Operation Iron Hammer

Operation Iron Hammer was a joint operation between the US Army, US Air Force and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps with the objective of preventing the staging of weapons by anti-coalition forces, and preemptively destroy enemy operating bases and fighters in Baghdad. The operation was launched on the night of November 12, 2003 by elements of the US Army’s 1st Armored Division who performed cordon-and-search actions in several Baghdad neighborhoods. The... more

Operation Iron Hammer was a joint operation between the US Army, US Air Force and Iraqi Civil Defense Corps with the objective of preventing the staging of weapons by anti-coalition forces, and preemptively destroy enemy operating bases and fighters in Baghdad. The operation was launched on the night of November 12, 2003 by elements of the US Army’s 1st Armored Division who performed cordon-and-search actions in several Baghdad neighborhoods. The operation’s first salvo came when 1st Armored Division soldiers saw mortar rounds being fired from a van and gave chase, noting stops it made. An AH-64 Apache helicopter followed the van and attacked it, killing two suspected anti-coalition fighters and wounding three others. Five others were captured. Soldiers found an 82 mm mortar launch tube at one of the van's stops. In Operation Iron Hammer the military began preemptively destroying buildings suspected to be bases of operations for anti-coalition forces. The buildings included the former... less