European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 1, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thi Gulf War Schwarzkopf s Hail mar devastates Republican guard troops from the . First Cav div move out As part of the preparation for the ground assault. Lieutenant said with a haunted voice. A they never quit. They never  Medina Ridge a1 bus Ayya 73 easting Norfolk Adnan Tawa Kalna the last is arabic for a go with god All Are Battles where americans fought hard and sometimes died. Yet none Are household words and most who watched the War on television listened Only half convinced when told that not every iraqi surrendered. Military deception was part of the reason for this Low profile. The soldiers from Germany were sent to saudi Arabia on a secret Mission. Shipping out Between thanksgiving and new years the Europe based troops arrived almost unnoticed compared to the paratroopers marines and other stateside gis who a dominated the television screens All that autumn. Their commanders purposely avoided publicity while quietly assembling their task forces out in the desert. The vol corps along with the .-based xviii airborne corps were to be Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf s a Hail Mary play. Once the ground fighting kicked off their Job was to sneak through a deserted part of Iraq while the marines and coalition forces staged a clamorous frontal assault into Kuwait. The airborne corps circled wide into the end zone along the euphrates River cutting off escape routes Between Basra and Baghdad and found mostly Light and sporadic resistance. The Germany based armoured corps lunged straight for the guard intending to hit it from behind. The Lead troops began slipping undetected into Iraq on feb. 23, the Day before the ground War officially began. By late monday feb. 25, news reports on bbl radio described fighting in by Vince Crawley staff writer sgt. Rick Woody does t like it when people say the persian Gulf War was an overrated Walkover or that the iraqis just gave up. A ask the people who got killed Over there. Or ask their families Quot said Woody 28, a Tanker out of Amberg Germany. A we re just Lucky it turned out the Way it  roughly half of the 2011,0111 american soldiers in Germany deployed to saudi Arabia a year ago where they made up the bulk of the deadly Vii corps armoured strike Force. Massing More than 3,000 tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles they All but destroyed iraqis Republican guard during the Swift bloody ground War that was launched on feb. 24 and ended 100 hours later. Quot it was like driving through Dante a inferno Quot a battalion commander said of the carnage his men dealt to the guard. Others described a a feeding frenzy when their Bradley fighting vehicles and my Abrams tanks came up against guard units too stubborn to surrender. A they kept dying and dying and dying a a Bradley Kuwait and guessed at approximate airborne corps positions then added Vaj tue phrases like Quot the . Vol corps is also believed to be somewhere in Southern  the iraqis too had no idea of Vii corps whereabouts. In an Effort to Retreat from the marines and coalition forces grueling frontal assault through Kuwait they backed straight on a collision course with the most powerful Armor corps Ever fielded. What followed was the largest tank Battle since world War ii fought in rain Thunder and blinding sandstorms of the worst arabian Winter in 14 years forty eight Vii corps soldiers died in combat not counting 12 deaths among British forces attached to the . Corps. At least 30 of the 48 american dead came from Germany based units including 18 killed by a Friendly  this from a total of 98 army combat deaths including 28 who perished when a scud missile hit a Barracks in Dhahran. The Pentagon said 21 army wide deaths were caused by Friendly fire. But a people take it out of context a one observer warned. Analysts say the Quot Friendly deaths Are instead a poignant barometer measuring the ferocity of the american Battlefield. Hundreds More were wounded. Twenty two men from Ansbach a 1st so 1st Cav were injured when their position was hit by a barrage of artillery so accurate and heavy that Many were convinced it was american. The enemy dead remain uncounted. One report estimated More than 500 iraqi dead from the first encounter with the guard a Battle called 73 easting. It lasted 23 minutes on one part of the Field and six hours in another but ail was being mopped up by the 66th hour of the 100-hour ground War. Soldiers descriptions of the next 34 hours indicate that the enemy kept dying by the hundreds and thousands As four mechanized division task forces a 1,500 tanks and almost As Many Bradley plus howitzers and helicopter gunships a rolled unceasingly through the guard positions. Page 8 the stars and stripes wednesday thursday january 1/2, 1992