![]() ![]() An Iraqi defensive position in Task Force 1-41 Infantry's sector of operations during the Battle of 73 Easting. ordered 2nd ACR commander Colonel Don Holder to locate the enemy but avoid becoming decisively engaged. VII Corps commander Lieutenant General Frederick M. Along that line, 1st ID would pass through 2nd ACR and push on to objectives further east. After 2nd ACR made contact with the Republican Guard's security zone, Corps changed the limit to 70 Easting. VII Corps Fragmentary Plan Seven, issued during the night of 25–26 February, made 60 Easting 2nd ACR's initial limit of advance. 2nd ACR's limit of advance changed during the operation. Plan Ģnd ACR was to advance east, locate and engage the enemy, determine his dispositions, and then allow the mechanized brigades of 1st ID to pass through to finish destroying the Iraqis. ![]() The primary battle was conducted by 2nd ACR's three squadrons of about 4,000 soldiers, along with the 1st Infantry Division's two leading brigades (2nd Armored Division (FWD)), which attacked and destroyed the Iraqi 18th Mechanized Brigade and 37th Armored Brigade of the Tawakalna Division, each consisting of between 2,500 and 3,000 personnel. Initial Iraqi resistance was light and scattered after the breach, and the 2nd ACR fought only minor engagements until 25 February. On the night of 23/24 February, in accordance with General Norman Schwarzkopf's plan for the ground assault called " Operation Desert Sabre", VII Corps raced east from Saudi Arabia into Iraq in a wide, sweeping maneuver later described by Schwarzkopf as a " Hail Mary." The Corps had two goals: to cut off Iraqi retreat from Kuwait, and to destroy five elite Republican Guard divisions near the Iraq–Kuwait border that might attack the Arab and Marine units moving into Kuwait to the south. The regiment's mission was to strip away enemy security forces, clear the way of significant defenses, and locate the Republican Guard's defensive positions so they could be engaged by the full weight of the armored forces and artillery of the 1st Infantry Division. Originally advancing ahead of the 3rd Armored Division until late on 25 February, they shifted to the east and ahead of the advancing 1st Infantry Division as it moved north from its initial objectives. Following closely behind were M1A1 Abrams tanks covering them from the rear, ready to move forward and engage the enemy. The job of the 2nd ACR was to cross the border and advance east as a forward scouting element, led by cavalry scouts in lightly armored M3A1 Bradleys with highly advanced thermals to detect enemy positions. The corps' main body consisted of the American 2nd Armored Division (Forward), 1st Armored Division (1st AD), 3rd Armored Division (3rd AD), 1st Infantry Division (1st ID), and the British 1st Armoured Division (1 AD). This generally included destroying or repelling the Iraqis' reconnaissance elements and denying their commander any observation of friendly forces. Task Force 1-41 Infantry breached the berm on the borders between Saudi Arabia and Iraq which was the initial Iraqi defensive position and performed reconnaissance and counter reconnaissance missions before the 2nd ACR's actions. Each troop comprised 120 soldiers, 12–13 M3 Bradley fighting vehicles and nine M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks. Each ground squadron was made up of three cavalry troops, a tank company, a self-propelled howitzer battery, and a headquarters troop. It consisted of three ground squadrons (1st, 2nd and 3rd), an attack helicopter squadron (4th), and a support squadron. unit in the battle was the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2nd ACR), a 4,500 man reconnaissance and security element assigned to VII Corps. John Mecca, a participant, as "the last great tank battle of the 20th century." This battle took place several hours after another, smaller, tank battle at Al Busayyah. It was named for a UTM north–south coordinate line (an " Easting", measured in kilometers and readable on GPS receivers) that was used as a phase line by Coalition forces to measure their progress through the desert. The Battle of 73 Easting was fought on 26 February 1991, during the Gulf War, between Coalition armored forces ( US VII Corps and UK 1st Armoured Division) and Iraqi armored forces ( Republican Guard and Tawakalna Division).
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