Iraq's Republican Guard
The Republican Guard evolved out of a small unit tasked to protect
the president and the capital. During the latter years of the
Iran-Iraq War, the Guard had grown to eight divisions as well as
numerous independent brigades, adding perhaps another four division
equivalents, or 150,000 men. The expansion of the force diluted its
status as the praetorian guard of the regime. However, by 1990, the
Republican Guards had become the best equipped and paid units. They
were used as heavy formations, and Guard tank battalions had nine more
tanks than regular army formations. They tended to get the modern
equipment such as T-72s, BMP armoured fighting vehicles, French GCT
self-propelled howitzers and Austrian GHN-45 towed howitzers.
In the last four years, the regime has concentrated its energies on
reconstituting the Guard formations but to date only eight divisions
have been reconstituted. There are three armoured divisions (al-Nida,
al-Hammurabi and al-Medina), one mechanised division (al-Abid) and
four infantry divisions (al-Adnan, al-Nebuchadnezzar, al-Baghdad and
one other). These units are, however, undermanned and poorly equipped.
According to the standard Iraqi organisation, the total manpower of
these eight divisions should be 11,240; in fact, they probably have a
maximum of 8,000 soldiers. Likewise, tank holdings should be 1,320
against a likely actual figure of no more than 800; armoured vehicle
holdings should be 2,260 against a probable actual figure of up to
1,100; and they should have 642 artillery pieces compared to the 500
they do have.
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