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

The Breach 125
ald Kovach and SSG William Ball was just behind them. The
truck turned out to have an engine problem that could not be
repaired on the spot. They got another HEMTT truck, hooked
up the broken one to it, and supervised its towing through the
lane. Within an hour, the truck was operational and delivering
its badly needed supplies. 26
The support troops also had one of the first enemy contacts
when the A Troop M88 Tank Recovery Vehicle crew, lead by
SSG Ernesto Infante, saw three Iraqi soldiers climbing out of a
bunker. The maintenance sergeant stopped his vehicle and fired
his .50 caliber machine gun at them, causing the Iraqis to throw
their hands in the air. Unfortunately, this engagement took
place inside one of the narrow breach lanes, causing the following
combat equipment to bunch together and stop. SFC William
Molitor jumped out of his vehicle and ran up to Infante and ordered
him to quickly disarm the prisoners, send them to the
rear, and get moving. 27
At 1600 hours, Fontenot’s Task Force 2-34 Armor reported
clearing its objectives (3K and 4K), thus opening the way for
Wilson’s troopers to begin their attack towards their objective
15K. Meanwhile, TF 5-16 Infantry cleared objective 1K and
linked up with the 2nd Brigade on the 1st Brigade’s right flank.
A short time later, COL Maggart judged that the situation
amongst the trench lines was clear enough for the cavalry and
LTC Patrick Ritter’s 1-34 AR to commence their attack.
As B Troop emerged from the breach and began passing 2-
34 Armor, it spotted two trucks filled with Iraqi soldiers trying
to escape north. The tanks engaged each of the trucks with the
120-mm sabot rounds they had already loaded in their tubes.
Each round passed through the light-skinned Iraqi vehicles,
with the concussion from the impact killing everyone on board.
An M3 fired a TOW missile at another light armored vehicle
about 2,000 meters away, destroying it with one shot. The troop
also attacked through an artillery position, and as they did so
almost a hundred Iraqi soldiers came out of their bunkers to
surrender. 1SGT David Rooks, 1LT Gerald Danussi, and the
mortar platoon rounded up the prisoners and sent them to the
rear. CPT Bills remembered watching these events as if each
transpired in slow motion. For just a moment, he felt he was an