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

122 The Road to Safwan
Christopher Philbrick had not waited for the word to reposition.
He had already moved flight operations north of the berm
to better coordinate helicopter operations with ground activities.
At one point during the day, communications had become
so poor because of the extended tactical distances that Philbrick
had to mount a large RC-292 antenna on the front bumper of his
van. The antenna gave him the necessary range to communicate
to both the TOC forward of his position and the aviation
assembly area in the rear. This quick fix worked quite well and
he was now able to provide the continuous SWT support that
Wilson needed.
As the squadron repositioned, the troops passed numerous
artillery battalions that were now ready to fire the artillery
preparation and support the assault. Friendly vehicles were
moving and preparing for action. The scale of this artillery commitment
was unprecedented in the post-Vietnam War era U.S.
Army. Almost five full brigades of self-propelled artillery and
multiple rocket launchers moved through or up to the berm.
Once in place, this massive artillery force, essentially an artillery
division, would fire the “prep” and support the breaching
operation that the division would conduct at 1500 hours
that day. For the first time in years, the entire Big Red One was
coiled and ready to strike. 20
At exactly 1430 hours the artillery preparation began and
lasted for thirty minutes as corps and division artillery battalions
fired over 11,000 rounds of tube and rocket artillery across
the entire zone of attack. It was an amazing display of firepower,
certainly the most impressive demonstration ever witnessed
by this generation of soldiers. When the fire stopped, the
two lead brigades of the Big Red One lunged forward. The 1st
Brigade, in the west, attacked with 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor
on the left and 5th Battalion, 16th Infantry on the right. The 2nd
Brigade, in the eastern zone, struck with 3d Battalion, 37th Armor
on the left and the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry on the right.
All four battalions were organized as combined-arms task
forces. To the defending Iraqis, they must have appeared as a
solid wall of fire and iron as the assaulting battalions opened
fire with 120-mm volleys from their tank platoons. Tank and
Bradley-mounted machine guns poured rounds into all possi-