Review: Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad

Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad by David Zucchino
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This embed's relation of the initial engagement of armored units south of the city that saw most of the Republican Guard's assets destroyed and routes in the southern outskirts of the city occupied. On 5 April, Task Force 1–64 Armor of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division executed a raid, later called the "Thunder Run", to test remaining Iraqi defenses, with 29 tanks and 14 Bradley armored fighting vehicles advancing to the Baghdad airport. They met heavy resistance, but were successful in reaching the airport. U.S. troops faced heavy fighting in the airport, but eventually secured the airport. This book also covers the next day, when a brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division attacked into downtown Baghdad and occupied one of the palaces of Saddam Hussein in fierce fighting. U.S. Marines also faced heavy shelling from Iraqi artillery as they attempted to cross a river bridge, but the river crossing was successful. The generally overwhelming force and ability delivered by U.S. forces onto an untrained and dispirited Iraqis as well as avid if ineffectual Arab mercenaries actually becomes as redundant (boring) as it is one-sided. How many ways are there to describe coax vs. flesh? One thing that kept this interesting to me is the accounts of about a half dozen Iraqis in the Rashomon effect spin on various melees.

There is also significant detail on the unfortunate and controversial incident that occurred on April 8, 2003 when an American tank fired a shell on the Palestine Hotel, killing and wounding journalists.

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