The Fight for Kufa: Task Force 2-37
Abstract
As coalition forces entered their second year of the war in Iraq, the Iron Dukes from Task Force 2d Battalion, 37th Armor (TF 2-37), attached to the 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR), headed toward the holy city of Najaf and its smaller sister city, Kufa, to suppress the widespread April Mahdi militia uprisings. Najaf and Kufa had become a base of power and influence for Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia. Al-Sadr was intent on driving a wedge between Iraq's interim governing council, coalition forces, and the large Iraqi Shi'ite population. His militia, or Mahdi army, had initiated the uprisings across Iraq during the first week of April 2004 to hinder coalition and Iraqi security efforts and jeopardize regional stability needed for the forthcoming transitional government. Al-Sadr's center of influence lay in the old town of Najaf, near the revered Imam Ali Shrine, and his militia had spread to Kufa in an attempt to control its inhabitants and key bridges to the two cities. Located roughly 150k south of Baghdad along the Euphrates River, the cities of Najaf and Kufa are separated by only a few kilometers of suburban sprawl and industrial park, the locale where Task Force 2-37 was positioned to protect coalition provisional authorities and to better strike the enemy. On 22 April, TF 2-37 moved under the cover of darkness into forward operating bases to relieve exiting Spanish forces. That evening, the task force moved 29 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 62 M966/1026-series gun trucks, 33 M1114 up-armored HMMWVs, 2 M1117 armored security vehicles, 6 M109 Paladins, 4 M1064 120mm mortar carriers, 2 towed 120mm mortars, and various combat support vehicles into the Najaf-Kufa city limits. Before the enemy could react to the infiltration of forces between the two cities, the Iron Dukes had forward positioned the task force in a lodgement that would eventually bring about the defeat of al-Sadr's militia -- five bloody weeks later.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA486905
Entities
People
- Todd E. Walsh