The "Battle of the Bridges" or Battle of Jal al Atraf took place on August 2, 1990 during the Iraqi invasion of the emirate of Kuwait, an invasion that was the occasion for Western intervention against the regime of Saddam Hussein and the crushing of the Iranian military. The bridges where the conflict took place were located in the area of the city of Al Jahra and were a mandatory crossing point for Iraqis on their way to the capital of Kuwait.
The Iraqi invasion
On August 2, 1990, the Iraqi forces, spearheaded by Saddam's supposedly elite "Democratic Guard" (DF) invaded the small emirate after talks over the exploitation of oil wells on the border failed to reach an agreement. It sounds like the USA had also encouraged Saddam to invade - just like the "reclusive" Ioannidis to stage a coup in Cyprus - with the aim of hitting him later...
Elements of the armored divisions (AT) of the "Hammurabi" and "Medina" DF under Brigadier General Ra'ad al-Hamdani they formed the vanguard of the invading forces. The Kuwaiti army was extremely thin and a number of its men were absent on leave due to the Muslim New Year. Nevertheless, under Colonel Salem Masoud al-Sorour, elements of the 35th Brigade were assembled.
Overall al Sorour was under his command the 7th Tank Brigade (3 tanks, 26 Chieftain tanks), the 3rd Tank of the 8th Tank with 10 Chieftains, the 1st Company of the 57th Motorized Infantry Battalion (with 5 BMP-2s and number M-113), 7 M-190 self-propelled guns A2 of the 51st Artillery Squadron and some M901 vehicles equipped with TOW anti-tank missiles.
As for the Iraqi forces, Hammurabi had two motorized brigades and one armored brigade, while Medina had two armored brigades and one motorized brigade. The DF divisions had Soviet T-72 tanks and BMP-1 and BMP-2 vehicles. The 17th Brigade of "Hammurabi" and the 14th Brigade of "Medina" participated in the battle.
To the trap
Cuban forces were put on high alert late on the night of August 1. But it took about 8 hours until they were ready and supplied with fuel and ammunition. The Kuwaiti colonel moved first with M901s at 04.30 on August 2, while the rest of his forces followed at 06.00. The Cuban forces took up positions near the two bridges, at the intersection of two main road axes.
In the meantime the 17th Brigade of "Hammurabi" had arrived west of Al Jahra. The Iraqis did not expect resistance. They were moving in a phalanx march without even having done reconnaissance beforehand, nor having deployed flanking patrols. Also, the otherwise elite Iraqi forces faced a serious intercommunication problem due to insufficient training of the men and lack of means.
Fire…
So the Iraqis, with surprise, accepted at 06.45 the first enemy fire. The Cuban Chieftain tanks fired from a distance of 1-1.5 km and their fire was extremely effective. The Iraqis attempted to respond, but their response was lethargic and mostly ineffective. The Kuwaitis began to attack enemy tanks, but also personnel carriers and common trucks of their opponents, while they also destroyed a self-propelled Iraqi artillery with the tank carrier that carried it.
Despite this, the Iraqis continued their movement regardless of enemy fire and casualties. Around 11.00 it was the turn of "Medina" to fall into the same trap, apparently because she had not been informed about the crime of "Hammurabi"! This time the Iraqi forces, after coming under fire and suffering casualties, deployed in battle formation and attempted to overwhelm the much smaller Kuwaitis.
After that, the latter were forced to retreat to avoid being surrounded and managed to retreat to the border with Saudi Arabia, which they crossed around 4:30 p.m., undefeated. The battle of the bridges was a small-scale conflict in which, however, the tragic weaknesses of the Iraqi army were demonstrated, which condemned it to a heavy defeat a few months later.
In the conflict, the Kuwaitis had only four dead and 20 wounded, while they did not lose any tanks. On the contrary, the Iraqis suffered heavy losses and lost around 30 tanks. However, they claimed that they did not suffer any loss...