March 23 – April 2, 2003 · Southern Iraq Theater
March 23 – April 2, 2003
The bloodiest battle of the conventional invasion. The 1st Marine Regiment fights through Nasiriyah — a vital bridge crossing over the Euphrates — in ten days of intense urban combat. On March 23, an Army maintenance convoy (507th Maintenance Company) makes a wrong turn into the city and is ambushed: 11 soldiers are killed and several captured, including Pfc. Jessica Lynch, whose rescue dominated US media for weeks. Marines then fight block by block through the city while Fedayeen snipers and ambushes from civilian areas kill 18 Marines in a single day.
Commanders