The Battle of Najaf was a major battle in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The first stage of the battle was fought when the US 3rd Infantry Division fought to surround the town. The second stage was fought when soldiers from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division fought to clear and secure the city.
The city of Najaf sits astride important highways leading north to Karbala and Baghdad. Rather than simply bypassing the town as had been done with Nasiriyah an...
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The Battle of Najaf was a major battle in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The first stage of the battle was fought when the US 3rd Infantry Division fought to surround the town. The second stage was fought when soldiers from the U.S. 101st Airborne Division fought to clear and secure the city.
The city of Najaf sits astride important highways leading north to Karbala and Baghdad. Rather than simply bypassing the town as had been done with Nasiriyah and Samawah, the 3rd ID decided to isolate the town to prevent it from being used to stage attacks on American supply lines. The plan was to seize the major bridges in Al Kifl, a town north of Najaf, and Abu Sukhayr, a town south of Najaf. The northern bridge at Al Kifl was codenamed Objective Jenkins and the southern bridge in Abu Sukhayr was codenamed Objective Floyd.
Before the attack started, heavy sand storms in the area grounded all the Army's helicopters, denying air support to the American forces.
On March 24, 32 AH-64D Longbow Apache...
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