cmh_70-117-1

Burning oil fields in Kuwait sabotaged by retreating Iraqi troopsthe Tiger Brigade advance had split the seam between the Iraqi III andIV Corps, overrunning elements of the 14th, 7th, and 36th InfantryDivisions, as well as brigades of the 3d Armored, 1st Mechanized, and2d Infantry Divisions. During four days of combat, Tiger Brigade taskforces destroyed or captured 181 tanks, 148 armored personnel carriers,40 artillery pieces, and 27 antiaircraft systems while killing an estimated263 enemy and capturing 4,051 prisoners of war, all at a cost of 2 killedand 5 wounded.Cease-fireWhen the cease-fire ordered by President Bush went into effect,coalition divisions faced the beaten remnants of a once-formidable force.The U.S. Army had contributed the bulk of the ground combat powerthat defeated and very nearly destroyed the Iraqi ground forces. TheIraqis lost 3,847 of their 4,280 tanks, over half of their 2,880 armoredpersonnel carriers, and nearly all of their 3,100 artillery pieces. Onlyfive to seven of their forty-three combat divisions remained capable ofoffensive operations. In the days after the cease-fire, the busiest soldierswere those engaged in the monumental task of counting and caring for anestimated sixty thousand prisoners. And these surprising results came atthe cost of 148 Americans killed in action. In the theater of operations,63