The 'Hammurabi' Armored Division ( ar, فرقة حمورابي المدرعة) was an elite

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

of the

Iraqi Republican Guard Iraqi or Iraqis (in plural) means from Iraq, a country in the Middle East, and may refer to: * Iraqi people or Iraqis, people from Iraq or of Iraqi descent * A citizen of Iraq, see demographics of Iraq * Iraqi or Araghi ( fa, عراقی), someone o ...

. It was named after

Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states ...

; a Babylonian King known for the set of laws called

Hammurabi's Code The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organised, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, purportedly by Ham ...

, which constitute one of the earliest surviving codes of law in recorded history. The division was decisively defeated by the United States Armed Forces in 1991, when it was forced out of Kuwait after suffering heavy casualties, and again in 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq. The latter resulted in the total collapse of the division as its senior officers abandoned their posts, and it was never reformed as the Republican Guard itself was disbanded following the fall of Saddam Hussein's government.

History

In 1990 the division included the 17th Armoured Brigade under Brigadier General Ra’ad Hamdani and the division commander was Major General Qais Abd al-Razaq, a "very practical man." The division played a central role in the

invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an operation conducted by Iraq on 2 August 1990, whereby it invaded the neighboring State of Kuwait, consequently resulting in a seven-month-long Iraqi military occupation of the country. The invasion and Ira ...

which took place in August 1990. On the morning of August 2, 1990, near the Mutla Pass, a battle took place between the Vickers tanks of the 6th Mechanized Brigade,

Kuwait Army The Kuwait Army, established in 1949, is the oldest armed branch among the military of Kuwait. Its cavalry and infantry predecessors operated in desert and metropolitan areas in 1919, 1920 and 1928 to 1938, tracing their roots directly to the c ...

, and the

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet/Russian main battle tanks that entered production in 1969. The T-72 was a development of the T-64, which was troubled by high costs and its reliance on immature developmental technology. About 25,000 T-72 tanks h ...

s of the division's 17th Armoured Brigade. Kuwaiti tanks were able to knock out one T-72 during the ambush, but were defeated, and the commander of the 6th Brigade captured. Only 20 surviving Vickers tanks were able to retreat to Saudi Arabia.

1991 Gulf War

The division commander has stated that he ordered his tanks to use high-explosive anti-personnel munitions, rather than anti tank rounds, so as to minimize Kuwaiti casualties in tank engagements of the invasion. Towards the end of the war the division was involved in the controversial

Battle of Rumaila The Battle of Rumaila, also known as the Battle of the Causeway or the Battle of the Junkyard, was a controversial attack that took place on March 2, 1991, two days after President Bush declared a ceasefire, near the Rumaila oil field in the Eup ...

, when US Army forces under Lt. Gen.

Barry McCaffrey Barry Richard McCaffrey (born November 17, 1942) is a retired United States Army general and current news commentator, professor and business consultant who served in President Bill Clinton's Cabinet as the Director of the Office of National Dru ...

annihilated the retreating division near the

Rumaila oil field The Rumaila oil field is a super-giant oil field located in southern Iraq, approximately from the Kuwaiti border. Discovered in 1953 by the Basrah Petroleum Company (BPC), an associate company of the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), the field is e ...

, resulting in the division suffering some 7,000 casualties. There are differing reports about the composition of the division in the late 1990s. But both Cordesman, "Key Targets in Iraq," February 1998, and Sean Boyle, in

Jane's Intelligence Review ''Jane's Intelligence Review'' is a monthly journal on global security and stability issues published by Jane's Information Group. Its coverage includes international security issues, state stability, terrorism and insurgency, ongoing conflicts, ...

, September 1997, list the 8th, 14th and 17th Brigades. Cordesman writes that the 8th and 14th were mechanised while the 17th was an armoured brigade.

2003 invasion of Iraq

During the Invasion of Iraq the division was given orders to retreat from Suwayrah on the night of 5 April 2003 after several days of bombardment by American planes. Further orders on exactly where to regroup were not forthcoming, and senior officers disappeared, leading to mass desertions and the collapse of the division.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1st Hammurabi Armoured Division Armoured divisions of Iraq Military units and formations disestablished in 2003