At the moment, US Planners at OMCOM were not overly concerned, because the U.A.E. Contingent, five brigades strong, had made good progress, coming up Highway 615 into the Ghawar Fields, and then moving up to Highway 80 behind BCT2 of the 82nd Airborne. With no direct threat to the oil fields at that time, it was decided to move the brigades from the Emirates right on up Highway 75, into a position where they could watch that extended left flank.
The Iraqis made two more attempts to break through the main Saudi line, one along the coast led by the Baghdad Division, supported by Iranian armor, and another on the extended left flank of the line. That coastal position was held by the Kuwaiti forces, all concentrated near the town of Manifah, and now the Iraqis made a big attempt to push through.
As before, the Kuwati forces were just not able to hold, and the battle of Manifah soon became a breakthrough zone, forcing the Saudis to shift their 11th Mech Brigade to that area.
“That brigade won’t be enough to hold,” said General Scott at OMCOM when the news came in. “Satellite imagery this morning shows a big reserve column coming down from Kuwait along the coast.”
“B-1’s have been working that over pretty good, sir.”
“Yes, all the way from Diego Garcia. We need to move those units into the Kingdom, and get the sortie rates up. Where is the U.A.E.?”
“They came up Highway 75, sir, and the head of their column is at As Sarrar south of Nairyah.”
“Watching that left flank? Hell we don’t need them there. The ground west of Highway 75 is murderous. The Iraqis have light forces there, but they won’t get over that stony ground easily. Better to shift the Emirate Force east, towards Al Jubayl.”
That decision was made, but it would then take half the day to get those troops east. Roads connecting Highway 75 to Highway 5 closer to the coast were few and far between. There were also many areas of impassable sand dunes between the two highways, and some could only be negotiated using thin desert tracks, which slowed the column a good deal.
As they moved, the Iraqis were pushing as hard as they could along that coastal road, now trying to break and turn the Saudi right flank as well. At the same time, they put in a big artillery barrage at the units holding the center near Nairyah, and heavy fighting renewed there soon after. Analysts at OMCOM thought it was a pinning attack, to prevent the Saudi’s from moving forces west towards the coast.
It was the U.A.E. that came riding to the rescue, all five brigades reaching the fighting that morning. They put in a sharp counterattack on the main coastal road just south of Manifah, and the remainder of their force extended their line west into the desert to stop any breakthrough there. This wall of fresh, well-armed troops, with good armor, was enough to bring the push along the coast to a complete halt. Yet by this time, a flood of reserves from both Iran and Iraq had reached the scene, and so they simply began to shift the attack further west, just beyond the lines of the Emirate contingent.
The fighting raged south of An Nairyah, and then five Iraqi infantry brigades, all dismounted infantry, made a human wave attack, emerging like dark Jinn rising through the blowing dust and sand. East of the town, the Hammurabi Division was making a big push to try and envelop the Saudi defense, and to the west, the Andan Division of the Republican Guard was pushing hard to reach Highway 75 and cut the city off.
The battle for Nairyah was over when that wave of Iraqi infantry swept over the town, and beleaguered Saudi forces, in danger of being surrounded by those flanking attacks, were forced to retreat. Just when it had seemed like the dike was reinforced in the coastal sector, the center was now giving way under that intense pressure.
The Twin battles of Manifah and Nairyah had put wind in the flagging sails of the Iraqi Army. The Republican Guard was now massing its divisions in the center, hoping to exploit the confusion in the Saudi lines. The drove south into the widening tangents of Highways 75 and 85 where they met at Nairyah, with the main effort pushing down Highway 85. If it prevailed, it would effectively flank the solid wall of resistance established by the U.A.E. forces earlier that morning. As officers of every stripe watched the changing situation at OMCOM, there were more than a few furrowed brows.
General Walter Conyers of the US 82nd Airborne, a balding man with over 40 years in the saddle, noted several airmobile incursions by enemy special forces behind the Saudi lines.
“I don’t like the look of that. Reports are that they have special forces troops taking up blocking positions on the roads behind the Saudis, and this breakthrough down Highway 85 is going to cut off the U.A.E. forces on the coast. I think we should advise the Saudis to get further south. They’re in danger of envelopment on too many sectors of the line.”
“I’ll inform the liaison officer, sir.”
“Right. Now that 3rd BCT is in country, I think it’s time we get it north. Let’s get them up here, where Highway 75 meets Highway 80. There’s a good heliport out near Abwab off Highway 75. I want that occupied.”
“Very good, sir. 1st Battalion 75th Rangers are also at Al-Udied in Qatar. Where do you want them?”
“Here, at the Saudi Aramco Refinery near Abqaiq. That gives us a pretty good screen in front of Ghawar. Now let’s hope the Saudi’s can conduct a fairly cohesive withdrawal.”
Over the next several hours, they watched as both wings of the front fell back until the line was reestablished from Ras al Khair on the coast, and southwest across Highway 85, stretching through the desert all the way to Highway 75. But the Iraqis had made good progress on that road, pushing aggressively south in their pursuit, looking to exploit any opening they could find. Near the coast, their lines were now about 40 kilometers north of the first big gas separator plant as Highway 5 approached Al Jubayl. So the tide of the fighting was starting to get uncomfortably close to the oil rich heart of the Kingdom.
A big tank fight happened at the junction of Highway 85 with the coastal Highway 5, right near the airfield and well site of Abu Hadriyah. There the Iraqi 26th and 34th Armored Brigades clashed head on with the 2nd Armored Brigade of the U.A.E., slowly forcing them down the road towards the airfield, but at great cost. Burning tanks littered the highway, the dark smoke of fires staining and thickening the clear blue sky.
That night, the last of the Saudi left wing began the long retreat south on Highway 75, stopping west of the desert airfield at Thadj. The next friendly forces they would encounter would be the men of the freshly deployed 15th MEU battalion near the Abwab Heliport. It was now attached to 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, which was holding just north of Urayaarah. That town screened a vital road junction where Highway 80 ran from Dammam on the coast all the way southwest to Riyadh in the heartland of the Kingdom.
But the Iraqis had no interest in the capital, at least not at this point in the campaign. It had no oil. Thus far they had made enough of an incursion into the Kingdom to hold a strong bargaining position if it came to that, but their suit would only lengthen if they were to secure some of the big oil infrastructure regions, and well sites of the mighty Ghawar.
The withdrawal down Highway 75 had opened that road to the Iraqis, and reconnaissance noted a long line of trucks moving south in the early hours of November 28th. No less than eight Iraqi motor rifle brigades formed that long column, and behind them, the Andan and Al Faw divisions were resting in the broken battlefield.
Casualties had been extremely heavy, on both sides, particularly in the armor brigades, where some units beginning the war with 36 tanks has single digits still operational. The vaunted Hammurabi Division had just 20 tanks left, but the Saudi Army had suffered as well.