usmcpersiangulfdoc3_049.txt
WrrH THE 2D MARINE DWISl0N IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM             37


such fires could be seen, and their smoke and hydrogen sulfide fumes were
considered to be possible limiting factors in the assault. A visual check of the
assembly areas revealed that they would be large enough to hold the attack
forces. There were no obstacles to impede movement from the assembly areas
to the cuts in the berm.1~
     Opening passages through the berm became the issue. "The Berm," as it
was familiarly known, was the most obvious physical feature on the broad
expanse of desert to the division's front. Built by a Japanese firm for the Saudi
government several years before, it was made by bulldozing the desert sand into
a continuous wall, attaining a height of three to four meters. It paralleled the
Saudi-Kuwaiti border, situated between one and five kilometers on the Saudi
side.  It was visible from about  10 kilometers away, and provided excellent


                                                             Photograph by author
LtCol Howard Shores briefs divisio73 guides on their expected operations, 23 February
1991.

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