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File: 082696_d50028_149.txt
Tanks 39%
Armored Personnel Carriers 32 %
Artillery 48%
Combat Aircraft 35 %
(includes aircraft in Iran)
(New York Times, February 23, p. 16.)
Eight hours into the attack, an advance ground and air team of the 101st Airborne Division is setting
up camp and pumping gas at a location more than 50 miles into fraq. (Los Angeles Times, February
26, p. 15.)
At least 22 female pilots from the 101st Airborne Division are part of what officials call the largest
helicopter assault in history. (USA Today, February 26, p. SA.)
February 24
Sunday --. In the biggest American-led assault since World War II, allied troops drive into Iraqi-
occupied Kuwait, reaching the outskirts of Kuwait City before nightfall. To the west, powerful armored
columns and a huge fleet of helicopters storm into Iraq. Allied forces advance faster than expected,
meeting only scattered resistance from the Iraqis. (New York Times, February 25, p. Al.)
)
More than 10,000 Iraqis are reported to have given up during the first 24 hours of the ground
offensive, slowing the allied advance and creating logistical snarls that Defense Secretary Dick Cheney
describes as "one of our biggest problems." (Los Angeles Times, February 25, p. 1.)
Marines and other forces approach Kuwait City from the south and southwest; Airborne elements
are in the city's outskirts. French forces form the far left of the allied flanking movement into Iraq.
On their right is the 101st Airborne, followed by the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division. Their
reported objective is the city of Nasiriya, a major Iraqi city on the Euphrates River. New York Times,
February 24, p. A12.)
The 101st Airborne establishes a large staging and refuelIng area in Iraq, many miles behind Iraqi
lines. The installation will fuel helicopters for assaults in the strategic Euphrates River valley to sever
the main highway between Baghdad and Basra. (New York Times, February 25, p. Al.)
Members of Kuwait's Government in exile move to Dhahran, the Saudi city closest to the battle
lines, to conclude final preparations for a return to their country. (New York Times, February 25, p.
A14.)
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