U.S. forces battle Iraqi armored column after rush to within 100 miles of Baghdad

NEAR NAJAF, Iraq -- Tired after a two-day dash across the desert that put part of the 3rd Infantry Division within striking distance of Baghdad, American infantrymen were resting in a farm field Sunday when the radio crackled out orders to mount up.

More than 30 Iraqi armored vehicles had been spotted heading toward the 2nd Brigade's positions outside the Muslim holy city of Najaf, and the soldiers hurried into their armored Bradley troop carriers and sped off to block the advance.

Moving forward about six miles, the infantry company sheltered behind irrigation ditches, the six-foot dirt walls among the few features that rise above the table-flat land of the Euphrates River valley. Two companies of M-1A1 Abrams tanks fanned out on either side of the infantrymen.

The soldiers first spotted the Iraqi column about six miles away, its armored vehicles just specks on the horizon and far out of range of the American guns. Off in another direction, the gold roof of Najaf's mosque glistened.

Suddenly, coalition warplanes summoned to support the infantrymen of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry went into action. Aircraft flying too high to make out opened the fight by dropping a half dozen or so bombs.

Air Force A-10s, the slow but potent attack planes often called "Warthogs," moved in next, peppering the Iraqi vehicles with missiles and cannon fire. One by one, the dots erupted in flashes, followed seconds later by the muffled sounds of explosions. No vehicle was seen to escape.

About 45 minutes into the battle, B-52s flew over and rained bombs onto Iraqi infantrymen who were behind the armored vehicles. The battle was over. The infantrymen of A Company and their comrades in the battalion's two tank companies hadn't fired a shot.

The soldiers made no attempt to check the damage inflicted on the Iraqi column. They held their ground at the levees and settled down to rest. As night fell they could see the lights twinkle on in Najaf.

The brutal clash came after a headlong rush that took the 2nd Brigade's 70 tanks, 60 armored troop carriers and hundreds of support vehicles across 228 miles of desert in less than 40 hours. The move left them about 100 miles from Baghdad.

The brigade's commander, Col. David Perkins, likened the thrust to another surprise military move -- that of a Carthaginian general who caught the Romans off guard by getting his army over the Alps in 218 B.C.

"I'm using the analogy of Hannibal taking elephants over the Alps," Perkins said. "But instead of the Alps, there are big wadis (gulches) out there and the elephants are the tanks."

He said the goal was to send a message to Saddam Hussein's regime that the U.S. military can move fast and resistance is futile.

"There is a psychological component. If the president (Bush) can say, 'Look at your window, there is a tank brigade outside,' that can hasten the fall of the regime," Perkins said.

The brigade roared across the desert in two sections: the armored combat vehicles leading as "Team Heavy Metal" and the wheeled support vehicles following as "Rock 'n' Roll."

Advancing in a column that sometimes spread to six miles wide, speeding at 40 mph and trailing plumes of sand, tanks, troop carriers and trucks zigzagged across the desert, keeping away from towns, villages and highways to avoid detection.

The only people encountered were Bedouin tribesmen, herding sheep, goats and camels. They came out of their tents and stared as the armored wave roared past.

Inside each Bradley fighting vehicle, six infantrymen sat jammed together on narrow benches, their chemical protection gear soaked in sweat as they bounced across the desert for five hours at a stretch, stopping only to refuel. The cramped conditions and rough ride made sleep difficult.

As the huge convoy advanced, Kiowa observation helicopters and long-range ground patrols spread out far in front to watch for Iraqi troops.

When night fell Saturday, soldiers believed to be part of Iraq's ruling Baath party militia began chasing some of the patrols, causing the brigade to stop. One U.S. combat unit began firing at the Iraqis, who were in dozens of trucks and other vehicles armed with machine guns, while another unit advanced to attack.

"We've got a ... firefight, OK Corral out here," Lt. Col. Philip DeCamp told his company commanders.

The Americans said they destroyed 15 vehicles, killed at least 100 Iraqi soldiers and captured 20.

The halt left the 2nd Brigade near Najaf, a city on the western bank of the Euphrates that sits astride one of the main highways leading to Baghdad.

Mosques in Najaf and Karbala are the most sacred sites to Shiite Muslims after those in Saudi Arabia.

Imam Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, is buried in Najaf. Shiites aspire to bury their dead in its cemetery, which stretches for miles and is the largest in the Muslim world.