The Ground War
Coalition ground forces included some 500,000 United States troops and some 160,000 from other countries. The number of Iraqi defenders is unknown; estimates range from 250,000 to 540,000. Hussein placed his weaker divisions near the Saudi border; his elite Republican Guard divisions were positioned deep inside Kuwait and in southern Iraq.
The first ground fighting occurred January 29 when an Iraqi division made a foray south for six miles (9.6 km) into Saudi Arabia and seized the town of Khafji. Eleven U.S. Marines were killed in the attack. Within two days, however, Saudi troops and U.S. Marine forces destroyed the Iraqi division and retook Khafji.
On February 24 the coalition forces launched their major ground attack, a direct assault from the south into Kuwait and a flanking attack from the west into southern Iraq and western Kuwait.
The assault from the south involved three groups along the Kuwaiti border:
- A Saudi-Kuwaiti task force.
- A United States force consisting of the U.S. Marines' 1st and 2nd divisions and the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Brigade of the 2nd Armored Division.
- Pan-Arab forces consisting of two Egyptian divisions, a Syrian division, and a Saudi task force.
The flanking attack was carried out by two attacking groups aligned on the Iraqi border:
- VII Corps, consisting of two components: (a) the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division, 3rd Armored Division, and 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment; and (b) a British-American task force consisting of the British 1st Armored Division and the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division.
- XVIII Corps, consisting of two components: (a) the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, 24th Infantry Division, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, and most of the 82nd Airborne Division; and (b) a Franco-American task force consisting of the French 6th Light Armored Division and one brigade from the 82nd Airborne.
The invading forces met only scattered resistance, as most Iraqis, demoralized by weeks of bombardment, immediately surrendered. On the first day all coalition units headed north across the Kuwaiti and Iraqi frontiers and advanced an average of 45 miles (72 km). In the west, the 101st Airborne made a helicopter assault some 70 miles (113 km) north into Iraqi territory to establish a forward supply base, and the Franco-American task force took the As Salman airfield.
On February 25 three units of XVIII Corps began heading east toward Basra in a flanking attack. VII Corps' British-American task force headed east into Kuwait, engaging in a two-day fight with Iraqi reserves and Republican Guard units. Most units of VII Corps moved northeast around Kuwait toward Basra. XVIII and VII corps were rapidly cutting off the escape routes of the Iraqi forces fleeing the coalition forces moving up from the south.
On February 26 the Saudi-Kuwaiti task force was poised to enter Kuwait City. U.S. Marines began blocking exits from the city and launched an assault on the city's airport. On February 27, the final day of the ground offensive, U.S. Marines seized the airport while the Saudi-Kuwaiti task force cleared Kuwait City of Iraqi defenders.
At the same time, in what was the largest tank battle since World War II, units of VII Corps fought and destroyed several Republican Guard divisions 15 miles (24 km) west of Basra. The battle involved more than 800 tanks of VII Corps and about 300 Republican Guard tanks. Coalition forces destroyed some 200 Iraqi tanks and lost none of their own.
Fewer than 100 Americans were killed during the ground war. Twenty-eight of them were killed by a Scud missile that hit a reservists' barracks in northeast Saudi Arabia. At the end of 100 hours of the ground offensive, President Bush declared a ceasefire.
