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

The Breach 123
ble positions, while smoke rounds marked assault sectors and
isolated Iraqi positions from each other. 21
As the lead elements approached the trenches, the Iraqis
could see that many of the tanks pushed plows and mine rollers
in front of them. Combat engineer vehicles with their short but
lethal 165-mm guns and plows, and the new armored combat
earthmovers, called ACEs, also headed for trenches and
bunkers. Behind this 6,000-meter-wide wall of iron came the remainder
of the battalions, especially the Bradley Infantry Fighting
Vehicles, with soldiers ready to fire from the ports on the
side and rear. In the turrets, the gunners prepared to engage
with 7.62-mm coaxial machine guns and 25-mm Bushmaster
automatic cannon. Five hundred meters south of the enemy
trench line, the assaulting task forces dropped their plows from
their carry position. They continued north at fifteen kilometers
per hour, firing coaxial machine guns and 120-mm cannon into
the trenches. Trailing the four lead maneuver and two engineer
task forces were the three exploiting units: 1st Squadron, 4th
Cavalry, and 1st Battalion, 34th Armor, from the 1st Brigade and
the 4th Battalion, 37th Armor from the 2nd. 22
Although enemy resistance was generally limited to uncoordinated
small-arms, rifle propelled grenades (RPG), artillery
and mortar fire, the Iraqis did not simply quit. In the 1st Brigade
sector, LTC Gregory Fontenot, the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor
task force commander, and one of his teams were forced off a
low ridge by Iraqi artillery. The 5th Battalion, 16th Infantry task
force took fire from an Iraqi platoon and used concentrated
coaxial machine gun and Bushmaster fire to capture the position
and its twenty-five survivors. In the eastern part of the sector,
the 2nd Brigade’s movement went faster and met little opposition.
Iraqi soldiers continued to fight from their trenches and
bunkers, obviously expecting a friendly counterattack to drive
the attackers off. Mounted fire from approaching American armored
vehicles was not enough to defeat the defending Iraqis. 23
Finally, the attacking battalions reached the trench lines.
The Iraqis probably anticipated dismounted American soldiers
assaulting their ground positions, but the 1st Infantry Division
commanders had no intention of playing by the Iraqi rules.
Once across the trench, tanks equipped with menacing multi-