Page 154 - NS-2 Textbook

THE 19905 AND BEYOND 147

and out of Iraq. Simultaneously, the United States em- Kuwait turned Operation Desert Shield into Desert
barked upon Operation Desert Shield, deploying the Storm. Tens of thousands of air sorties (attack missions)
largest u.s. military and naval force assembled since the were launched by U.s. Navy, Army, and Air Force planes
Vietnam War to Saudi Arabia. and helicopters and those of other coalition forces. The
By the end of 1990, about 450,000 U.s. military per- coalition soon achieved air superiority and quickly shot
sonnel and 100 U.S. Navy ships were engaged in opera- down any offensive-minded Iraqi aircraft that managed
tions in support of Desert Shield. Forces from many other to get airborne.
nations also joined U.S. forces there to form the so-called On 23 Februmy the allied ground offensive into
UN coalition. U.S. and allied ships patrolled in the Per- Kuwait and southern Iraq began, under the overall com-
sian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and Red Sea, enforcing the UN mand of General H. "Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf,
trade embargo against Iraq. Among the forces deployed U.S. Army. The United States and coalition forces made
in the Saudi desert were thousands of U.s. marines. short work of the now demoralized Iraqi troops, most of
Navy hospital ships largely staffed with Naval Resen'e whom had been heavily bombed and cut off from all re-
medical personnel deployed off the Saudi coasts ready to supply of food and munitions by the air campaign. By 26
handle any casualties. And maritime sealift transported February Kuwait City was secured, and on the evening
the bulk of the heavy equipment and supplies needed to of 27 February President Bush announced a cease-fire,
sustain the operation. which becallle permanent on 8 April. Victory for the
The UN Security Council imposed a deadline of 15 coalition forces was complete, thus ending the largest air
January 1991, by which time Hussein had to move all of and ground offensive fought since World War II. The
his forces out of Kuwait or face military action. Hussein Iraqis lost tens of thousands of troops killed as the result
did not leave Kuwait. On 16 January a massive air as- of air and ground attacks, and many thousands more be-
sault on every target of military significance in Iraq and came prisoners of V\Tar. U.S. losses were amazingly low

IRAQ IRAN

Nasiriya
r--""

N
+ SAUDI ARABIA

The theater of operations in Operation Desert Storm, 1991. General Norman Schwarzkopf's strategists deceived the Iraqis into believing the
main thrusts into Kuwait would come north from Saudi Arabia and via an amphibious assault near Kuwait City. Actually, most of the coalition
forces engaged in a swift flanking movement to the west into southern Iraq, (utting off the Iraqi forces in Kuwait from any hope of escape
or resupply. Facts on File