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

Figure 166. 2nd BCT attacks to Objective SAINTSsince the brigade remained strung out from the march the night before. In fact, the brigadeattacked to SAINTS straight from the march through Objective PEACH. The troops arrived atSAINTS, as one unit history put it, “smoked,” but they knew what to do.Within 20 minutes of crossing the Euphrates, Charlton’s TF 1-15 IN reported contact with aplatoon of T-72s and paramilitary forces in civilian vehicles. 126 After dispatching the tanks andparamilitary troops, the task force continued to advance against relatively light, but determinedresistance, nearing SAINTS by 1017. On the approach to SAINTS, Charlton’s troops overcameseveral RPG ambushes staged by irregular forces and small units of the NebuchadnezzarDivision. Fixed-wing air supported the attack by striking Iraqi forces defending withinSAINTS itself. 127296