G + 4 Feb. 28, 1991
At 5:30 a.m. the Force Artillery's preparatory barrage began with
155mm, 8", and MLRS strikes that lasted until 6:15.
Cannoneers like PFC Richard D. McRae of 2-41 Field Artillery, who
rammed 48 155 mm projectiles during the 45-minute prep, launched
a devastating attack that was immediately followed by a series of
AH-64 strikes which were completed shortly before 7 a.m. The
ground maneuver brigades attacked abreast and crossed PL Italy at
7:05. The brigades made contact with remnants of the MADINAH
Division and other Iraqi divisions fleeing northeast toward Al
Bashrah. A Corpswide cease-fire was called at approximately 6:45
when a MLRS battery commander located in the 3rd AD sector put
out an emergency call when he thought his unit was under friendly
fire. About 20 minutes later the Corps commander ordered the
attack to continue after the situation was sorted out. Though the
delay prevented the division from moving further east than PL
Monaco when the cease-fire went into effect at 8 a.m., it had
accomplished its mission by destroying two brigades of the
MADINAH. In the morning mist, 1st Lt. Fred Renzi of A Company,
1-37 Armor, saw the American flag flying over one of the
company's tanks and later remarked, "At that moment, no one
had to tell me what it meant to be an American or a U.S. soldier,
or how proud America was of us, or how much the people back home
believed in us. There was no need for words at all. I knew."
The division consolidated along PL Italy, a few miles from the
Iraq-Kuwait border, and prepared a hasty defense with 2nd Brigade
in the north, 1st Brigade in the center, 3rd Brigade and 1-1 Cav
lagering to the rear of PL Italy. Wartime rules of engagement
remained in effect, but the division's chemical protective MOPP
level was downgraded to 0.
In the brief engagements of Feb. 28 the division destroyed 41 more Iraqi tanks, 60 APCs, 15 Artillery pieces, 244 trucks, 11 ADA systems and captured 281 additional EPWs. Unfortunately, within hours of the cease-fire unexploded ordnance in the sector claimed the life of a third soldier, an engineer from the 19th Engineers.
