94: Chapter 91 The Passage

October 16, 1980, 4:00 AM, north of the Zubair Oilfield Pump Station.

The final hour before the offensive began.

Reza did not conduct a pre-battle briefing; he simply walked to the assembly area of each attacking unit to check on their preparations. Rezai's men were checking their weapons, Rajai's men were making final checks on their maps, and Hassan's men were refueling their pickup trucks.

4:30 AM, all units reported they were in position.

4:45 AM, Reza issued the first order: "Rezai, begin the feint."

Rezai's unit used mortars and RPGs to conduct a ten-minute fire preparation on the Iraqi infantry company's position, and then the infantry began to advance. The Iraqis returned fire, but their firepower was clearly inferior to Rezai's unit—one infantry company against an entire brigade, the disparity in firepower was too great.

The Iraqi company commander's reaction was standard: he reported to his superiors via radio, "Under attack, requesting support."

The Iraqi brigade headquarters' reaction was also standard: dispatch an armored company to move from the south toward Rezai's flank.

But this was exactly what Reza was waiting for.

"Rajai," Reza issued the second order, "flanking maneuver, cut off their armored company."

Rajai's unit crossed three kilometers of desert in the dark and appeared right on time at the side and rear of the Iraqi armored company. Fifty RPGs fired simultaneously, destroying seven tanks in less than five minutes, and the remaining three turned around and fled.

The Iraqi brigade headquarters received the report from the armored company: "Encountered an ambush, heavy losses, unable to continue advancing."

The brigade headquarters made a second decision: dispatch an infantry battalion to reinforce the surrounded infantry company from the front.

But while on the march, the infantry battalion encountered the Anti-tank mines Reza had deployed in advance. Three armored personnel carriers were blown up, and the infantry battalion was forced to halt.

5:30 AM, Rezai's unit had advanced to the front edge of the Iraqi infantry company's position. Both sides began close-quarters combat.

"Hassan," Reza issued the third order, "now, charge through."

Hassan's one hundred and twenty pickup trucks started simultaneously and charged out through the gap between Rezai and Rajai. The pickup trucks were shockingly fast, speeding through the desert at sixty kilometers per hour; the Iraqis didn't even have time to react.

5:45 AM, the first wave of Hassan's pickup trucks passed through the gap in the Iraqi encirclement and reached the open ground north of the marshland. This area was outside the range of the Iraqi encirclement, and ten kilometers further north was the Iran border.

"The channel is open," Hassan said over the communication channel, "repeat, the channel is open."

Hearing this, the nerves Reza had kept taut for over twenty hours finally relaxed.

"Hold the channel," he said, "the second batch of reinforcements will arrive in two hours. Before they arrive, the channel cannot be lost."

7:00 AM, the second batch of reinforcements arrived at the northern end of the channel.

Three thousand men, carrying thirty captured and repaired T-62 tanks, twenty artillery pieces, and a large quantity of ammunition. The commander of this force was a veteran named Sadiq, over fifty years old, who had participated in the 1953 Mosaddegh movement and was one of the few in the Revolutionary Guard with actual combat experience.

"Your Highness," Sadiq said over the radio, "three thousand men have all arrived. Where to now?"

"Head south, come to the Pump Station. The channel is open, but the Iraqis could block it at any time. Your men need to pass through as quickly as possible."

8:00 AM, the Iraqi brigade headquarters finally realized what had happened—the Iranians were not fighting an infantry company, they were opening a channel.

The brigade headquarters requested reinforcements from division headquarters.

The division headquarters' reply was: "All reserves have been committed to battle, no troops available to deploy."

Iraq's encirclement around the Pump Station appeared to have twenty-five thousand men, but they were scattered across a front of dozens of kilometers, and the troop strength in any one direction was not high. When the Iranians concentrated their forces to strike one point, the Iraqis simply could not redeploy forces from other directions in a short time.

9:00 AM, Sadiq's three thousand men had all passed through the channel and entered the Pump Station.

Reza stood on the roof of the Pump Station, watching unit after unit enter the position. Tanks, artillery, infantry, supply convoys, all formed a long line in the morning light.

"Your Highness," Karimi walked up to his side, "there is chaos on the Iraqi communication channels. They are arguing about whether to pull troops from other directions to block the channel."

"Let them argue," Reza said, "the longer they argue, the more secure the channel will be."

10:00 AM, Reza called all the commanders to the control room.

"Now we have seven thousand five hundred men," he said, "Iraq has twenty-five thousand men around the Pump Station. The ratio of forces has gone from one to fifteen to one to three. The gap is still there, but it is no longer an insurmountable chasm."

"How do we fight the next step?" Rezai asked.

"We don't fight," Reza said, "at least not today. Our mission today is to hold the channel and let more reinforcements and supplies come in. As long as the channel is in our hands, the Iraqi siege tactics have failed."

"Will they continue to attack?" Rajai asked.

"No," Reza said, "their offensive strength has been mostly exhausted. Yesterday they lost over thirty tanks, and today they lost another ten. Their current number of tanks is less than one hundred and fifty, while we have the captured T-62s, and with the artillery brought by the reinforcements, our firepower is already not inferior to theirs."

"Then what will they do?"

"They will negotiate," Reza said, "Saddam Hussein is not a fool. He knows that wasting time on the outskirts of the Pump Station is meaningless. He will seek a decent way to end this battle, withdraw his troops, and reorganize."

"Then do we agree to negotiate?"

"Yes," Reza said, "but not now. If we negotiate now, we won't get the best terms. We need to wait another day or two, wait until the Iraqis realize their siege has completely failed, and wait until they start looking for excuses to retreat, then we will talk."