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Battle of Nasiriyah, Mar 23 2003


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Someone has got to make a scenario from this battle!

Here's some documentary footage I've found that may be useful:

http://www.sonaf.net/forums/showthread.php?p=13517

The only problem I see is that the Marines in 2003 didn't have the three grenade launchers per squad we get with CM:SF Marines, but I can live with that small detail!

After I've watched all these documentaries I may have a go at a scenario. A small one for starters would be the Marines rescue of the survivors of the 507 US Army convoy.

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After I've watched all these documentaries I may have a go at a scenario. A small one for starters would be the Marines rescue of the survivors of the 507 US Army convoy.

AFAIK the Marines didn't actually rescue the survivors of the 507th Maintenance Company. The ones who weren't made prisoners simply managed to drive away from the Iraqis. The prisoners, except for Jessica Lynch, were all hauled off to Baghdad, and Jessica Lynch was rescued by DELTA and Rangers, with one Marine tank platoon in support.

That said, I think An Nasiriyah deserves a scenario or five. I have an idea about "the Naz" that I'm going to start a thread about soon.

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AFAIK the Marines didn't actually rescue the survivors of the 507th Maintenance Company. The ones who weren't made prisoners simply managed to drive away from the Iraqis. The prisoners, except for Jessica Lynch, were all hauled off to Baghdad, and Jessica Lynch was rescued by DELTA and Rangers, with one Marine tank platoon in support.

That said, I think An Nasiriyah deserves a scenario or five. I have an idea about "the Naz" that I'm going to start a thread about soon.

I am pretty sure that that the survivors of the ambush that were not captured did not just "drive away". As the lead Marine unit pushed towards the ambush site, they found and recovered those survivors, who I believe were hiding in a trench or something like that.

Also, the entire raid to recover Jessica Lynch was possible because of intelligence that was gathered by a Marine patrol. A CA Marine was informed by an Iraqi civilian (a doctor I think) about the location of Jessica Lynch. The raid force had Marines in support, and there was a diversionary feint attack by Marines as well.

Still, a mini-campaign of 4-5 scenarios for a Battle of An Nasiriyah would be great.

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I am pretty sure that that the survivors of the ambush that were not captured did not just "drive away". As the lead Marine unit pushed towards the ambush site, they found and recovered those survivors, who I believe were hiding in a trench or something like that.

Also, the entire raid to recover Jessica Lynch was possible because of intelligence that was gathered by a Marine patrol. A CA Marine was informed by an Iraqi civilian (a doctor I think) about the location of Jessica Lynch. The raid force had Marines in support, and there was a diversionary feint attack by Marines as well.

Still, a mini-campaign of 4-5 scenarios for a Battle of An Nasiriyah would be great.

All quite true. I'm not trying to disparage the efforts of the Marines, who did an awesome job in An Nasiriyah. I'm just saying that I think that the other parts of the battle would be more interesting to play. In fact, two things you mentioned (hospital recon and diversionary attack) were some things I was thinking of working on.

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Cool! First time I've seen the video. They made it very melodramatic, but lets put the actual "battle" in perspective.

This was a minor skirmish that only got a lot of attention because of the friendly fire incident. You had some of the best trained and equiped warriors in the world with plenty of armor, air, and artillery support available going up against a rag-tag mob with nothing but small arms, some RPG's, and very limited mortar support. Even with the advantages of fanatic troops and being on the defense in close terrain this mob only inflicted very light casualties on the Marines while suffering staggering casualties themselves. Of the 17 Marine dead, almost all were caused by the A-10s, not the enemy.

Historical scenarios made of this battle would have to have some way of making the Iraqi's the worst shots imaginable. Not being able to hit a huge AAV with an RPG from less than 50m in close terrain where cover and concealment are plentiful makes these Bozos some of the worst shots in the history of warfare.

That said, lets get some scenarios simply for the historical value.

Last thing. Where did the commentator get the number 5000 Iraqi irregulars in this town? Does anyone actually know how many there were? These were irregulars. I don't think the Iraqis themselves had any idea how many they had. Did they pick that number out of a hat? Seems to me they picked an inflated number to make a better story.

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Anyone think it's strange that "300 Marines and their vehicles" were in the line of fire of two A-10's and only a few casualties were sustained? (first strafe?)

Not really. remember it was the Air Force that tried to hit something, not the Marines... If it was Marines engaging those AAVs there would be no Marine left on the ground alive.

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Someone has got to make a scenario from this battle!

The only problem I see is that the Marines in 2003 didn't have the three grenade launchers per squad we get with CM:SF Marines, but I can live with that small detail!

I was in the Marine Corps from 2000-2004 and was a fire team leader at Naseriyah (shortly after the battle, 24 MEU), as far as I know the standard organization for a squad as long as I was in was every team leader had a 203 (I'm not sure if your referring to the M32, which according to buddies who are still in, is not deployed to to battalions yet). I, along with the other team leaders had a 203, making for three per squad.

I hope someone makes the mission

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I think Cpl Steiner was talking about the M-32. That weapons system has been issued to troops in Iraq for sure, and the Marine Corps has bought thousands of them, but I think you are right, it has not been issued across the board yet.

My vote is to make a short An-Nasiriyah campaign, but move it to around Damascus. Instead of the MEU, this battle could utilized units from 2nd MEB, primarily one of the Bn TF's from RCT-8, which is the ground combat element (GCE) for 2nd MEB in our little notional CMSF war.

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