US open fire on Iraqi troops
The US 3rd Infantry Division’s artillery opened fire today on Iraqi troops with Paladin self-propelled howitzers and multiple launch rocket systems in the first stage of the ground war.
US Major General Bufourd Blount, the division commander, had said the artillery barrage would signal the first phase of the ground assault.
The sky around the cannons lit up with white light as dozens of artillery shells were fired. The explosions inside Iraq could be heard.
Infantrymen who were between the howitzers and the Iraqi border cheered as the shells screamed overhead.
Soldiers in the early night darkness watched the lights flashing in the sky.
Blount said yesterday that the artillery shelling would take place along the entire Kuwait-Iraq border.
There were no reports from other parts of the sector but witnesses along the north-east corner of the frontier reported hearing heavy detonations.
