THE first mortar shell fell close to a solitary shack on a bluff overlooking the Euphrates river. The second exploded a few yards from a parked US Marine Humvee armoured vehicle full of officers directing construction of a pontoon bridge that was intended to carry US forces across the river into the insurgent-infested desert close to Iraq’s border with Syria.
The marines scrambled into the shack for cover. There was more fire, apparently from the nearby town of Ubaydi behind them on their side of the river. The bridge-building plan was forgotten. What was needed, said Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Mundy of the 3rd Marine Battalion, was a “movement to enemy”.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1612884,00.html
The marines scrambled into the shack for cover. There was more fire, apparently from the nearby town of Ubaydi behind them on their side of the river. The bridge-building plan was forgotten. What was needed, said Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Mundy of the 3rd Marine Battalion, was a “movement to enemy”.
......
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1612884,00.html