Wrrll THE 2D MARINE D!VIS~0N IN DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM             59


have to be controlled through the breach lanes. With much of its original work
done, the breach control group was given the task of coordinating this work.
Over the next three days the group worked closely with the engineers, military
police, 4th Civil Affairs Group, and Direct Support Group 2 on establishing
camps, providing food and water, and moving the EPWs to the rear.1~

                 G Plus 2 to the Cessation of Hostilities

    The third day of the ground war also began with an antitank engagement.
At 0230 on 26 February, 2nd LAl reported it had hit four tanks. Throughout
the morning, all division elements were reporting the movements of, and
engagements  with, enemy  formations.~ However,  the  1st Battalion,      8th
Marines, was to be the focus of the enemy's attention once again.
    The battalion had arrived along Phase Line Horse the previous evening, and
was the right flank battalion of the entire division. The commanding officer,
Lieutenant Colonel Bruce A. Gombar, had positioned his battalion into an
L-shaped defensive position for the night, in order to secure this eastern flank.
The unit was set along two roads, the main north-south road leading from
Kuwait City, and an east-west road intersecting with it just above the area of the
"ice-cube." Company A was on the battalion's right, facing east, and supported
by a combined antiarmor team. In the center was the tank company attached to
the battalion, Company B of the 4th Tank Battalion, which was set in along the
intersection of the two roads. On the left was Company C, 1st Battalion, 8th
Marines, also supported by an antiarmor team.~~ Cihese teams, called "CATs,"
were designed to provide mobile antiarmor fires in the battalion. They were
formed from weapons platoons, supplemented by attached antitank [TOW]
squads.)~~~
    At 0230, about the same time that the 2d LAl Battalion was engaged, the
1st Battalion, 8th Marines, was struck by a two-pronged attack of APCs and
dismounted infantry coming from the northeast and northwest. The attack hit the


                         -          -,   -`LA


                                      Depanment of Defense Photo (uSMC) &~`oo 18 91
Prisoners were processed at a center established by the 6th Marines.