The Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 ...

Final Preparations 107
strength, and supported by only one battalion of old Sovietmade
T-55 tanks. This division was no match for the modern,
over-strength, Big Red One. 7
MG Thomas G. Rhame arranged the 1st Infantry Division
and the 1st Brigade on the western portion of the attack zone
and the 2nd Brigade to the east just beyond the border berm. Its
task was to secure a semi-circular phase line called PL Colorado,
which generally corresponded with the rear of the Iraqi
defensive positions. On order, the 3rd Brigade would pass
through the 2nd and expand the penetration to Phase Line (PL)
New Jersey, well to the rear of the 26th Iraqi Division’s defensive
line. Once it achieved its objective, the command’s primary
task was to move the 1st British Armoured Division’s brigades
and all of their support equipment through specially marked
routes to their attack positions (called “forming up points”) just
behind PL New Jersey. To ensure security on his western flank,
Rhame placed the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry under the operational
control of COL Burt Maggart’s 1st Brigade. Rhame envisioned
the operation lasting two days. On the first, the division
would clear the security zone to the edge of the Iraqi defenses
(PL Wisconsin). On the next, it would continue the attack to PL
New Jersey and pass the British through in the late afternoon. 8
Maggart’s detailed plan, worked out in close coordination
with the 2nd Brigade and the division commander, corresponded
to the general scheme of maneuver, with an attack in
zone to clear all Iraqi reconnaissance and security elements between
PL Vermont to PL Plum, which lay just south of the Iraqi
main defensive line (PL Wisconsin). The Quarter Horse would
conduct a zone reconnaissance in the western half of the zone,
clear out any Iraqi recon and security elements, and maintain
contact with the 3rd Squadron, 2nd ACR on the division’s right.
TF 2-34 AR would be on the squadron’s right and would be responsible
for clearing the Iraqis from the eastern half of the
brigade’s zone. When Rhame gave the order, the brigade would
breach the Iraqi defenses and attack to PL Colorado and continue
on order to PL New Jersey, where it would then become division
reserve. The Quarter Horse would initially follow TF 2-34
AR through the breach and then attack north while protecting
the division’s western flank and maintaining contact with the