On January 17, barely two days after the deadline, hostilities began with the aerial bombardment of Iraq and occupied positions in Kuwait by U.S. and Coalition air forces. The whole operation became with the advent of hostilities Operation Desert Storm. From the start, it was apparent that the Joint Forces Coalition would rule the skies over the theater of operations. Iraq's response, due to its ineffectual air force, was to launch Soviet-manufactured SCUD-A missiles at targets in Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iraq hoped thereby to draw the Israelis into the fray and force a rift in the partly Arab coalition. Although some of the missiles got through, the attempt to force a rift was ultimately to fail.
Third Armored soldiers saw the war start from locations scattered throughout Saudi Arabia. Those already training in the desert, continued getting ready for battle as SCUDs zoomed overhead on their way to targets in Dhahran and Riyadh. Bunkers got deeper and training intensified. Equipment, some still aboard ships in Dhahran Harbor, was sent to the front lines as fast as it could be unloaded and sent forward.
As the air war dragged on and the prospect of a ground war neared, Maj. Gen. Paul A. Funk, commander of the Third Armored Division, began looking for the right tool to train his troops for the final push north. He found it in two exercises: Hummex I and Hummex II.
Hummex I, which took its name from the lowly HMMWV (the vehicle that replaced the jeep), was an especially effective exercise that helped adapt the division's extensive European training to the desert environment. It gave commanders the knowledge, and troops the experience, they would need to defeat the Iraqis in battle.
The first exercise stressed mass movement and maneuver, and it gave commanders a chance to see where their troops would be in battle in relation to other units on the ground. It primarily used the HMMWV, the smallest and lightest vehicle in the U.S. inventory, thus sparing the heavy armored weapons systems, the M1A1 Tank and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, undue wear and tear. It gave planners a chance to try their newly adapted tactics in real desert situations, without losing soldiers lives in combat to test them. It also gave troops an opportunity to gain confidence in their new environment by "hands on" training.
The second exercise, Hummex II, went one step further. Taking weaknesses uncovered in the first exercise out of the scenario, it afforded one more opportunity to learn by training; something that really pays off in lives saved, during combat. This second effort used some of the tracked vehicles, although not all of the Division's heavy assets, and the lessons learned were most rewarding.
At this juncture, with all the Coalition ground forces lined up south of Kuwait, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the Coalition Commander-in-Chief, pulled a card out of his sleeve that made the short, life-saving four-day war possible. Up to this point, Saddam and his military forces had been led to believe that that main thrust of the ground war would come through Kuwait. Indeed, all the troops seemed poised for the thrust.
But on February 16, the troops began to move. A press blackout and the Iraqi lack of eyes in the sky, effectively hid the movement of more than half the troops westward, where they took up new positions south of Iraq's nearly undefended southern border. What the press was heralding instead was the imminent landing of numerous Marines in an amphibious attack on the shores of eastern Kuwait. The landings would never happen, but the undetected shift of troops was to pay wonderful dividends.
Waiting for a frontal assault, the Iraqis were stunned and surprised on February 24 and 25 when they discovered Allied troops of the VII and XVIII Corps pulling an end-run up the western Kuwaiti border and slamming the rear door shut on Iraqi forces trying to escape Kuwait.
The Third Armored Division, who aptly code-named their part in the assault "Operation Desert Spear," were to play a vital part in the battle. From their new and secret location at Log Base Echo, 75 miles west of the Iraq-Kuwait-Saudi border, they would hurl themselves across minor Iraqi defenses on the afternoon of the 24th with enough momentum to carry them through several divisions of defenders, including three divisions of the Republican Guard.
This juggernaut was launched from Forward Assembly Area butts, a narrow series of positions not much more than 10 miles wide and 35 miles deep where the Third Armored troops had waited out the last few days of the air war; waited with apprehension for the curtain to go up on a stage where they would perform their well-rehearsed ballet of battle.
Third Armored soldiers saw the war start from locations scattered throughout Saudi Arabia. Those already training in the desert, continued getting ready for battle as SCUDs zoomed overhead on their way to targets in Dhahran and Riyadh. Bunkers got deeper and training intensified. Equipment, some still aboard ships in Dhahran Harbor, was sent to the front lines as fast as it could be unloaded and sent forward.
As the air war dragged on and the prospect of a ground war neared, Maj. Gen. Paul A. Funk, commander of the Third Armored Division, began looking for the right tool to train his troops for the final push north. He found it in two exercises: Hummex I and Hummex II.
Hummex I, which took its name from the lowly HMMWV (the vehicle that replaced the jeep), was an especially effective exercise that helped adapt the division's extensive European training to the desert environment. It gave commanders the knowledge, and troops the experience, they would need to defeat the Iraqis in battle.
The first exercise stressed mass movement and maneuver, and it gave commanders a chance to see where their troops would be in battle in relation to other units on the ground. It primarily used the HMMWV, the smallest and lightest vehicle in the U.S. inventory, thus sparing the heavy armored weapons systems, the M1A1 Tank and the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, undue wear and tear. It gave planners a chance to try their newly adapted tactics in real desert situations, without losing soldiers lives in combat to test them. It also gave troops an opportunity to gain confidence in their new environment by "hands on" training.
The second exercise, Hummex II, went one step further. Taking weaknesses uncovered in the first exercise out of the scenario, it afforded one more opportunity to learn by training; something that really pays off in lives saved, during combat. This second effort used some of the tracked vehicles, although not all of the Division's heavy assets, and the lessons learned were most rewarding.
At this juncture, with all the Coalition ground forces lined up south of Kuwait, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, the Coalition Commander-in-Chief, pulled a card out of his sleeve that made the short, life-saving four-day war possible. Up to this point, Saddam and his military forces had been led to believe that that main thrust of the ground war would come through Kuwait. Indeed, all the troops seemed poised for the thrust.
But on February 16, the troops began to move. A press blackout and the Iraqi lack of eyes in the sky, effectively hid the movement of more than half the troops westward, where they took up new positions south of Iraq's nearly undefended southern border. What the press was heralding instead was the imminent landing of numerous Marines in an amphibious attack on the shores of eastern Kuwait. The landings would never happen, but the undetected shift of troops was to pay wonderful dividends.
Waiting for a frontal assault, the Iraqis were stunned and surprised on February 24 and 25 when they discovered Allied troops of the VII and XVIII Corps pulling an end-run up the western Kuwaiti border and slamming the rear door shut on Iraqi forces trying to escape Kuwait.
The Third Armored Division, who aptly code-named their part in the assault "Operation Desert Spear," were to play a vital part in the battle. From their new and secret location at Log Base Echo, 75 miles west of the Iraq-Kuwait-Saudi border, they would hurl themselves across minor Iraqi defenses on the afternoon of the 24th with enough momentum to carry them through several divisions of defenders, including three divisions of the Republican Guard.
This juggernaut was launched from Forward Assembly Area butts, a narrow series of positions not much more than 10 miles wide and 35 miles deep where the Third Armored troops had waited out the last few days of the air war; waited with apprehension for the curtain to go up on a stage where they would perform their well-rehearsed ballet of battle.
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