Chief Greg Coker coordinated a Blackhawk helicopter to retrieve the bodies of the three deceased Rangers. - May 12, 2010. Chief Greg Coker joined Ranger Company C to conduct mission planning for the next important objective in the fight for the dam. They are hardly targets of no significance. While the hindsight of bystanders is always 20/20, the crucible of battle makes the situation at the moment of truth far less certain for those in the fight. As one of them said later, I remember just starting to fold up, and fall in on myself. The locals had finally had enough and began coming forward to the Marines with information about the location of key members of AQI. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Sergeant First Class James Lauder (pseudonym), B Company, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, interview by David Jenkins, 23 October 2003, Fort Benning, GA, tape recording, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC. The Rangers quickly repelled the initial assault, but, as the morning passed, indirect fire increased. The Read allAn investigation of the massacre of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq allegedly shot by 4 U.S. Marines in retaliation for the death of a U.S. Marine killed by a roadside bomb. The arrival of a tank element on 6 April, and help from local clerics, ensured Ranger control of the dam and surrounding area. Nevertheless, power continues to be generated, and road traffic passes over the Euphrates River every day. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, United States Army Rangers seized the Haditha Dam on 1 April in order to prevent it from being destroyed. They were outnumbered and outgunned, and still stayed in the fight. These attacks would continue to come every 30 minutes for the next two days. Four more AH-6 Gunships and two MH-6 scouts were coming in to relieve Chiefs team. Unfortunately, SPC Alan (pseudonym) made a wrong turn on the way down, and entered a developed area serving as an academy for antiaircraft artillery. as well as other partner offers and accept our. Amazingly, Alan escaped with only a gunshot wound to his toe, and Gale was unhurt.13, Last in the movement order, 1st Platoon established two blocking positions across the road leading to the dam complex. The battle started on 24 March 2003 when Rangers from 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, conducted a combat parachute drop onto H-1 Air Base, securing the site as a staging area for operations in the west. By late on the evening of April 2, a number of Doyles Rangers were showing signs of the disorder, as shells fell steadily around their positions. Since the 2003 invasion, various U.S. Marine units had been stationed at the dam, as well as a small detachment of soldiers from Azerbaijan. In the early days of the war, American forces never managed to establish an enduring presence in the region, which allowed AQI to lay down roots there. But a small special-operations contingent was sent to an objective close to the Iraqi capital.. The rest of 3rd/C continued to take heavy Iraqi fire from a pair of buildings, which would continue to be a problem for the next three days. That night the enemy closed to within two hundred meters of 2nd Platoons positions, pinning down the Rangers with RPGs. Mar 23. There were no more than 150 American commandos on the dam during the battle, with a few dozen more at the nearby airfield. This story was first published in its entirety in The Year in Special Operations; 2006 Edition. Unfortunately, the mortars were replaced by 152 millimeter heavy artillery from the southwest. The Battle of Haditha Dam took place in 2003. As American and coalition forces focused on Baghdad and the nearby cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, AQI would retreat to the relative safety of the Triad to rest, train, regroup and plan new attacks. By April 6, despite an occasional 155 mm artillery round lobbed into their positions, the Rangers had expanded their perimeter several thousand yards downstream. He directed 1st Squad to suppress the guards, while 3rd Squad flanked from the left and entered near the gatehouse. Their violent house-searches lead to the massacre of 24 people, many of whom are women and children - tragic . Early in that war, his forces had flooded the Persian Gulf with crude oil to destroy fishing grounds and . With American forces remaining long after the removal of Saddam Hussein, one of the key tasks was to protect the critical elements of the Iraqi infrastructure, some of which they had helped to secure in the first place. As darkness fled, the Iraqis attacked both flanks of the dam with squad-sized elements of ten to twelve men. For their actions against the enemy, they both received the Silver Star. The Delta operators conducted reconnaissance of the dam before the main assault. It was a routine they would conduct many times over in the week ahead. The MH-6 had a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera to paint targets for the two AH-6s. The Battle of Haditha Dam: The beer is on us! The movie follows the story of the Marines of Kilo Company, an Iraqi family, and the insurgent. In Haditha, the center of gravity of the battalions fight, Echo Company worked hand-in-hand with Farouk and his fledgling police force. Located in northwestern Iraq, Haditha Dam was a strategic target for both sides. "We had no warning we'd be facing such a fierce response from the Iraqis none whatsoever," retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Greg Coker told Insider. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Called the Ramadan Offensive, it was more of a call-to-arms than a well coordinated military campaign. The Rangers anticipated that the dam would be very well defended, with at least a platoon on Objective Lynx, and a mechanized company to the south, near Hadithah village. Insurgents have tried many times to attack, seize, and/or destroy both the Haditha Dam and Ramadi Bridge. Sign up for notifications from Insider! White soon realized that clearing the administrative building would take at least three hours. The Battle of Haditha Dam took place in 2003. There, like a cornered, wounded animal, they would put up their final fight. You must become a subscriber or login to view or post comments on this article. It was a barrage that would last almost 36 hours, and mixed with a steady stream of mortar shells, would strain the Rangers to the breaking point. The turning point came after a series of atrocities committed by AQI insurgents fighters used local children as unwitting suicide bombers. Haditha Dam was designated "Objective Lynx." West of Lynx was Objective Serpent, an old airfield and pumping station. When Lauder and his team arrived, Feldbusch was not breathing