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

Objective Norfolk 157
tics area, with many cargo trucks, trailers, and fuel tankers full
of petrol. 68
While Pope’s command was cutting through the Iraqi defenders,
B Troop attacked with its three platoons on line. Second
Lieutenant Thomas Karns’s platoon attacked in the south,
2LT Blaise Liess’s command in the center, and 2LT Lowndes,
who had already attacked along with the command group that
evening, moved in the north and maintained contact with A
Troop. Moving through the area they had fought in the night
before, Lowndes’s platoon destroyed any Iraqi vehicles or soldiers
that still had some fight left. 69 In addition, CW3 Waymire’s
SWT from D Troop was supporting the troop from its position
on the southern flank of the troop.
As Bills’s command crested a small ridgeline, they faced the
amazing sight of dozens of burning Iraqi vehicles, the results of
the previous evening’s fire-fight. As they rolled into the Iraqi logistics
site, they encountered numerous bunkers, dug-in infantry,
and supply vehicles. By 0715 hours, the troop was at its limit of
advance and prepared to continue the attack into Kuwait. 70
Wilson had followed A Troop while Burdan trailed B Troop.
At the end of the fight they linked up and decided to inspect the
area they had just fought through during the past few hours.
The BMP that MAJ Burdan thought he had destroyed the night
before turned out to be a T-55 tank; the Bradley’s 25 mm armor
piercing round had gone right into its turret. Other vehicles that
B Troop had destroyed were still smoking. While he was
pulling out of the area, Burdan confronted a hostile T-72 tank,
in hull-defilade, at close range. The Iraqi tank commander
dropped inside his turret and began traversing in Burdan’s direction.
Stopping to raise his turret’s missile launcher, SGT Carpenter
fired a TOW at the target only 200 meters away. They
were too close and the missile hit the ground, careening out of
sight. Before the tank could return fire, Wilson, a little farther
away, shot another missile, destroying it. They were lucky; the
Bradley was simply not as effective as the tank in such a fight. 71
By 0800 hours Wilson ended the attack and directed the
squadron to begin the rearm and refuel operations. The Command
Group pulled up together just below a ridgeline looking
out to the east. The air liaison officer’s vehicle had a shortwave