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Archive: 3/5 Marines Clear Fallujah
Published 2 weeks ago
Twenty years ago, 1st Marine Division assaulted the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, Iraq. Four Marine battalions, two army battalions, and various attached units such as tanks, assault amphibian vehicles (AAVs), light armored reconnaissance, engineers, artillery, and others spent weeks engaged in the most vicious urban combat the Marine Corps had experience since the battle of Hue City, Vietnam, 1968. This archived combat camera footage shows Marines of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, conducting clearing operations in Fallujah. Infantry assault Marines feature prominently in this video, identifiable by the SMAW rocket launchers strapped to their backs. Infantry assaultmen receive instruction in the use of explosives, urban mobility breaching, employment of the SMAW, as well as training in basic infantry tactics. These skills proved invaluable in an environment that presented the attacker with a multitude of challenges, not the least of which was a labyrinth of buildings constructed with thick walls. The SMAW HE/DP rocket was effective at creating breach points, and was often followed by a SMAW NE, or thermobaric rocket. This round possesses a fuel-air explosive (FAE) warhead capable of collapsing lightly constructed buildings. Many of the houses in Fallujah boasted steel doors with steel frames and had to be breached with explosive charges. At one point in the video, infantry assault Marines can be seen affixing a breaching charge to a door.