the Iraqis attacked American tank columns, but were repulsed. It is believed that the Iraqis lost 120-200 people in this attack, the Americans did without losses ^[3] .

The main units of the 3rd Infantry Division decided not to engage in battles, bypassed Samava and marched on Baghdad , but the irregular forces holding the city organized attacks on American supply lines. On March 25, the 2nd Brigade of the 82nd US Airborne Division received an order to clear Samava, and on March 28 it was deployed at Talil Air Base in southern Iraq ^[4] .

On March 29, 2003, after the start of a dust storm (which limited the visibility and the possibility of using heavy weapons), the soldiers of the 1st battalion of the 15th infantry regiment of the 3rd infantry division of the USA were attacked, the battle took on a fierce nature - with shots from the Kornet ATGM “ two M1A1 tanks and one Bradley infantry fighting vehicle were destroyed ^[5] .

The 2nd brigade reached Samava at 3 am on March 30 , expecting to find trench lines on the eastern edge of the city. Instead, the paratroopers found a sandy ledge surrounding a landfill that was not protected by enemy forces. At dawn, the Americans began to advance to the cement plant and came under machine-gun and mortar fire. The paratroopers, hiding behind the ledge, began to fire on the Iraqi forces that had become firmly established in the factory. An Iraqi sniper with a shot from the top of the factory’s chimney was able to damage the BGM-71 TOW ATGM and, without covering the mortars, the American troops were forced to stop moving and retreat to the east. Aviation was called, Kiowa helicopters destroyed the enemy mortar and RPG calculations, and around 15:00 F / A-18 carrier bombers bombed the warehouse adjacent to the cement plant. However, the battle for the plant subsided only at dusk ^[4] .

On the same night, units of the 1st Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment, launched an attack on the city bridge across the Euphrates. The goal was to attract the attention of the Iraqi Republican Guard on the other side of the river and prevent them from attacking the rear of the 3rd Infantry Division, as well as to scout the enemy’s positions for air strikes. At the beginning of the assault, the A-10 attack aircraft and calculations of 105 mm howitzers fired at the northern coast of the Euphrates. Then the 1st battalion went on the attack, seizing bridges and crossings over the river, and also creating a bridgehead on the north bank. Having achieved their goals, the battalion retreated at dawn. During the operation, an Iraqi SUV tried to cross the bridge in the direction of the Americans' positions. After a machine gun attack, the car exploded, turning into a fireball. Subsequently, it turned out that he was loaded with propane cylinders and controlled by a suicide bomber ^[1] .

Snipers and reconnaissance units of the 82nd Airborne Division at that time were advancing along the outskirts of Samava. Thanks to their intelligence, the American artillery was able to suppress the main points of resistance in the city.

On April 1, 2003, a soldier of the 41st US Infantry Regiment was killed by a US anti-tank grenade launcher as a result of a shelling of a vehicle of the US Army ^[6] , later three wounded were mentioned ^[7] .

On April 2, 2003, defenders of the city fired mortar fire on the advancing US forces; to suppress Iraqi mortars, soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division fired 105 mm howitzers at them ^[8] .

At 7 pm on April 2, the 1st Battalion of the 325th Infantry Regiment launched an offensive against the cement plant with the support of the Lockheed AC-130 flying artbatories and M1 Abrams tanks . The plant was taken from the course, and over the next two days, parts of the 2nd brigade cleared the rest of the city ^[9] . At the headquarters of the Ba'ath Party , an airstrike was inflicted; there were also Iraqi soldiers in the hospital building, but it was decided not to bomb it because of the presence of civilians in the building. By April 4, resistance in the city was crushed ^[1] .