| Battle of Ramadi 2004 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Post-invasion Iraq | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| United States | Iraq insurgents | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 150 | 300 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 16 KIA, 25 WIA | 250 killed | ||||||
The Battle
Golf Company
The battle began at midmorning when Marine patrols fanned out across Ramadi to provide security, meet and greet people and search for roadside bombs. Three squads of Golf Company's 3rd Platoon set off on separate routes. They worked their way west from a base called Combat Outpost, headed to the government center, 2 miles away, where they would link up and stand guard. Platoon Staff Sgt. Damien Rodriguez led a squad of 12 men. They moved on foot into the densely packed neighborhoods on the south side of town. That's when insurgents ambushed another squad northwest of their position. Rodriguez and his men came under fire as they raced through the streets to flank the attackers. Marines took up positions and began returning fire as Rodriguez led others into nearby buildings to clear out insurgents. Rebels manning machine guns began to fire from down the street.As the Marines radioed for assistance, they could see small groups of insurgents armed with AK-47s or rocket-propelled-grenade launchers moving to flank them. Ambulances and taxis dropped off rebel reinforcements and picked up dead or wounded. They had been fighting for 90 minutes. Another half hour would pass before a relief force fought through the streets to reach them.
Echo Company
The sound of battle reached a four-man Marine sniper team from Echo Company more than a mile away where they lay in tall grass near the Euphrates River. Suddenly, 14 Iraqis armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled-grenade launchers began moving toward them. The militants were in a straight-line formation. The four snipers, their backs to the river, had never seen anything like it. A mile downriver, along the same road, 1st Lt. Vincent Valdes and two squads of Marines were waiting for explosives experts to dispose of three mortar rounds they had found buried in the road. When word arrived of the attack on the sniper team, Valdes took a squad of 10 Marines in the squad's only Humvee and barreled down the road to the rescue. They drove into a firefight. The men poured out of the Humvee. With the Marine snipers, they charged across the road driving back the insurgents. Machine guns in nearby houses opened up, followed by mortar fire. The 10-man squad Valdes had left behind was now under attack. Eight were driven into a house. Insurgents lobbed hand grenades on the roof. Relief was still hours away. As if on a signal, insurgents on rooftops and others at a T-intersection ahead began to fire were they stoped the relife convoy of Echo company. The lead Humvee was shredded by heavy machine gun fire, all the marines in it except for one were killed. Lance Cpl. Deshon Otey managed to jump out of the vehicle and sprinted to the next nearest vehicle full of Marines. Bullets whizzing by him somehow missed. The insurgents had sealed off the ambush site. The Marines were pined down for hours until rescue arrived.
Aftermath
Marines killed an estimated 250 rebels from April 6 to April 10 in fighting that eventually shattered the enemy offensive. 12 Marines were killed and 25 were wounded in the battle on April 6. Another 4 were killed over the next four days. Lance Cpl. Deshon Otey who was the sole survive of the lead vehicle of the relife convoy was killed six weeks later. Another veteran of the fight, Sgt. Kenneth Conde in a roadside bomb blast three months later. The battle ended in victory for the Marines but at a high price.