KRT Wire | 04/02/2003 | Battle for Euphrates bridge was awesome Posted on Wed, Apr. 02, 2003

Battle for Euphrates bridge was awesome
By DREW BROWN
Knight Ridder Newspapers

OUTSKIRTS OF BAGHDAD, Iraq - The sights were awesome and terrible - and strangely beautiful - when Apache Company's Bradley Fighting Vehicles crossed the Euphrates River Wednesday for the first time since they entered Iraq 13 days ago.

On the causeway, a modern four-lane arch of concrete and steel, two vehicles that had been hit by tank or Bradley fire were burning. A gray-haired Iraqi soldier in bloody camouflage fatigues lay dead. Down a set of steps on a nearby embankment, three American soldiers treated a wounded Iraqi soldier who had been hit in the head by shrapnel.

On the far side of the bridge, U.S. tanks and Bradleys fired at Iraqi vehicles against a distant line of palm trees. Showers of red tracer rounds shot high into the air as burning vehicles exploded. Blasted trucks and burning vehicles littered the landscape in every direction. A thick pall of black smoke hung high in the air.

Below, the Euphrates flowed lazily, a thin brown ribbon of a river no more than 100 yards wide. A brown cow meandered through a deserted village street where the bridge met the far side of the river, a bell around its neck slowly clanking. Bull rushes and marsh grass rose higher than a man's head.

When Apache Company stopped for the night, global positioning devices showed downtown Baghdad just 20 miles ahead.

The attack that brought Apache Company here began shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday local time as we waited just a few miles shy of the Karbala Gap. Task Force 3-7 Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division, had been told to expect a big battle there. But Iraqi opposition never materialized.

Intense U.S. air strikes from high-flying B-52 bombers preceded our advance. The concussions shook our armored vehicles more than 10 miles away. Artillery batteries opened up with a barrage of more than a hundred 155 mm rounds and dozens of salvos from multiple launch rocket systems. The rockets blazed across the sky like so many big fireworks. Apache helicopter gunships swept the way in front of us, cannons blazing.