had gathered some 6,500 Marines and 1,500 Army soldiers that would take part in the assault with about 2,500 Navy personnel in operational and support roles. U.S., Iraqi and British forces totaled about 13,500. After weeks of withstanding air strikes and artillery bombardment, the militants holed up in the city appeared to be vulnerable to direct attack. American units were augmented by Iraqi interpreters to assist them in the planned fight. In addition, overhead imagery was used to prepare maps of the city for use by the attackers. and Iraqi forces had established checkpoints around the city to prevent anyone from entering the city, and to intercept insurgents attempting to flee. Coalition forcesīefore beginning their attack, U.S. official told ABC News that catching Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said to be in Fallujah, was now "the highest priority," and estimated his troops at 5,000 men, mostly non-Iraqis. Insurgent strength and control began to grow to such an extent that by 24 September 2004, a senior U.S. The Fallujah Brigade, composed of local Iraqis under the command of a former Ba'athist officer named Muhammed Latif, took control of the city. On 28 April 2004, Operation Vigilant Resolve ended with an agreement where the local population was ordered to keep the insurgents out of the city. Marine Corps forces launched Operation Vigilant Resolve (4 April 2004) to take back control of the city from insurgent forces. Images of their mutilated bodies were broadcast around the world. Shortly afterward, on 31 March 2004, four American private military contractors from Blackwater USA were ambushed and killed in the city. 82nd Airborne Division to the 1st Marine Division. As they scrambled from the room, the ordnance failed to explode and was eventually detonated in place, taking the building’s upper floors with it.In February 2004, control of Fallujah and the surrounding area in the Al-Anbar province was transferred from the U.S. Calling in Hurricane Isabelįrom the vehicle’s vantage point, the gunner likely saw the three infrared silhouettes of men in beanies and buffalo jackets poking their heads over a window ledge and assumed they were enemy insurgents, and not in fact, Marines.Īs Mardan and the others yelled over the radio for a ceasefire, there was a sudden thump - which he remembers to this day - as a TOW missile burst through the wall and skidded to a halt, sputtering feet away from the radio and right in the center of the Marines. Despite the incredible efforts to save the critically wounded Marine, he died of his injuries.
As it turned, the ramp was lowered so the patient could be quickly moved off the vehicle.
#Phantom fury the 2nd battle for fallujah driver#
Locking up one tread, the driver deliberately fishtailed the vehicle so it spun around and lined the ramp up with waiting medical personnel. The Vietnam-era vehicle, which was designed to move through contested and rough ground, raced 60 miles an hour through the rubble-strewn streets of Fallujah before arriving at the train station where the battalion was headquartered. In a race to get the wounded man to the care he needed, an Army National Guard unit loaded the Marine into a M113 armored personnel carrier they were using as an armored ambulance. Nor would the wounded Marine be able to survive long enough for a Humvee to make it back to the battalion aid station. Patrick Gallogly, who was the battalion air officer at the time and was on the radio calling for a casualty evacuation. 14, there wasn’t enough time to wait for a helicopter to arrive at his location, explained Lt. When a Marine was shot between the eyes on Nov. A US Marine of the 1st division walks through the deserted western part of Fallujah, Iraq, Monday, Nov.
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