The Battle of Fallujah transformed the manner in which the United States Marine Corps undertake their training and fighting at present. This was the largest battle in “urban terrain” from 1968 in Hue City, Vietnam. The entire fight in the city had been broken-down in four segments. The first segments or phases came in April of 2003, with the defeat of Saddam Hussein. The second segment was the one recognized by almost everybody, after four contractors from America were murdered and their bodies mutilated. The third segment was when the city was “turned-over” in Iraqi generals’ hands. The fourth segment was the fall of 2004 in which the Marines returned to Fallujah (Lowry, 2010). Fallujah was in anticipation of the Marines with thousands of fighters from every part of the world. Four Americans contractors having been murdered, it was apparent that the United States had to act in response and do something; nevertheless acted months later. The U.S. Marines made it apparent to the populace of Fallujah, that they would approach every city and rummage around each house to have the city freed from insurgency.
There were two sorts of insurgents that the U.S. Marine had to contend with; namely were the Martyrs and the Guerillas that would be extremely dangerous. The Guerillas applied the “guerilla warfare tactic” whose intention was to exterminate as many U.S. soldiers as fast as possible and then pull out once damage has been meted out. They more often than not positioned themselves in a territory that they had superiority in terms of manpower and position. They would evade once the contact was made. On the other hand, the Martyrs’ purposes was to exterminate as many soldiers as possible prior to their killing and were never afraid of death They were prepared to engage the Iraq and U.S. soldiers alliance in a face-to*face encounter. Equally these enemies utilized similar weapons consisting generally of rock-propelled and arms grenades. They also employed similar tactics in opposition to the Iraq and U.S. soldiers, as they dug holes beneath hospitals, houses and churches that they used either as means for ingress and egress, to hide and transport weapons (Ballard, 2006). They fired from almost anyplace; for example from concealed holes, rooftops or even windows.
The ground operations and maneuvers on Fallujah began on the night of November 7, in the year 2004. This operation was also referred to as “Operation Phantom Fury” (Lowry, 2010). The 1st Battalion, the “Iraqi 36th Commando” Battalion, the 23rd Marines, Company B and the “3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance” Battalion attacked from the south and the west, capturing Fallujah’s General Hospital and towns opposite the Euphrates River along the western edge of Fallujah (Hickman, n.d.). The capture and subsequent closure of the hospital made much hullabaloo, regarding as to whether or not it was in contravention to the “Fourth Geneva Convention”. Operating under command of the United States III Corps, the same unit moved forward towards the western edges of the city safeguarding the “Jurf Kas Sukr Bridge”. These preliminary attacks, nonetheless, were little more of a diversion, aimed at distracting and confusing the rebels that were defending the Fallujah.
The Battle of Fallujah was a well planned and arranged operation that included various ideal co-ordinations. The Iraqi forces, the Army and all the six Marine battalions, took part in the ground assault. With Fallujah being surrounded by the Army and Marine forces, it was practically impossible for the rebels to escape. With the commencement of the operation, the Army and Marine forces began moving towards the south via the city, and flushing out the rebels. By November 13, 2004 nearly all the fighting had been brought to a close around the Fallujah; however, some insurgents were still determined to conceal themselves. The battle of Fallujah continued until December 23, 2004 (Lowry, 2010). The Army Force and the Marines had been engaged in fighting the rebels night and day, over those past month. This was a long and hard period of time for every person involved in the operation. These streets had been unforgiving to the U.S. soldiers during the operation since they were caught in the crossfire and it was very hard to give support and assistance to one another. By the close of January 2005, reports indicated that the American combat units had started leaving the region, and were aiding the local inhabitants in going back to their city (Ballard, 2006).
In spite of its victory, the battle of Fallujah was not devoid of controversy. The NBC News aired a moving footage where an American Marine shot dead an Iraqi fighter that was wounded. The Marine was heard shouting that the Iraqi was "staging possum". However, the United States Navy investigators NCIS determined later that the Marine soldier had acted in self-defense.
Conclusion
The battle of Fallujah proved to be a milestone for the United States Marine Corps’ reputation as a feared and an elite combat force that rode in part on the victory on the battle of Fallujah. The battle may be considered as regards to its conflicting objectives towards the two divergent forces and how close every force came to realizing its objectives. The insurgents’ force was more to some degree restricted in objectives compared to the U.S. Marines force. Looking past the convenient bromides of the battle of Fallujah, the United States triumphed without doubt in this battle.
References
Ballard, J. (2006). Fighting For Fallujah: A New Dawn for Iraq. (1st Ed). Praeger. Print.
ISBN 978-0-275-99055-8
Hickman, K. (n.d). Iraq War: Second Battle of Fallujah. Military History. Retrieved on 29
March, 2013; from, http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/conflictiniraq/p/fallujah.htm
Lowry, R. (2010). New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah. Savas Beatie. Print. ISBN 1-932714-774
