“Goddammit,” he said. “We need to reinforce that flank, and fast. What about those two Marine battalions?”
“They came up Highway 615, sir, and just reached Black Gold.” That was Supply Base Ahsa, in the heart of the Ghawar oil fields. Asha was the largest city in that region, encompassing Al Mubaraz, Al Hasa, Al Qarn and Al Hufuf.
“Then let’s get the Marines to Rivet Joint One, on the double. The Saudis are still too far forward given this development. They need to fall back into this area where the heavy dunes will limit the Iraqi infiltration tactics. That should allow them to extend their line south. One more thing. Tell 1/75 Rangers that guard duty is over at the Aramco Plant. Get them moving down Highway 80 to reinforce 3rd BCT. Then we’ll need to pony up assets from the other two BCT’s. Detach both recon squadrons and have one infantry battalion from each brigade ready for airmobile lift on my command. This thing is getting close to paydirt, and we’ve got to hold the line.”
“How soon before the Marines get here, sir?”
“You mean 1st Division? They could be two goddamn weeks for all I know. That’s up to the Navy. The Saudis are asking for support from Qatar, and now that they see the U.A.E. is in this thing, they’re more inclined to answer that in the affirmative. And our good friend the Sultan is mobilizing his people the get them over here as soon as possible.”
That was, of course, Taimur bin Assad, the current Sultan of Oman in this history, who succeeded Qaboos bin Said Al Said that very year. Oman had perhaps the second largest Army on the Arabian Peninsula after that of Saudi Arabia, and might be able to contribute seven or eight Brigade/Regiment sized units once they were fully mobilized. At that moment, however, The Iraqi Army was knocking on both the front and back doors of Ghawar, and they had to be stopped.
The Eagles and Apaches were also on the prowl that morning. Two Squadrons of F-15 Strike Eagles were based near Riyadh, and they began targeting the Iraqi column that had made its bold advance on that deep left flank. They were joined by 1/17th Heavy Attack Helicopters, their Apaches going in to try and slow the enemy advance and clog up their roads with burning vehicles.
The Iraqi advance continued in spite of these attacks, though it would take them all morning on the 28th as the brigades of the Al-Media Division began to arrive just east of Rivet Joint One. The Karbala Infantry Brigade had taken a position on Hill 853, which was right near Highway 80, about 15 kilometers west of the junction. They soon found themselves mostly surrounded by four US battalions, until they were joined by the19th Mech Brigade of the Talwakana Division, and their LOC west was secured.
Even with the addition of those LAV-25’s, US Airborne troops weren’t about to make assaults against such a heavily armored enemy force, but they would dig in and hold their ground. The brigade artillery battalion was busy all morning, shelling that hill, and Hill 912 20 kilometers north, which had been occupied by an Iraqi special forces battalion. The Iraqis did not press any attacks either, beyond scattered mortar fire. They were waiting on the rest of their corps….
After they made their report, Ives and Stoker had skedaddled east, the Hummer bouncing over the rough ground. They made their way to Hill 781 near Highway 75, just in time to see even more Iraqi troops arriving about ten kilometers to the north along that road. As the Saudis withdrew, they had extended their line south to take up positions along the Highway, as far south as the heliport at Abwab, so the right flank of Rivet Joint One was finally covered.
US reserves continued to flow to the scene, with 3/325th Battalion arriving by helicopter from 2nd BCT at Al Jubayl, and 1/504th Battalion humping it up Highway 80 from 1st BCT in Dammam. The Armored brigade of Bahrain, with 60 older M60A3 tanks, informed OMCOM that it would stand ready to move down Highway 80 if called upon to provide armored support. Around noon, General Conyers decided that the Iraqi infantry up on hill 853 had too good a look at the US positions, and he ordered it taken.
The soldiers of 3rd BCT stormed up that hill, supported by their own artillery and attack helos, and kicked the Karbala Infantry Brigade off those heights by 01:00. Atop their new perch, soldiers of 1/73rd Recon could see the distant smoke and dust rising from big movement to the west. That afternoon, they saw the mech brigades arriving, and now the full scale of the Iraqi concentration was known—a full corps of three Republican Guard divisions.
General Conyers’ force had now swelled from four to ten battalions, but they were looking at an equal number of Iraqi brigades, with at least 100 tanks, and plenty of AFV’s. The position the US forces now held stretched from a refinery substation ten kilometers north of Urayarah, due south over the newly captured Hill 853, and another ten kilometers south to the Mobile 1 airstrip and pipeline pump station. Beyond that, and all along that flank, was the craggy escarpment of Jiba Ash Shuab, which pretty much made any enveloping sweeping maneuver further south around Mobile 1 dubious at best, if not impossible. So the 82nd dug in and waited to see what Saddam’s boys would do. In the meantime, they would watch the fireworks as that concentrated enemy force became the object of F-15 Strike Eagles, B-1’s out of Al Udied in Qatar, and the Buffs,[4] all the way from Diego Garcia.
It was a move that was sound in principle, well executed, yet fraught with potential shortcomings that could make it very risky. Taking three divisions of the Republican Guard and running them into that valley sweeping south towards Highway 80 was an almost impudent move, as the US Generals at OMCOM saw things. Lt. General Scott, the theater commander, summed things us nicely.
“Alright, here’s the latest photo recon from the Air Force this afternoon, and this concentration is the Talwalkana, Nebuchadnezzar, and Al-Medina Divisions of the Republican Guard, three of their very best. They’ve been fighting, and on the move for 96 hours, so they have to be winded, and now this move around that flank has them at the end of a very long supply line, and some of it over rugged terrain. In short, we think they’re tired, hungry, and perhaps needing fuel, but as these photos show, they appear to be organizing for an attack up Highway 80 towards Dammam.”
The photos didn’t lie. They showed the mechanized companies forming up, armor behind them, but what was notably absent was artillery. The big Iraqi self-propelled guns were cumbersome and slow, and none of the battalions had made it that far south. So the Iraqis would attack without the historical queen of the battlefield, artillery. All they had was a few organic guns and mortars.
“Gentlemen, they think they’re looking at a thin line of Khaki out there, just another brigade they plan to blow through. But if they’d squint, and look a little closer, they’ll see the Stars and Bars on the shoulders of our troops, and that makes all the difference. We’re not just anybody and his mother out there, we’re the 82nd Airborne Division, United States Army. We’ve built up to perhaps two brigades in strength against ten of theirs, but that’s deceptive. Any one of the ten battalions we have on the line has the raw muscle, firepower and fighting prowess to equal any Iraqi brigade you put in front of it. So they’re going to have to bunch up on us, and we’ve got the air power to hurt them when they try that.”
“Sir, what about the thrust coming down Highway 75?” came the obvious question from Skip Johnson, Liaison officer for the 82nd.