Foreword: In the 1991 Gulf War, the US AH-64 "Apache" helicopter gunship first launched an air strike 100 kilometers deep into Iraq on the night of February 18, and then after the "Desert Storm" operation began, the swarms of AH-64 "Apache" helicopter gunships carried out massacres against the Iraqi ground troops, and the low-willed Iraqi army did not have any counterattack except to escape and surrender.
One: the U.S. military's plan
By 2003, the U.S. military attacked Iraq again, the Iraqi army has lost the ability to engage in frontal combat, but the U.S. military believes that the Iraqi Republican Guard is still a strong enemy, after the start of the war, the U.S. military can not wait to quickly achieve victory, as a ground force, the 3rd Infantry Division of the U.S. 5th Army took the lead, directly killed the Iraqi Republican Guard Medina Division, after the Gulf War, the Medina Division seems to have learned to be smart, no longer exposed to open terrain, in the town to remain static and scattered, In order to weaken the Medina Division as much as possible, The commander of the U.S. 5th Army, Lieutenant General William Scott Wallace, decided to recreate the glory of the AH-64 "Apache" helicopter gunship in the Gulf War and launch a long-range helicopter strike against the Medina Division.
This task was given to the 11th Aviation Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division, which originally had the 2nd and 6th Squadrons, and before the war reinforced the 1st Battalion of the 227th Aviation Regiment, with a total of 61 state-of-the-art AH-64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships, and the commander of the 11th Aviation Regiment, William. Colonel Wolff planned to take off from the assembly area on 23 March to meet the 3rd Infantry Division's control point and eight trucks full of ammunition and fuel supply convoys, and then fly forward 60 kilometers to attack the 14th Mechanized Infantry Brigade under the Medina Division before the arrival of the US 3rd Infantry Division, to weaken its combat capabilities as much as possible. Colonel Wolff believed that 3 battalions could destroy all of the 14th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, the 2nd and 10th Panzer Brigades under the Medina Division in just two nights.
The 11th Air Regiment's plan was to cross Lake Mill west from Najaf, avoiding the front with the highest air defense density, attacking from the right wing of the 14th Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the Medina Division, and it was impossible to deploy air defense systems on Lake Mil, which was much safer and smoother, but this plan was rejected because Lake Mill had been allocated to the 101st Air Assault Division, there was no Forward Ammunition fuel supply point for the U.S. Army near Lake Mill, and the 3rd Infantry Division had not yet reached the vicinity of Lake Mill, allowing logistic units to enter the uncontrolled area was too risky. Commander of the 1st Battalion of the 227th Aviation Regiment, Dan. Bauer suggested launching an attack from the left flank, William. Colonel Wolff did not think it necessary, because Iraq was vulnerable, the war ended quickly, and this battle may be the only battle of the 11th Air Regiment, so he chose 3 from the 9 offensive routes planned by the staff, with the deployment of the 1st Battalion of the 227th Air Regiment on the west side, the 2nd and 6th Squadrons on the east side, attacking directly from the front, and the 1st Battalion of the 227th Air Regiment going directly through the town area of Karbala.
The 11th Air Regiment also had difficulties in support and intelligence, the Air Force attack aircraft would not appear in the area of gunship activity in order to avoid impact and accidental attack, and only the MGM-140 Army tactical missiles that could suppress the field mobile air defense system of the Medina Division, with a 7-10 minute interval from launch to landing, and finally decided to suppress the target area with 32 MGM-140 Army tactical missiles before the arrival of the 11th Air Regiment, and then the 11th Air Regiment used its own reconnaissance equipment and "Hellfire" to suppress the target area. Missiles to carry out free hunting freedom, no longer arrange additional support, intelligence, the 5th Army only one RQ-5 "Hunter" UAV available, the number of air force drones is limited, busy with other intelligence gathering, can not assist in theater reconnaissance, due to the Medina Division's strict implementation of evacuation and concealment, the US military only confirms the location of the 10th Armored Brigade, but can not determine the location of the 2nd Armored Brigade, nor can it determine the deployment of the Iraqi air defense system. Another problem is that the fuel convoy is not escorted, and although the location has been occupied by friendly forces, it has not been completely cleared and there is a certain risk.
Two: the actions of the Iraqi army
On 23 March, the 11th Air Regiment took off from the base and successfully rendezvoused with the fuel convoy, but found that the supply convoy was surrounded by helicopters from other units asking for fuel, which occupied all the landing space, and after some refusal from the commander of the supply convoy, finally let these helicopters leave, but it had been seriously delayed for 2 hours, and the fuel for the replenishment convoy was not enough to fill all the helicopters because of the helicopter raids of other troops, even William. Colonel Wolff's Black Hawk command and control helicopter was also fueled, William. Colonel Wolff had to decide to abandon The 2nd Squadron commanded by Scott Thompson while Mike Thompson was the only one to do so. Only 14 of the 21 AH-64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships of the 6th Squadron commanded by Babi were filled with fuel, and Company Commander Mike. Babi's landline was also not refueled, so he had to take over another fueled AH-64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship.
