29 Jan (continuing)        centers at an oil refinery at Basra.
                          In the first m~jor ground confrontation, Iraq mounts a four-pronged raid
                                across Kuwaiti border. Near Al Wafra, U.S. and coalition forces
                                engage a mechanized battalion with Cobra gunships and ~ixed wing
                                aircraft, and repulse the attack, destroying 10 tanks, losing 3 light
                                armored vehicles. North of Ras Al Khafji, at just before midnight,
                                another Iraqi battalion crossed the border, with turned turrets--the
                                international sign of surrender--then, attacked. U.S. AC-130s and
                                Cobra helicopters destroyed 4 tanks, 13 vehicles. Fighting continued
                                for control of Khafji through the night. Forty more Iraqi tanks
                                crossed the border, and engage U.S. Marine light armored infantry.
                                Attack was repelled, but eleven Marines were killed in action, the
                                first ground combat casualties of the operation. Two Marines were
                                wounded. A total of 33 enemy tanks and 28 APCs were destroyed.
                          U.S. ground forces continue to receive sporadic artillery fire, engage in small
                                skirmishes with Iraqi troops along the Kuwaiti border, and con-
                                ducting artillery and counter-battery missions, firing hundreds of
                                rounds and anti-tank missiles on Iraqi outposts in Kuwait.
                          U.S. Marines of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, deployed from USS
                                OKINAWA (LPH-3), assault and capture Umm al Maradim Island,
                                12 miles off the coast of Kuwait. Marines plant the Kuwaiti flag, and
                                destroyed anti-aircraft weapons and artillery stored on the 400 meter-
                                by-300 meter island. This is the second isiand reclaimed for the Ku-
                                waiti government by the coalition.
                          Navy helos search Maradim Island investigating reports of Iraqis offering to
                                surrender, and were fired upon by approximately 20 Iraqi small craft
                                with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. Returned
                                fire, sinking 4 boats, damaging 12. A-6s engaged fleeing boats.
                          80-90 Iraqi aircraft (35%, civilian, 65%, fighters/bombers) have now flown
                                into Iran.
                          DOD announces that the fire has been extinguished at the Sea Island Termi-
                                nal, and the oil flow from the terminal has stopped. Additionally, the
                                oil slick is breaking up.
                          DOD announces that over 700,000 coalition air, ground, and naval personnel
                                are present in the theater of operation, and over 110 coalition com-
                                batant ships are participating. U.S. troops number over 490,000.
                          USCENTCOM officially begins first transfer of 36 Iraqi Enemy Prisoners of
                                War to Saudi Arabian control.
                          To-date, 200,948 National Guard and Reservists have been recalled to active
                                duty (15,093 Navy, 22,141 USMC).
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