The Desert Rats take Basra
1After securing the oil fields and ensuring their supply lines were protected the Americans left Iraq's 3rd largest city, Basra, up to the British.
They opted for a slower and more deliberate approach, that saw them mostly stick to the outskirts of the city, all for the purpose of minimizing their own and civilian casualties.
Over close to 3 weeks the British ground down the Iraqi defenders in sometimes intense engagements that never-the-less frustrated Saddam’s forces’ aims of drawing the Brits into bloody urban warfare.
While this method did reduce civilian casualties it nearly precipitated a humanitarian disaster because at one point nearly a million people were left without access to fresh water.
Fortunately this was avoided when the 7th Armoured division, the famous Desert Rats of World War 2’s North Africa campaign, finally entered the city center ending organized resistance and allowing humanitarian aid to flow into the city