Operation Karbala-4

Operation Karbala-4
Operation Karbala-4
Part of Iran-Iraq War
Date 25 December 1986-27 December 1986
Location Southern Iraq
Result Iranian failiure
Belligerents
 Iraq  Iran
Strength
Unknown 60,000
Casualties and losses
~5,000 10,000


Operation Karbala-4 was an Iranian offensive in the Iran-Iraq War on the southern front. The operation was launced after the failure of Operation Karbala-2 and Operation Karbala-3 to move the Iraqi lines in an effort to capture Iraqi territory.

Contents

Prelude

The battle itself was planned and eventually executed by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. The operation would be launched under cover of darkness in order to gain a foothold along the Shatt al Arab river. Once across, the Iranian forces would go on the offensive and eventually move onto the port city of Basra.

The Iranian forces consisted mostly of Pasdaran and Basij volunteers of the 'Hussein Corps' from Isfahan. The Corps itself consisted of men and boys between the ages of seventy down to twelve. The Corps did not have the luxury of training like their Iraqi counterparts did, having received anywhere between forty days training to no training whatsoever.

The Iraqi forces consisted mainly of conscript infantry backed by elite Republican Guard tank brigades. The Iraqis held of a strong defense of machine gun nests, mine fields, a series of trenches, concrete bunkers, and barbed wire. In addition, the Iraqis held the luxury of positions behind the artificial 'Fish Lake,' an area flooded by Iraqi engineers of which was 30 kilometers long and 1,800 meters wide. Iraqi engineers even placed electrodes in some places of the lake for further defense. With such defensive measures, the Iraqis dubbed the barrier as the 'wall of steel.'

The battle

The operation began during Christmas night of 1986 with elite frogmen of the Pasdaran crossing the lake in rubber dinghies to launch a surprise attack. Upon landing, Iraqi searchlight operators found the frogmen. The Iranians were now totally exposed. Iraqi machine gunners opened up with a hail of bullets, killing all but a few of the Iranian force.

The following morning, 60,000 Pasdaran and Basijis crossed the Shatt al-Arab north and south of Khorramshahr in dinghies and motorized seacraft, using the cover of dawn to hide their movements. Almost immediately, the Iranians met the Iraqi defenses waiting for them on the shorelines. A major drawback for the Iranians came in the form of little to no artillery support against the Iraqis.

Fighting lasted for three days, during which the Iranian forces were pummeled the by Iraqi defenses. Iraqi troops used artillery, aircraft, and machine guns firing from prepared defenses. Iranian troops died by the thousands, their bodies littered the ground, but Iraqi troops also took considerable casualties. Iraqi casualties were only half that of Iranian losses. by the time the Iranians retreated, thousands of dead Iranian soldiers covered the landscape. Iran had lost 10,000 troops, while Iraq had lost 5,000.

Aftermath

The battle killed over 10,000 Iranians and 5,000 Iraqis in those three days alone. However, this battle proved to be the beginning of a major offensive of which would last until February. The more sophisticated Operation Karbala-5 would be launched two weeks later and would eventually become the largest battle of the whole war.

Bibliography

1. Essential Histories: The Iran Iraq War 1980-1988, by Efraim Karsh, Osprey Publishing, 2002

2. In The Name of God: The Khomeini Decade, by Robin Wright, Simon and Schuster, 1989

3. In The Rose Garden Of The Martyrs: A Memoir Of Iran, by Christopher de Bellaigue, HarperCollins, 2005

References

Geocities


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Operation Karbala-5 — Part of Iran Iraq War Date …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Karbala-6 — Part of Iran Iraq War Date Early 1987 Location Qasr Shirin, Iraq Result …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Karbala 10 — Operation Karbala Ten Part of Iran Iraq War Date May 1987 Location Northern Iraq Result Strategic Iranian victory …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Karbala Ten — Infobox Military Conflict conflict=Operation Karbala Ten partof=Iran Iraq War caption= date= May 1987 place= Northern Iraq casus= territory=Minor territorial gains for Iran; Iranian advance halts at Mawat. result=Strategic Iranian victory… …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Nasr 4 — Part of Iran Iraq War Date May 198 …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Dawn-4 — Operation Valfajr 4 Part of Iran–Iraq War Date October 19, 1983 mid November 1983 Location Penjwin, Iraqi Kurdistan Result …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Together Forward — Part of the Iraq War Date June 14, 2006 – October 24, 2006 Location Baghdad, Iraq …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Imposing Law — Part of the Iraq War (Operation Phantom Thunder) U.S. soldiers ta …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Phantom Thunder — Part of the Iraq War A cloud of smoke and dust envelopes a U.S. soldier seconds after he fired an AT 4 rocket launcher at an insurg …   Wikipedia

  • Operation Phantom Strike — Part of the Iraq War U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. LaMarquis Knowles, Warrant Officer Eric Barreras, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of M …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”