and his face was turning blue. 3rd Battalions mission was to draw the Iraqi Armys attention way from the dam, so that special operations forces could cross and secure the facility. Chief Greg Gravy Coker, Night Stalkers, 75th Rangers, and Delta Force held off a vastly superior force of Iraqi Republican Guard and Fedayeen fighters for seven days. Stores opened. Again the man indicated to his wife and the need for water. Pilots and crew also fired 6,000 rounds of 5.56 mm ammunition from their personal M-4 rifles and dropped 90 M-67 fragmentation grenades, making four runs to rearm and refuel. In 2005, in response to a U.S. and coalition attempt to establish order in the area, AQI decapitated a number of local Iraqi police officers and members of their families, placing their victims heads atop stakes at major intersections in the city of Haditha. SHARES Brad Thompson ordered the platoon to regroup before renewing the assault. In the same year, a new power line was established between Haditha and Baghdad with the help of the USACE to restore a line that had previously been destroyed. The dams capture also prevented any further use of the facility as a river crossing by foreign terrorists, while ensuring its availability to coalition forces. At least, that was the plan.1. Mar 23. He is an author, researcher, game designer, photographer, 2023 Defense Media Network. RLTW NSDQ Sine Pari By Almighty God, with honor, and. Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. As American forces continued to pummel AQI in places like Fallujah and Ramadi, the insurgent survivorsthe most battle-hardened and highly skilled of their ranksabsconded to the Triad. Battle of Haditha Dam: The saga comes to an end. On 30 March, Captain (CPT) David Doyle led B Company, and the attached section of 120 mm heavy mortars, from H1 to a remote desert landing strip (DLS) for refuel on the way to a remain-over-day (ROD) site. The area exploded in violence as members of each respective company moved into their home forward operating bases throughout the Triad: Echo Company went to the city of Haditha; Fox Company went to Barwana. Marines of all companies kept up the pressure on AQI, and simultaneously worked to rebuild the civic infrastructure that was decimated by AQI. When the hawk landed at the FARP, Objective Serpent, Chief and another Ranger unloaded the bodies of the three men and then wept for the loss. Late on the April 1, Doyle was informed that the expected relief forces would be delayed, and he would have to hold until relieved. While clearly facing a tough job, Doyle was not without means to hold on. Tony knew Chief had his back with his six-guns. 2nd Platoon took the time to fortify its positions on the east side of the dam. The Battle of Haditha was a battle fought between U.S. forces and Ansar al-Sunna in early August 2005 on the outskirts of the town of Haditha, Iraq, which was one of the many towns that were under insurgent control in the Euphrates River valley during 2005. On April 5, no artillery was fired at the Rangers, and they began expand their perimeter from their original blocking positions. The Battle of Haditha Dam: Mowing Iraqis down like bowling pins. In fact, the Thirds time in Haditha would prove to be the single deadliest deployment for a Marine battalion since that of the October, 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 220. The Haditha Dam also controlled the flow of the Euphrates into the lower Euphrates/Tigris River Valley. Despite their gains, tragedy would continue to befall the battalion, including the loss of their operations officer, who was key to the Three Bs plan in a helicopter accident. Actors would then improvise much of the dialogue based on director. The Ranger 3rd Company endured a withering barrage of Iraqi small-arms fire from a pair of buildings, which continued over the next three days, until the Rangers were forced to call in twenty airstrikes on the structures. Seemingly resigned to their fate, the men simply sat there and looked at the their captors impassively. Read Next: Battle of Haditha Dam: The saga comes to an end One man flew the gunship while the other leaned outside and gunned downed the Iraqis below. The numbers in that fight were calculated out to be 1:22. Golf Company was dispatched to Haqlaniyah. He remained on station until he was Bingo fuel and needed to return to the FARP at Objective Serpent. On our route back we stopped again in the vicinity of Haditha dam and conducted a 21-Gun Salute in Georges honor. This corridor proved critical to al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) throughout the war. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, United States Army Rangers seized the Haditha Dam on 1 April in order to prevent it from being destroyed. A civilian vehicle approached the Rangers' blocking position at one end of the dam. Looking. Best of all, reinforcements, initially in the form of a pair of M1A1 Abrams tanks, finally began to arrive. One particularly pesky mortar position, on an island about 2,000 yards behind the dam, was taken out with a Javelin anti-tank missile, along with a pair of 1,000-pound bombs. Platoon sergeant SFC Roger Sherry (pseudonym) spotted an Iraqi peeking from behind the gatehouse, but he was quickly captured. One of the great stories of modern war, it remained untold for years. The Battle of Haditha Dam took place in 2003. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider It would begin on Sept. 24, 2006the day that 3/3 officially handed control of the area of operation over to its sister battalion, the Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment (2/3, pronounced two-three). The Rangers seizure of Hadithah Dam was crucial in the early stages of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. About the same time, 3rd/C began to move down into Objective Cobalt, on the river level below the dam face. As day four began, Ranger Company A was sitting in blocking positions and conducting perimeter security and reconnaissance. Located northwest of Baghdad, the dam was built during the Cold War to provide hydroelectric power for central Iraq, including Baghdad. The angle of attack prevented the Rangers from returning effective fire, so they were forced to call in air support. Stay up to date with what you want to know. Chief called his five-minute approach warning to Mo on the call for fire frequency. As the battle rages on, a young medic must face his fears when his skills are put to the test in order to save the life of a teammate. Lauder called in Little Bird attack helicopters for additional support. The choppers carried so much ammunition that they could barely hover and had to be constantly moving to keep from crashing. 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