WITH THE 2D MARINE DWISION IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM            53


although it was subsequently greatly eased by the creation of two EPW camps
at the flanks of the breach area.
    Another aspect of the battlefield also was evident on this first day. As the
Marines and soldiers moved forward, they frequently encountered trenches,
fighting positions, mortar pits, and artillery emplacements which had been
abandoned in great haste. Often, arms and ammunition in quantity were in
evidence, as were equipment and uniform items of all sorts. The enemy's will
to resist had been badly damaged, and while there were some Iraqis who might
yet continue to fight, many others were ready to lay down their arms when
pressed. As Colonel Livingston was to say later, the Iraqis on the front line
were "not surrendering until convinced, and the fire support plan did that. ~L'4
Resistance often would be made from a distance, but as the Marines closed on
the Iraqi positions, the vast majority were either surrendering, often in whole
units, or were attempting to flee to the north.
    With the 6th Marines and the Tiger Brigade holding the breachhead line, the
division consolidated its positions for the night. Action began again early on G
plus 1, 25 February, with the enemy firing upon the 6th Marines with tanks and
mortars at 0330. But the division's own elements were not idle during the night;
after midnight, using thermal sights, the 6th Marines had spotted several Iraqi
vehicles to its front. The regiment called in air strikes on these targets. 17S
    In  its sector, the Tiger  Brigade  had discovered a    bunker complex
approximately two kilometers north of its position. This was reported up to
division, and the "Tigers" were ordered to attack it at first light. The mission
was given to the 3d Battalion, 41st Infantry, the brigade's mechanized infantry
battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Walter Wojdakowski, U.S. Army.
The battalion used tanks and its own Bradley fighting vehicles to reconnoiter
by fire. They met with "moderate resistance" as they destroyed Iraqi bunkers
and vehicles at ranges in excess of 2,500 meters, using TOWs and 25mm
cannon. Dismounted infantry completed the clearing of the bunkers. This sharp
action brought in 400 EPWs, including an Iraqi major, who surrendered what
was left of the 39th Iraqi infantry Brigade of the 7th Iraqi Infantry Division.'76
    This  was  followed, at 0620,  by  what has been called the    "Reveille
Counterattack." Apparently maneuvering to hit the regiment's logistics trains,
a battalion-sized Iraqi unit of tanks and mechanized infantry collided with the 1st
Battalion, 8th Marines. Fighting back with its own attached tanks and air
support, the battalion accounted for 39 Iraqi tanks and APCs.'~ In the crucial
first minutes of this attack, Sergeant Scott A. Dotson led his vehicle-mounted
TOW section up to positions from which it could most effectively engage the
enemy armor. Although under heavy fire itself, within minutes this section had
destroyed  eight Iraqi tanks.'73 This attack may  have been    a part of  a
brigade-sized counterattack; its disruption caused the enemy survivors to move
into prepared positions, where they would be encountered the next day.179
    Despite these auspicious beginnings, the division was not yet ready to move
off on the assault to Division Objective 1. With the Iraqi defensive barriers
behind him, General Keys was now free to concentrate on fixing the Iraqi
operational reserves, which was the division's actual mission, and destroying