From TransFormaTion To CombaT The First stryker brigade at War

September 2004, the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry, along with elements
of the 1st Battalion, 23d Infantry, launched Operation Black Typhoon.
(Map 5) The 5th Battalion’s 120-mm. Mortar Platoon kicked off the
effort, leaving sykes under cover of darkness for a firing location two
miles south of Tall Afar. At 0200 the platoon laid down a withering barrage
against five of the insurgents’ reinforced fighting positions. With
high explosives saturating each target, the Strykers of the 5th Battalion’s
Companies A, B, and C departed sykes for their attack positions.
Between 0130 and 0247 an Air Force AC–130 gunship circling
overhead engaged five separate targets on the eastern side of town.
It also took on two defensive positions and a group of approximately
twenty-five insurgents attempting to maneuver against the leading elements
of Lt. Col. William T. James’ 1st Battalion, 23d Infantry, which
was moving into attack position. The gunship killed or wounded at least
fifty-five of the enemy.
By 0330 the 5th Battalion’s companies had reached the western
outskirts of Tall Afar. As they did, they encountered light resistance,
mostly intermittent small-arms and mortar fire. To the south, only Captain
Beaty’s Company C encountered opposition from insurgents defending
a fortified position. Returning fire, the unit killed three.
The second phase of the operation unfolded when Capt. Matthew F.
Dabkowski’s Company A of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry, worked its
way onto high ground west of the city without being detected. By 0600
Captain Mason’s Company B had occupied heights to the northwest of
the city and began tying in with Company A’s left flank. As Mason’s
men moved into position, they began to receive increasing RPG and
small-arms fire. They responded with machine-gun, rifle, and sniper fire
of their own, silencing each target that arose. At this time the insurgents
launched an assault on Company A. Coordinating fire with Company
B, Dabkowski’s men created a killing zone that repelled every enemy
attempt to approach their position.
In the face of the 5th Battalion’s deadly fire, the insurgents retreated
east to the edge of town. Shifting focus in an attempt to disrupt the
American assault, seven of them occupied a pair of houses directly opposite
Captain Mason’s Company B. Emerging from one building, they
would run to a nearby street corner, engage the Americans, and then
sprint to the other to reload. Deciding that the approaches to the two
positions were too exposed to risk a direct assault, Reed turned to his
air support. Moments later, an F–16 dropped a precision-guided bomb
that killed the seven insurgents and set off an ammunition cache in the
second building.
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