Thunder Run

I read the pictorial of the Third Infantry Division's advance up to Baghdad two nights back. This is an amazing visual chronicle of the armoured thrust involving hundreds of vehicles.

I can see the superhuman efforts in logistical terms when a column of this size moved. The number of vehicles numbered in the hundreds, from the armoured behemoths like the M1A1s to the humble Hummers armed with merely a M240B or M2HB.

The volume also illustrated the lightning advance of one of the brigades through the rear of the surprised Medina Division which was utterly wiped out. The curious thing about the Medina division is that the T-72 tankers often abandoned their MBTs while the lightly-armoured BMP crew tried to fight the advancing Americans.

David Zucchino offers a narrative of the advance in his book titled 'Thunder Run'. He chronicles the two runs and the eventual occupation of Saddam's palace. He also has a detailed, gripping account of the vicious battles at the three points held to ensure that the spearheads are supplied.

After the battles, the large number of Syrians killed were left unburied by the Iraqis who had nothing but disdain for these foreign fighters, whereas, they buried their own.

I read Zucchino's account several months ago. Truly amazing.