First published 2003
F.J. West and Major General Ray Smith chronicle the 1st Marine Division's rapid advance to Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq invasion. The authors obtained exceptional battlefield access, traveling in a captured yellow SUV and embedding with whichever unit led each day's assault. This positioning allowed them to witness events that other journalists missed while confined to single units. West and Smith document the campaign from its uncertain start in southern Iraq through prisoner captures, media misreporting of Iraqi resistance, and the aggressive operations that secured swift victory. They reveal strategic planning as it unfolded in combat, examining both successes and failures while exposing previously unreported power struggles between military and political leaders. Drawing on their combined fifty years of military experience, the authors provide tactical analysis alongside frontline reporting. They interviewed three-star generals in command centers and privates in the field to show how high-level strategy translated into ground combat. The book captures a march that achieved victory despite second-guessing, unexpected setbacks, and potential disaster.
Genres: 20th-century, military-fiction, action, 21st-century, military-history, american-history
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-perspective, military-operations
Setting: Iraq, Baghdad
Period: 2003
320 pages · Hardcover · Bantam