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destruction of the Republican Guard Forces Command, General Franksconducted a giant envelopment involving the 1st Cavalry Division onthe left and the 1st Infantry Division on the right. The trap closed ondisorganized bands of Iraqis streaming north in full retreat. The onlysetback for the VII Corps during this climactic assault occurred in theBritish sector. American Air Force A–10 Thunderbolt aircraft supportingthe British advance mistakenly fired on two infantry fighting vehicles,killing nine British soldiers.At 1700, Franks informed his divisions of an imminent theaterwidecease-fire but pressed the VII Corps attack farther east. An hour later,the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, set a blockingposition on the north-south highway connecting Al Basrah to KuwaitCity. The next morning, corps artillery units fired an enormous preparationinvolving all long-range weapons: 155-mm. and 8-inch (203-mm.)self-propelled pieces, rocket launchers, and tactical missiles. Attackhelicopters followed to strike suspected enemy positions. The advanceeast continued a short time until the cease-fire went into effect at 0800,28 February, with American armored divisions well inside Kuwait.In ninety hours of continuous movement and combat, the VII Corpshad achieved impressive results against the best units of the Iraqi military.Franks’ troops destroyed more than a dozen Iraqi divisions, an estimated1,300 tanks, 1,200 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers,285 artillery pieces, and 100 air-defense systems and had capturednearly 22,000 men. At the same time, the best Iraqi divisions destroyedonly 7 Abrams tanks, 15 Bradleys, 2 armored personnel carriers, and1 Apache helicopter. And, while killing unknown thousands of enemytroops, the VII Corps lost twenty-two soldiers killed in action.In the Marine Central Command’s sector on 27 February, the 2dArmored Division’s Tiger Brigade and the 2d Marine Division beganthe fourth day of the ground war by holding positions and maintainingclose liaison with Joint Forces Command–North units on the left flank.The next phase of operations in Kuwait would see Saudi-commandedunits pass through General Boomer’s sector from west to east and goon to liberate Kuwait City. At 0550, Tiger troops made contact withEgyptian units; four hours later, JFC-N columns passed through the 2dMarine Division. During the rest of the day, Tiger troops cleared bunkercomplexes, Ali Al Salem Airfield, and the Kuwaiti Royal Summer Palace,while processing a continuous stream of prisoners of war. The Armybrigade and the 2d Marine Division remained on Mutla Ridge and PhaseLine Bear until the cease-fire went into effect at 0800 on 28 February.Prisoner interrogation during and after combat operations revealed that62