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Guard soldiers in battle for Mosul

Nov-24-2004 » Filed Under: TF Olympia

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By JEFF LESTER, Senior Writer

Dozens of Southwest Virginia National Guard soldiers took on a crucial mission as U.S. Army and Iraqi forces retook government buildings occupied by anti-government fighters in the northern city of Mosul.

Three members of the 276th Engineer Battalion were wounded slightly but returned to duty quickly, according to Capt. Chris Doss of the battalion's Bravo Company.

During the first week of November, U.S. Marines and Iraqi security troops near Fallujah launched a long-anticipated operation to uproot terrorist and anti-government fighters, house-by-house and block-by-block, from that central Iraqi town 50 miles west of Baghdad.

Insurgents stepped up attacks in other cities, apparently in part to distract American forces from the Fallujah battle.

Around Nov. 11, several insurgent groups ranging in size from 15 to 50 fighters went on the attack in Mosul, about 240 miles north of Baghdad and Fallujah, raiding Iraqi police stations and other government facilities, according to published reports.

Over the next four days, American and Iraqi forces sealed off the city of 2 million and systematically killed and captured terrorists, retaking government buildings.

With nearly 500 troops, the 276th Engineer Battalion was in charge of closing all bridges in and out of Mosul to prevent enemy fighters from escaping.

The battalion's four companies are based in Richlands, West Point, Richmond and Powhatan. About 45 soldiers from the Big Stone Gap-based 189th Engineer Co. - a portable bridge-building unit - were reassigned to the 276th. Most of them serve in the Richlands-based Bravo Company.

The 276th "played a key role in securing the bridges in Mosul," Doss wrote in an e-mail interview a few days ago.

"Road blocks were established and 276th forces overwatched the bridges for 24-48 hours at a time over a course of four days," Doss explained. "This was done to prevent insurgent movement from the east side of the city to the west and vice versa."

The troops got air support from Kiowa attack helicopters, according to Doss.


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