William. Colonel Wolff could only stay where he was, and even less coincidentally, bad weather affected the tactical command post communications, William W. Wolff. Colonel Wolff was unable to communicate with the Air Force and the command post far away in Kuwait to inform the delay of the attack, and the 6th Squadron and the 1st Battalion of the 227th Aviation Regiment finally took off at 1:15 a.m. on March 24, just after taking off, an AH-64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship crashed due to the engine sucking in a large amount of helicopter dust and rolled up, and the remaining AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships continued to operate, due to the communication failure of the tactical command post, The support fire was not postponed, but carried out according to the original schedule, according to the guidelines MGM-140 Army tactical missiles will fall a few minutes before the helicopter arrives to achieve maximum suppression effect, but the Air Force and MGM-140 Army tactical missiles have suppressed the target area several hours ago, it is difficult to say how many targets to destroy,
Instead, to provide early warning and combat readiness time for the Iraqi army, the upper echelons of the Medina Division did not have any instructions to escape, but an air defense battalion commander took action, the air defense battalion commander who had experienced the Gulf War fully recognized the threat of helicopters in the last war, and studied how to fight against the AH-64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship, he decided to use more than a dozen small pickups equipped with anti-aircraft machine guns or shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles as a mobile force, he lacked early warning radar, even if there was radar, Also worried about being attacked by anti-radiation missiles and being discovered by the electronic warfare equipment of the US helicopter, the observation team equipped with mobile phones was arranged at each point, the observation team issued a warning after finding the roar of the US helicopter, and the commander of the anti-aircraft battalion estimated the attack route of the US helicopter according to the position of the US helicopter passing through the observation group, and then called a small pickup truck to maneuver to the attack route.
By the command vehicle equipped with night vision goggles with tracer bombs as a means of command, all pickup trucks together a large number of shells on the attack route of the US helicopter to form a network of fire, do not seek to aim at the target, but wait for the helicopter to crash into it, the air defense battalion commander of the anti-aircraft battalion can not maneuver the 57 mm anti-aircraft guns also use, these anti-aircraft guns have a long range, they uniformly use the near-explosion grenade set 500-foot height fuze to shoot above the attack route of the US helicopter, forcing the US helicopter to a low altitude, Entering the range of anti-aircraft machine gun fire and forcing U.S. helicopters to fly in a large number of wires in the town, considering the poor night combat capability of the Iraqi army, the commander of the air defense battalion will arrange the troops in the town with abundant light sources, although the effective distance of the town lights is short, but it can also be found that the ultra-low altitude flying helicopter, the most important thing is that the US military can not effectively suppress so many lights, greatly reducing the gap between the two sides in the night battle.
Three: Fight
In Mike. When Babi led the 6th Squadron through the town, the Iraqi Army had been preparing for several hours, and when the time came, the commander of the anti-aircraft battalion ordered the power grid to turn off the lights of the whole town and signal to all the units to engage, so the dense ground fire immediately flew on the attack route of the American helicopter, and 20 minutes later, an AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship flight control system was bombed and asked to abandon the mission, but Mike. Fearing that a sharp turn and movement would disrupt the planned flight path and lead to mutual collision refusal, and unable to identify the hidden Iraqi troops in the complex urban area, Babi had to order limited deviation to avoid the area with the highest firepower, a CALL --64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship called "Pale Knight 16" fell into a fire net as it climbed to avoid high-voltage wires, the front seat weapons officer was seriously injured, the engine was damaged, the hydraulic pipeline was also broken, and the frightened Mike Babi did not care about hitting each other. Immediately ordered the full retreat.
Now only 1 battalion of the 227th Regiment, 4 AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships on the west side tried to prevent the enemy from passing through the mobile unit of Route 9, encountered intensive fire during the flight, 2 were seriously injured, and when they tried to climb away, they were suppressed by the close-blowing grenades of 57 mm anti-aircraft guns, all the helicopters were seriously injured, and the imminent AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship immediately violated the rules of engagement and attacked the mosque, and it was difficult to get out of the fire net. The company commander's landline barely flew back to the base after losing all its hydraulics, and the A Company, which was operating freely on the east side, was originally ready to strengthen the main attack of the B Company, but as soon as the lights in the city went out, the AH-64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship with the call "Avenger 26" caught fire and lost its hydraulic system, so it had to fly back quickly.
