Battle of Ramadi (2004)
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| Battle of Ramadi 2004 | |||||||
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| Part of the Post-invasion Iraq | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States |
Iraqi insurgents | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1500 | 300 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 16 killed, 25 wounded | 250 killed | ||||||
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The Battle of Ramadi was fought in the spring of 2004 during the same time as the First Battle of Fallujah. In April of 2004, Fallujah was under siege by Coalition Forces and insurgents were looking to relieve pressure on the city by attempting an offensive of their own. Ramadi, the capital of Al Anbar province was seen as a center of gravity to coalition forces, and thus a prime target to attack. Insurgents cut off the highway out of Al Anbar to Baghdad and the stage was set for the battle.
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[edit] The Battle
Golf Company The battle began at midmorning when Marine patrols fanned out across Ramadi to provide security, meet and greet people and search for roadside bombs. Three squads of Third platoon, Golf Company, 2nd Battalion 4th Marines set off on separate routes. They worked their way west from a Combat Outpost to the government center, 2 miles away, where they would link up and stand guard. Platoon Staff Sgt. Damien Rodriguez led a squad of 12 men. They moved on foot into the densely packed neighborhoods on the south side of town. That's when insurgents ambushed another squad northwest of their position. Rodriguez and his men came under fire as they raced through the streets to flank the attackers. Marines took up positions and began returning fire as Rodriguez led others into nearby buildings to clear out insurgents. Rebels manning machine guns began to fire from down the street. As the Marines radioed for assistance, they could see small groups of insurgents armed with AK-47s or rocket-propelled-grenade launchers moving to flank them. Ambulances and taxis dropped off rebel reinforcements and picked up dead or wounded. They had been fighting for 90 minutes. Another half hour would pass before an Army relief force fought through the streets to reach them.
Echo Company The sound of battle reached a four-man Marine sniper team from Echo Company more than a mile away where they lay in tall grass near the Euphrates River. Suddenly, 14 Iraqis armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers began moving toward them. The militants were in a straight-line formation. The four snipers, their backs to the river, had never seen anything like it. A mile downriver, along the same road, 1st Lt. Vincent Valdes and two squads of Marines were waiting for explosives experts to dispose of three mortar rounds they had found buried in the road. When word arrived of the attack on the sniper team, Valdes took a squad of 10 Marines in the squad's only Humvee and barreled down the road to the rescue. They drove into a firefight. The men poured out of the Humvee. With the Marine snipers, they charged across the road driving back the insurgents. Machine guns in nearby houses opened up, followed by mortar fire. The 10-man squad Valdes had left behind was now under attack. Eight were driven into a house. Insurgents lobbed hand grenades on the roof. Relief was still hours away. As if on a signal, insurgents on rooftops and others at a T-intersection ahead began to fire where they stopped the relief convoy of Echo company. The lead Humvee was shredded by heavy machine gun fire, all the Marines in it except for one were killed. Lance Cpl. Deshon Otey managed to jump out of the vehicle and sprinted to the next nearest vehicle full of Marines. Bullets whizzing by him somehow missed. The insurgents had sealed off the ambush site. The Marines were pinned down for hours until the Army rescue units arrived.[1]
[edit] 1st BDE 1st ID (US Army)
Although the media focused extensively on the Marine units fighting that day, an equal and just as important aspect to the operation was the employment of the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division of the US Army. Upon receiving the call of the pinned down Marine unit in the city center of Ramadi, The brigade went on full alert, dispatching most of if not all of its heavy forces, to include its infantry, Bradley IFVs, and Abrams tanks to the outskirts of the city. Then in a line formation the Brigade pushed through the city block by block clearing out the insurgent forces, and rescuing the besieged Marines with superior firepower from the Army Brigade. At the spearhead of this assault was the famed 1-16th Infantry, known as the "Iron Rangers". Once the insurgent forces retreated out of the city sporadic fighting ensued, leading to extended firefights in the surrounding suburbs and the countryside near Ramadi. Then in a retreating fashion insurgents dispersed, most of the time leaving their dead and wounded behind. Total losses within the Brigade were none, and the estimated enemy casualties from the army brigade were well over 150.
[edit] Aftermath
Marines and Army soldiers killed an estimated 250 rebels from April 6 to April 10 in fighting that shattered the insurgent offensive. 12 Marines were killed and 25 were wounded in the battle on April 6. Another 4 were killed over the next four days. Lance Cpl. Deshon Otey, who was the sole survivor of the lead vehicle of the relief convoy, was killed six weeks later. Another veteran of the fight, Sgt. Kenneth Conde was killed in a roadside bomb blast three months later. The battle ended in temporary victory for the Marines, and at a high price. The battle was so fierce that several Marines who survived the battle had mental problems later after returning from Iraq. At least one committed suicide because of the memories almost three years later. The battle was in reality indecisive, as just two months later the insurgents returned in force and took control of most of the city, except for a few points where there were Marine bunker positions. A week after the battle the insurgents struck again; this time a force of 300 fighters attacked Marine positions in the town of Husaybah on the Syrian border.
[edit] Participating Units
- 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines
- 1-16th Infantry, 1st BDE, 1st ID (US Army)
