On Point: the United States Army in Operation Iraqi ... - Boekje Pienter

Figure 164. TF 3-69 AR attacks to seize Objective PEACH and expand the bridgeheadTo expand the bridgehead, the task force had to control the road net that brought traffic tothe bridge. This was a daunting task for four maneuver companies. Essentially two roads formedtwo sides of an equilateral triangle with the tip at the main bridge. One of the roads came into thebridgehead generally from the northeast and the other from the southeast. Accordingly, the taskforce continued the attack until it seized both bridges and defensible terrain encompassing thetwo major roads. Marcone identified an intersection about 5 kilometers east of the main bridgeas key terrain. As he put it, “Charlie Company comes across and he has to get this piece ofground. If he owns this nobody can get to us quickly.” 114 Accordingly, Marcone ordered CaptainJared Robbins and his tank company team east to secure a blocking position they named S6.Once Robbins headed east,Captain Dave Benton’s mecha- TeleEngineering and Bridge Expansionnized company team crossed and The combat engineers consulted with bridging expertsturned north, rolling up from the by “TeleEngineering”115 115 and began effecting repairs toflank what turned out to be a recon- the bridges at at Objective PEACH immediately. By noonnaissance company of the Medina the next day, the 299 Medium Ribbon Bridge CompanyDivision’s reconnaissance battal- attached to to the 54th Engineer Battalion was well on theion. The Medina’s reconnaissance way to to putting a float bridge across the river. Eventually atroops had oriented to the west medium girder bridge was also placed over the damagedso Benton’s Bradleys and tanks portion of of the existing bridge. Subsequently the 54th’s BCompany also emplaced an assault float bridge across asquickly destroyed the Iraqi BMDs well.116 116 It It was very clear that this route would become theand seized Objective POWELL and lifeline of of the V Corps during the fight for Baghdad.the near side of the canal bridge292