![]() ![]() “He told me they went into hostage slaughterhouses and saw women and children who were disemboweled, with their feet cut off only four or five hours before. 14, 2004 as his squad traveled from house to house on rooftops searching for enemy combatants, his father, Michael Anderson Sr., told the Los Angeles Times that month after speaking with his son’s squadmates. troops, six Iraqi soldiers and an estimated 1,200 insurgents had been killed, the Marine Corps said.Īmong Gold Star families of the fallen who attended Friday’s event were relatives of Marine Cpl. military officials announced that Fallujah had been secured, although fighting continued that winter against pockets of insurgents. ![]() “You can’t bring back a life, but you can always rebuild a building.”īy Nov. “We faced an enemy that wanted nothing more than to kill Americans,” Natonski, who retired as a three-star general, said after the Friday ceremony. Buildings packed with enemy fighters were evaporated by “danger close” airstrikes of precision munitions called in across the street from coalition forces. Much of Fallujah ended up being leveled as the coalition fired more than 6,000 rounds of artillery and more than 19,000 mortars into the town, Natonski said. Richard Natonski expressed confidence that the joint force of Marines, soldiers and sailors would “know how and when to switch off the killing instinct while limiting collateral damage” to the town’s infrastructure and residents.ĭuring house-to-house fighting that month, the 1st Marine Division and supporting forces encountered suicide bombers, mosques piled with weapons and extremists high on amphetamines who continued fighting after getting shot multiple times or losing a limb. In a letter on the eve of the battle, then-Maj. About 3,000 insurgents were dug into this town in Anbar province, protected by booby traps and tunnels leading to ammunition stockpiles.Ībout 70 percent of Fallujah’s population of roughly 300,000 fled in anticipation of the fighting. invasion of Iraq, Fallujah had become a charnel house where jihadist terrorists who were aligned with al-Qaeda tortured and beheaded their enemies. We took on what would become one of the iconic battles of our Corps,” he said.Ī year after the U.S. “Ten years ago today, we faced a very daunting challenge. Lawrence Nicholson, current commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, reflected on the Fallujah milestone Friday. Lowry's book is a must-listen for anyone interested in how we won in Iraq.Marine veterans who fought together in the Second Battle of Fallujah Coy Reyes, left, and Earl Catagnus greet each other after the ceremony. Lowry shows what's great about the US military: skilled and powerful but also humanitarian and ultimately peace-seeking. "In New Dawn, Richard Lowry presents not just a brilliant account of the battle for Fallujah, but also a useful overview of the history, economics, and culture of the region. New Dawn is about their courage, their sacrifice, and their commitment to freedom. The struggle against a determined enemy at the crossroads of civilization is the story of American kids who grew up down the block from you only to fly halfway around the world to fight in the largest battle of the war. The result is a gripping, pause-resisting narrative of individual sacrifice and valor that also documents the battles for future military historians. In addition to archival research, New Dawn is based upon the personal recollections of nearly 200 soldiers and marines who participated in the battles for Fallujah, from the commanding generals who planned the operations to the privates who kicked in the doors. Lowry ( Marines in the Garden of Eden) spent years researching and writing his new campaign history. By the time the fighting ended, more than 1,400 insurgents were dead, compared to 95 Americans (and another 1,000 wounded). Death and redemption were found everywhere, from narrow streets to courtyards, kitchens, bedrooms, and rooftops. It was the largest fight of operation Iraqi Freedom and the heaviest urban combat since the Battle of Hue City, Vietnam, in 1968. Richard Lowry's New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah is the first comprehensive history of this fighting.Īlso known as the Second Battle for Fallujah, Operation Phantom Fury was a protracted house-to-house and street-to-street combat that began on November 7 and continued unabated for seven bloody and exhausting weeks. The second, Operation Phantom Fury, was launched seven months later. The first was Operation Vigilant Resolve, an aborted effort that April by US Marines intent on punishing the city's insurgents. This sprawling concrete jungle was the scene of two major US combat operations in 2004. Few names conjure up as many images of blood, sacrifice, and valor as does this ancient city in Al Anbar province 40 miles west of Baghdad. ![]()
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