The Iraqi plan for the defence of Basrah is to suck the attackers in and grind them down in an urban battle which will dull the appetite of the British and American people for the war. The Coalition is refusing to play this game and will conduct a series of raids and psychological operations against the Iraqis, wearing down their will to fight, while the main invasion force rolls northwards to Baghdad.
Az Zubayr is a small town sitting astride a major junction just south-west of Basrah and it is here that the Coalition plan is first put into effect.
At the weekend I ran five linked scenarios using Force on Force for Trinity Gamers. Originally I would have envisaged doing the Basrah campaign using my British forces, but a little counterfactual has some Iraqi regular forces sitting astride the US Marine Corps' advance…
Crunchy
Friendly intelligence assets inside Az Zubayr have alerted coalition forces to the presence of an artillery battery hidden inside the town.
A raid to destroy the guns and capture the battery HQ has been sent in.
The reinforced squad of Marines move towards the compound where the suspected artillery is located, hugging both sides of the street, the squad leader keeps his GPMG team and the attendant Corpsman in reserve.
An Iraqi squad lurking in an alleyway on their left flank opens fire
Full report at link