Company B originally had 6 AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships, and 2 AH-64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships of Company C were also reinforced to reconnoiter the ground for Company B, but no enemy vehicles were found, and one of the AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships with the sign "Reaper 11" opened fire on a civilian truck, and was immediately attacked by ground fire nets, the cockpit monitor was damaged, the engine power was severely reduced and could not climb, and the flight altitude was only 15 feet, At any time it could hit the building, another AH-64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship with the call sign "Vampire 12" struggled in the anti-aircraft fire net for 40 minutes, could not find a gap to escape, the pilot's foot was injured by the penetrating shell, barely able to control the flight pedal, an engine, flight management computer and hydraulic system failed, had to land on the spot, a CALL "Reaper 6" AH--64D "Longbow Apache" gunship tried to make "Vampire 12" The crew sat on the avionics cabin out of the war zone, but was also hit by the main rotor and hydraulic system, had to throw down the "Vampire 12" crew to escape,
Battalion Commander Dan of the 1st Battalion of the 227th Regiment. Bauer also wanted to join the rescue, but his AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship was hit by a shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile and caught fire, the 5th Army rescue coordination commander at the rear refueling point already knew the situation of the "Vampire 12" AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship, but he did not want to take this huge risk to rescue, on the grounds that he did not know the correct location of the crew, the 5th Army Command did not care about the crew members who were shipwrecked, Bent on destroying the damaged AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship, originally planned to use the MGM-140 Army tactical missile, later called the B-52 bomber to drop 26 bombs, to no avail, one of the two crew members was wounded in the leg and could not run fast, surrounded and captured alive by Iraqis,
Four: Succession
In this battle, only one of the 31 AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopters returned from the 1st Battalion of the 227th Regiment and the 6th Squadron were intact, and the rest were all seriously injured and barely managed to make a forced landing on the outskirts, and the 11th Aviation Regiment spent several hours in order to retrieve these AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships that were forced to land everywhere, and the AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships of the 6th Squadron were hit an average of 15 to 20 times, and at most one was hit 29 times. 62 rotors, 8 engines, 5 sets of drive shafts, 6 sets of cockpits were destroyed, the flight equipment outside the fuselage was so bad that it could not even be repaired, many AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships carried by the "Hellfire" missiles were not used, on the same day, 3 CH-47s full of maintenance personnel and repair parts came, only 2 were repaired, 12 were repaired after 4 days, 15 were repaired after a week, and 2 took a month to repair.
2 captured pilots and shot down AH--64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunship quickly appeared in the national media, Iraq claimed that it was shot down by an Iraqi farmer with a rifle, the Iraqi army found the downed AH--64D "Longbow Apache" gunship through Al Jazeera reports, successfully transferred to Baghdad on the afternoon of the 25th, but three days later was bombed and blown up by the US military, the Iraqi side only publicized this farmer in large quantities, and no one paid attention to the Iraqi air defense camp that really seriously damaged the US military. Reports of the Medina Division's report of repelling air raids were buried in a large number of exaggerated and untrue reports, Saddam Hussein and his senior officers were packing up their efforts to escape, and no one was promoting and improving the successful experience of the anti-aircraft battalion.
In retaliation, the U.S. military decided to send the 101st Air Brigade to try to attack again, the 101st Brigade once hesitated whether it should do it again, after learning the lesson, the 101st Air Brigade planned a very tortuous route to confuse the Iraqi military ground observers, after entering the strike zone, the 101 will not be a direct hard break, but divided into attack aircraft and rearguard aircraft constantly changing speed and altitude to avoid being locked, March 28, 21:45, The 1st Battalion of the 101st Air Brigade spent 40 minutes under the cover of the 2nd Battalion crossing Lake Karbala and 4 minutes before reaching Karbala, the MGM-140 Army tactical missiles providing suppressive firepower fell first, then the B Company first entered the city of Karbala to search for 30 minutes, then the A and C companies entered and searched for another 30 minutes, but because the Medina Division had fled, the 101st Air Brigade found nothing, but instead crashed 2 AH-64D "Longbow Apache" helicopter gunships due to low visibility at night.
Five: Conclusion
The commander of the Iraqi air defense battalion fully realizes his own shortcomings, adopts urban ambush, evacuation concealment to offset the observation and strike distance advantage of the AH--64D "longbow Apache" helicopter gunship, uses the naked eye sentry ring, mobile phone and light signal coordination to offset the strong anti-aircraft fire suppression and electronic warfare capabilities of the US military, but unfortunately this kind of talent Is too little, the Iraqi army needs more such excellent officers to be able to bring changes to the war situation, however, most of the Iraqi army's performance is worse than in the Gulf War. The entire Iraqi army from top to bottom either surrendered to the enemy or changed into plain clothes to escape, even if there is a good officer can not avoid the defeat of friends and neighbors,
It can be seen that the defeat of the Iraqi army is not backward in weapons, but people are not good, most Iraqi soldiers are extremely afraid of the advanced weapons of the US military under the psychological warfare of the US army, just like the bird of fright, a shot does not shoot and flee, most Iraqi officers do not understand tactics, nor will they command the troops, nor will they summarize and promote successful experience, such an army does not say that the US military, Yemen's Houthi armed forces can also cut melons and cut vegetables to defeat it, although the US military has absolute advantages, but any advantage has loopholes, the US military's plan is not rigorous, Coordination is also not perfect, when encountering opponents who do not play cards according to the US military routine, they become "cannons and mosquitoes", if replaced by an army like the volunteer army, which is brave and good at fighting, high morale and does not play cards according to the US military routine, the US military will not be able to take Iraq at all.