1st Hammurabi Armoured Division

1st Hammurabi Armoured
Republican Guard Division
Hammurabi Division insignia
Active Unknown – 2003
Country  Iraq
Allegiance Ba'athist Iraq
Branch Iraqi Republican Guard
Type Armoured Division
Role Shock troops
Size ≈10,000 (1991)
Engagements

Iran–Iraq War

Persian Gulf War

1991 uprisings in Iraq

2003 Invasion of Iraq
Commanders
Last Commander Najim Abdallah Zahwen Al Ujayli[1]
Notable
commanders		 Ra'ad al-Hamdani

The 1st 'Hammurabi' Armored Division (Arabic: الفرقة المدرعة حمورابي‎) was an elite formation of the Iraqi Republican Guard.

The division was named after Hammurabi; a Babylonian King known for the set of laws called Hammurabi's Code, which constitute one of the earliest surviving codes of law in recorded history.

History

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.[2]

Towards the end of the war the division was involved in the controversial Battle of Rumaila, when US Army forces under Lt. Gen. Barry McCaffrey annihilated the retreating division near the Rumaila oil field, resulting in the division suffering some 7,000 casualties.[3]

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.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Multinational Coalition Forces Iraq (MCFI)" (PDF). Thetorturedatabase.org. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
  2. ↑ Woods, Kevin M (May 2008). "Um Al-Ma'arik (The Mother of All Battles): Operational and Strategic Insights from an Iraqi Perspective". Iraqi Perspectives Project Phase II. Institute for Defense Analysis. Retrieved 2015-11-19.
  3. ↑ Pike, John. "Hammurabi Division". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  4. ↑ Hindiyah, Terry McCarthy I. (4 May 2003). "What Ever Happened to the Republican Guard?". Content.time.com. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
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