The “Raid” that ended Saddam’s Regime (Thunder Run no.2)
10The "Thunder Run" to the airport on April 5th had shown that though willing to fight, the Iraqis were not capable of stopping American armor.
Two days of hard fighting followed as elements of the 3rd Infantry division and the 1st Marines began to encircle Iraq’s Capital.
During this time Iraqi propaganda, repeated by news channels like Al Jazeera and the BBC, stated that the American’s had been repulsed from the capital with heavy losses.
Wanting to dispel these stories and not a fan of these hit and run raids Colonel David Perkins decided to…modify the plan and his orders…and take his brigade into Baghdad and seize and hold something visible and so important to Saddam’s regime that the American success could not be denied.
After clearing a large minefield and hours of fighting their way into the city Perkins and his men reached and then captured the Presidential Palace in the heart of the Iraqi capital.
They and support units on the outskirts of the city then spent the night and morning fighting off vicious counter attacks but by noon on the 8th the Americans clearly there to stay and Saddam Hussein, who was nowhere to be seen, was in effect totally defeated.