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

Objective Norfolk 155
line of troops, perhaps hastily thrown together, whose mission
was to protect the southern portion of the Iraqi Army’s logistics
supplies and escape route. 62
Before the first glimmers of light appeared on the horizon,
it was obvious that the squadron confronted at least a battalion
of Iraqi defenders, many in prepared defensive positions. Wilson
decided it was time to concentrate his command and execute
a hasty attack either to destroy the troops to his front or, at
least, develop the situation. Then he could quantify for the division
commander the nature of the threat to his north. He ordered
the squadron to pull back from the immediate vicinity of
the Iraqi defenses to avoid a pre-dawn fire-fight with Iraqi
tanks fighting from prepared positions. The command group
then moved behind B Troop. 63
While Wilson contacted division headquarters and briefed
Rhame on the situation, MAJ Burdan developed a plan to attack
through the zone. He wanted to get the fragmentary order
out early, so the squadron could launch the attack while the
limited visibility hindered the Iraqi defenders. The concept was
simple: at 0600 hours two ground troops would attack abreast,
each with a zone of operations and a limit of advance. In addition,
each troop would have operational control of an aeroscout
weapons team consisting of one OH-58C and two AH-1 Cobra
gun ships. However the SWTs would not arrive until approximately
0645 hours because they were a long way from the
ground troops and there would not be enough light for them to
fly until about 0630 hours. Shortly before 0600 hours, the
squadron was ready to begin. 64
CPT Ken Pope’s A Troop attacked on the left flank. He arrayed
his command with two cavalry platoons forward and his
reaction platoon in reserve to the rear. Its initial contact was
with two T-72 tanks that it destroyed immediately. Tank mainguns
provided the power to penetrate the defensive berms and
destroy dug-in Iraqi armor. Continuing forward, the troop encountered
a dug-in infantry platoon and had a short but intense
fire-fight. With machine-gun, rifle, and tank rounds whizzing
through the air, Pope and his other vehicle commanders decided
to drop back down inside their turrets for safety. 65
Leaving 2LT Jim Copenhaver’s 1st Platoon behind to dis-