Day 43: 28 Feb 1991

28 February 1991 (Thursday): DAY 43

GENERAL:

v US ordered Cease Fire at 0800 Local, Midnight Washington exactly 100 hours

from the start of the ground campaign, coalition commanders say that 42 x divisions

that the Iraqi's had have been rendered destroyed or ineffective.

v 24th Mech Infantry Division is 12 miles from Basra

v US Ambassador Enehm arrives back into Kuwait City

v US units begin blowing up all Iraqi equipment left intact

v Soviet General Staff admits that it must re-evaluate Soviet equipment & doctrine

v The Final Disposition of Troops

... French Forces remain at the extreme left flank beyond As Salman

... 101st Airborne consolidate at the main highway in the Euphrates River Valley

in the Taffil/Nasiriyah area along Highway 8

... US VII Corps and XVIII Airborne Corps along with British armoured forces

annihilate most of 8 Republican Guards Divisions in NW Kuwait an SW

Kuwait. It is considered that only 1 or 2 Guards Divisions remained

... POW's are officially listed at 85,000

... 2nd Marine Division and the Army's Tiger Brigade consolidated their hold on

highways and crossroads West and NW of Kuwait City

... the 1st Marine Division holds the Kuwait International Airport

... Arab Coalition Forces enter Kuwait City

v LtGen Franks', commanding the US VII Corps and the UK 1st Armored Division, was

prevented by the cease fire from actually pinning the Republican Guard units in what

was termed the "Basra Pocket". These surviving RP units later were instrumental

in puting down the Kurdish insurrections.

v The decision to stop the war at 100 hours, rather than the 144 hours (6 days)

planned by General Swarzkoph, was partly due from pressure placed on the US by the Saudi Arabians and the Egyptians for "Arab reasons", Gorbachev and KGB heavies who

didn't want Russian POW's and a total humiliation of an ally, and back-home logic

from the Bush people who were sensitized to the slaughter being done by air power on

the Kuwait-Basra highway.

AIR WAR:

v Coalition sorties just pass 110,000

v Jalibah Airfield was captured by three Battalions of the 24th Mech Infantry

Division in just 50 minutes of combat

- (10) fighters, (8) helicopters, (2) cargo aircraft were captured

and destroyed, among them around (5) MiG-29's in shelters

- It is possible that some of the MiG-29's were brought back

- fratricide event of a M-1 tank firing on a Bradley

v Statistics from the "Airfield Attack" Campaign netted:

- 44 airfields were targeted (14 primary & 30 dispersal)

- 36 airfields were attacked (14 primary & 22 dispersal)

- total anti-runway sorties flown were 1340

F-117 HIGHLIGHTS (28Feb/Day 43):

v At 00:15 am Headquarters Central Air Forces called a hault to all air operations.

KILLS:

v No Kills were recorded except those by the ground forces

LOSSES:

v 1 x Black Hawk UH-60 SAR was destroyed with the loss of 8 people on an

attempt to pick up the downed pilot.

1st Lt Donaldson P. Tillar III

WO1 David G. Pleach WO1 George R. Swartzendruber

WO1 John K. Morgan SSgt Johnathan H. Kamm

Sfc gary E. Streeter Sgt Ceryl L. O'Brien

Sgt Jason C. Carr Sgt Lee A. Belas

- an accompanying Apache was hit and damaged, but escaped

- became the 34th US Combat Loss

1 x UH-60 Blackhawk dowmed

1 x UH-1H Huey

1st Lt Danniel H. Graybeal WO1 Kerry O Hein

SSgt Micheal R. Robson

- became the 35th US Combat Loss

Gulf War 1991 Chronology

Day 43: 28 Feb 1991