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

The Basra Highway 167
2nd Brigade as well. By 1600 hours, LTC Wilson realized he was
out of contact with the rest of the Big Red One. 22 Wilson now
faced one of those decisions that are reserved for those in command.
He had essentially two options. First, he could hold his
position and try to regain contact with his senior commanders,
planning on accomplishing his mission once he had received
more information on the division’s progress. Or, he could take
advantage of the breakdown in the Iraqi’s defenses and continue
to his original objective, assuming that the rest of the division
would follow shortly thereafter.
Wilson and Burdan, unaware of the confusion at their senior
headquarters, assumed that the division would catch up
with them shortly. As they continued their advance towards
Objective Denver, the leaders sketched out their plan of action.
They needed to accomplish two tasks: cut the Basra Highway,
as Rhame had instructed, and continue to protect the division’s
northern flank, in case the Iraqi army attempted to counterattack
from the north. Wilson gave A Troop the mission of cutting
the Basra Highway, while B Troop would stretch out on line to
the west for approximately ten kilometers to block any approach
from the north. 23
The squadron commander discussed his options with Burdan
and his two ground troop commanders. They were all
comfortable with their mission, knew they could reestablish
contact by sending their helicopters south, and assumed that
the remainder of the division was on its way. It was obvious to
all that organized Iraqi resistance had evaporated. The aeroscouts
reported no meaningful enemy activity in the area and
no organized units within ten kilometers of the squadron. Of
course, cavalrymen by nature are not inclined to wait, and the
aggressive Wilson was anxious to accomplish his mission.
Therefore, he ordered his commanders to continue towards the
highway where they would wait for the arrival of the rest of the
Big Red One. They approached the northern edge of Objective
Denver around 1630 hours, thus cutting the Basra Highway
and accomplishing Rhame’s promise to LTG Franks. 24
As B Troop arrived on its objective at 1630, it moved to establish
a thin screen-line stretching west starting about eight
kilometers west of the highway. CPT Roy Peters, the D Troop