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

194 The Road to Safwan
tion on the Iraqis’ composition or disposition. 31 The squadron’s
avaitors, however, were soon reporting dozens of abandoned
Iraqi Army vehicles on the way to the airfield. Rhame ordered
Wilson not to slow down and destroy any of these vehicles so he
could get to Safwan before the Iraqis could react. 32
At around 0700 hours, as the ground troops approached the
mountain, which was off to the side of the airfield, A Troop
swung to the east and B Troop moved to the west. The SWT led
by Mr Thomas reconnoitered the mountain itself and could find
no Iraqis there. However, it did see some to the north of the airfield.
As the ground troops swept around the mountain, they
had difficulty identifying the small airstrip, as the vehicle commanders
had been expecting a large runway. A Troop’s soldiers
finally crossed what they initially thought was an unfinished
four-lane highway that turned out to be the narrow asphalt
strip. Realizing their mistake, the ground troops continued their
push beyond the airfield and soon ran into the Iraqis. Just as the
aviators had reported, tanks, BMPs, and other vehicles occupied
revetted positions on the northern side of the airfield, oriented
towards the south and west. Behind the dug-in armor, the Iraqis
had positioned many more tracked and wheeled vehicles. 33
What the 1-4 Cavalry had found defending about 1,500 meters
north of the airfield, was an entire Iraqi armored brigade. Three
battalions were on-line and an additional battalion positioned in
depth. All of the Iraqi combat vehicles were in prepared positions.
34 Wilson reminded his commanders not to fire unless fired
upon or in danger, 35 but to continue in a steady advance to the
airfield. The troopers were nervous and some feared that they
would be the first casualties in a renewal of the fighting. Courageously,
they drove their combat vehicles within the range of the
Iraqi weapon systems and occupied the airfield. 36
With the cavalry squadron on the objective, Rhame ordered
Wilson to move his air-scouts to the important road junction
about five miles east of Safwan Mountain. As the air cavalrymen
continued to investigate, they found the area full of other
Iraqi tank and mechanized units. The squadron’s scouts
watched hundreds of Iraqi vehicles continue to move north and
away from the Americans. 37 The squadron had obviously arrived
at the southern boundary of the Basra pocket.