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| Captain Steve Thompson left, commands the 299 Engineer Company, the Multirole Bridging Company escorted across 500 KM of desert to cross the Euphrates here 20 K SW of Bagdhad. His men not only repaired the existing bridge after a failed Iraqi attempt to blow it up, they are constructing a pontoon bridge to ease traffic for the invasion forces. Also it was 299 men including Specialist David Stoller, 24 (steering) of Carrolton Ohio who ferried the first infantry across in the fierce fight for the bridge last night. They lost 1 of their 3 15 foot rafts to enemy bullets but took no casualties. The 299 -- a sister unit of the 54th Engineers -- are all reservists. Sp Stoller work[s] on a tree farm. Capt Thompson, 34 of Washington DC works in the Capitol as a legislative aide to Congressman Wally Herger, R-CA |
Crossing the Euphrates - Fierce Guard No Match for Advancing GIs
By JONATHAN FOREMAN in Iraq
April 04, 2003
The Army's 299th Engineers could smell the honeysuckle as
they dodged
bullets and ferried the infantry across the Euphrates to take on the
entrenched Republican Guard.
The Iraqis were holed up in bunkers and pink adobe cottages on the east side of the river, intent on keeping the U.S. from seizing control of a nearby bridge - just 12 miles from Baghdad.
With bullets and shells landing all around them, the reservists in the 299th ferried the infantry across. They lost one boat - but no lives.
"We were taking serious fire," said David Stoller
of the 299th, who was
in the first raft.
He said there was a steady hail of small-arms fire from
enemy soldiers during the crossings. When the fierce firefight was over
and the four-lane bridge was in U.S. hands, the adobe huts were blackened
and pockmarked from
the infantry's barrage, and the Iraqis' foxholes and bunkers were abandoned.
Some of the enemy fled, leaving their weapons, ammo, helmets and uniforms behind - apparently preparing to pose as civilians, or actually become civilians.
Enemy vehicles littered both sides of the river - burned-out
pickup trucks and motorcycles, the twisted remains of armored personnel
carriers, bullet-riddled jeeps. With the infantry in control, the Engineers
determined the bridge was
safe to cross.
The 299th's sister outfit, the 54th Engineers, is now standing guard at the old bridge, while the 299th builds a new two-lane float bridge downriver to handle the overflow traffic of U.S. troops and armor heading for Baghdad.
"I'm very pleased to see the 299 has a chance to build a bridge," said Lt. Col. Ed Jackson of the 54th. "It's been a long haul for them. They've been here in the Gulf for five months. And it's a big deal to be crossing the mighty Euphrates."
Officials had expected the Iraqi bridge to be rubble when U.S. forces arrived. They thought the Engineers would have to build a new one.
Well, the Iraqis tried to blow it up. But they only managed to set off one bomb that damaged two lanes.
"That will speed our advance," said Jackson. "Again, the U.S. military is the beneficiary of poor Iraqi demolition techniques," gloated Capt. Steve Thompson.