Swift and decisive action

U.S. Army General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of coalition forces, had massed his troops in Saudi Arabia, just south of Kuwait. This convinced Saddam Hussein the main attack would come from the south and be directed at Kuwait City. To counter this threat, the Iraqis concentrated their troops along Kuwait's southern border and built fortifications around the Kuwaiti capital.

But Schwarzkopf had something else in mind: a two-pronged flanking attack into Iraq, to the north of Kuwait. So while a relatively small force of U.S. Marines and Arab troops attacked from the south, as expected, Schwarzkopf moved the mass of his forces west -- away from Kuwait -- then turned it north into Iraq.

One thrust of this flanking attack drove deep into the desert toward the Euphrates river, then turned east and headed toward Basra, near Iraq's border with Iran. This cut off Iraqi supply lines and blocked any possible retreat. At the same time, a second northward thrust into Iraq turned southeast and attacked Iraqi reserves along Kuwait's northern border.

The strategy worked brilliantly. The war quickly turned into a rout: Large numbers of Iraqi troops surrendered without a fight. Those units that chose to fight were decimated by superior allied equipment. Even the largely diversionary attack from the south quickly breached Iraqi fortifications and drove toward Kuwait City, which was liberated on February 27.

One day earlier, Saddam Hussein ordered his forces out of Kuwait.

Iraq Standoff Main  |  The Dispute  |  The Diplomacy  |  Military Moves  |  Inside Iraq

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