European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 26, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                War in the Gulf / ground assault the toughest part lies ahead by Patrick e. Tyler. New York times m m. When the gun went off for the ground War the. M a a m Allied War plan unfolded As a Complex series of we my thrusts and feints but with a very simple Overall a a goal race to the rear of the iraqi army and Cut it off then Lake it apart piece by piece. R. Though the first Day of the ground War like the first Day of the air War was filled with upbeat reports of Light resistance Light casualties and even predictions of Victory within a matter of Days the toughest part of the Campaign lies ahead and military commanders maintained a  about taking on the elite iraqi  the two greatest fears of Allied commanders Poison Gas attacks and tenacious resistance a were Alt but absent from the Battlefield under the Shock of the Swift Allied Advance following weeks of Aerial bombardment. Allied officials  tried to head off chemical attacks by Rushing Forward so quickly that the iraqis could not risk using Gas without fouling their own troop positions with lethal chemicals. A. And As detente Secretary Dick Cheney noted on sunday thousands of preparatory air strikes were in part aimed at  Forward , Quot the prime Means they have of delivering chemical weapons Quot Cheney said. A United states officials said they were hoping that much of the remaining chemical weapons stocks especially nerve Gas agents loaded in artillery shells and hidden in Battlefield bunkers have deteriorated chemically to the Point were they May no longer be lethal. But tons of Mustard Gas the. Searing Blister agent May still be at hand in iraqi redoubts. The Light resistance and Hasty surrender of thousands of iraqis discovered during the opening hours of the a invasion were not unexpected since half of the troops of the front lines were believed to be poorly trained and poorly fed reservists deeper into Kuwait Allied forces were encountering. Stiffer resistance from Iraq s second tier forces consisting. Of career army tank divisions. A. A. In the deepest Quot strategic , 200,000 i s a. S i a Wmk Quot \ us a Republican guards along the kuwaiti Border awaiting their Cue from Baghdad to fight. Though pummelled. They Syi Are heavily armed with iraqis Best soviet made tanks a artillery., and perhaps most deadly chemical warfare systems. A. A a a. Trouc Fifthe veil of news restrictions key facets of the ground War were emerging. A United states Marine saudi and kuwaiti forces were pushing into Kuwait in parallel columns including a drive along the coastal Road that runs from the saudi Border town of Khanji North to Kuwait City in a move that Allied officials said was designed to secure the kuwaiti coastline for Marine amphibious landings and prepare for the liberation of Kuwait City. Bush administration officials on sunday expressed a growing sense of urgency to quickly consolidate Allied control Over Kuwait s beleaguered capital and its civilian population which according to kuwaiti exiles and human rights groups has suffered from widespread executions atrocities and arson. A. At least one order of town the iraqi High command to Quot Torch Quot As Many of Kuwait s 1,000 Oil Wells As possible was intercepted late last week by United states intelligence administration officials said. The Landing of . Special forces troops in Kuwait City May be the prelude to the liberation of the City. Joining the american Force moving into the City were saudi and kuwaiti commandos. I if there was a division of labor in the Overall War plan it reflected both the political and military objectives of the partners in the Allied military Alliance. Arab states were a narrowly focused on retaking Kuwait while the United states and Britain focused also on destroying iraqis ability to make War a thus United states armoured and airborne forces dominated the flanking attack in the Western theater where they were racing North into Iraq to Cut off the Republican guard and link up with the airborne assault Force already peppering guard units from the rear according to Allied officials. A taking on the Republican guard was still most of the work and one military intelligence official predicted that the guard would have to be Defeated in a climactic Battle of Armor. Quot a lot of them Are going to surrender but a lot of them Are really going to fight a the official said Cheney warned on sunday that with the commencement of the ground War the Republican guard can expect no Quarter even if they try to seek Sanctuary within iraqi territory. A military official who asked not to be identified said that United states forces intend to destroy the Armor and equipment of the Republican guard regardless of whether it decides to stand and fight or Retreat. Quot we will destroy As much of the Republican guard As we can wherever we have to get them Quot the official said Quot and we May have some unhappy coalition members when we go to do . Any unhappiness with Complete destruction of the guard the official said stems from a desire to preserve some iraqi military strength As  Force in the Region against the other major Power Iran some military officials had argued that the Best Way to a pull the guard out into the open was to drive for Baghdad but the military Utility of such a tactic never outweighed the .politic, within the . Allied  ii nothing else advocates of this plan could never answer the question of what they would do if Hoy reached Baghdad far left a humvee travels through an iraqi minefield As the ground War begins. Flags with e Mark spots where an iraqi mine was blown up. Left members of the 82nd airborne div smile As they get ready to Cross the Border into Kuwait. Below Marine Chi. Anthony Muskus is treated for shrapnel wounds. We Jav it k ?. U i x 4 \ a f a line of captured iraqi soldiers March through the in Kuwait past a group of Marine 2nd div vehicles. 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