MacCaulay
Banned
...this is an excerpt from Into the Storm, written by Tom Clancy and Gen. Fred Franks, Jr. (Ret.).
General Franks commanded VII Corps in Desert Storm. It was the heavy corps that engaged the heavy armoured units of the Republican Gaurd and was tasked with it's destruction during the ground war.
This would've put XVIII Airborne Corps, US Marine Corps, and Arab Corps to the Iraqi Army's south in Kuwait, and VII Corps in the north.
Now...how would this have effected the war, and how would Saddam have reacted to a ground as well as air campaign out of Turkey in 1991?
General Franks commanded VII Corps in Desert Storm. It was the heavy corps that engaged the heavy armoured units of the Republican Gaurd and was tasked with it's destruction during the ground war.
He (Franks) also had his planners look at an indirect approach to forcing the Iraqis out of Kuwait. "What if we moved VII Corps to eastern Turkey," he asked, "and then attacked toward Baghdad? Is that a workable alternative? Could we move our corps through the terrain and could we logistically support the operation?" After some corps planning work, it began to look like a workable option. As far as they could see, no Iraqi force was available to stop them. If Saddam saw an armored corpos on the move to Baghdad, he might quickly decide his capital was worth more than Kuwait.
Franks informally discussed the Turkey option to his own higher commanders, General Crosbie ("Butch") Saint, the U.S. Army Europe commander, and Genearl Jim McCarthy, USAF, deputy commander of U.S. forces in Europe, both bold thinkers, and they liked the idea. But when they tried the concept out on still higher echelons, Franks's idea was squelched.
This would've put XVIII Airborne Corps, US Marine Corps, and Arab Corps to the Iraqi Army's south in Kuwait, and VII Corps in the north.
Now...how would this have effected the war, and how would Saddam have reacted to a ground as well as air campaign out of Turkey in 1991?