Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad

The book, so well written, so deep into the men and machines that won the battle for Iraq, made me want to own a M1A1 Abrams tank to drive around the neighborhood. And a Bradley to go to the store!!!After getting close to the way war is waged and the chaos of battle and seeing how American soldiers are so well-trained and brave, it made me proud.

Zucchino's book Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad seems to be one of teh best accounts of the 3rd IDs "Thunder Run" into Baghdad. I've recelently read a lot of literature on the invasion of Iraq, including excellent books such as One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick and Generation Kill by Evan Wright which highlight the Marine advance and feign that helped contribute to the fall of Saddam, as well as other books about the Army's advance, to include Rick Atkinson's excellent account on the 101st Airborne. However, there have been relatively few books out there that have been able to concentrate on a specific battle. That's not to say that its such a bad thing. Many of the books listed above provide incredible insight into the commander's thoughts and the experiences of the troops through the 23 day advance and even the pre-invasion deployments of the 3rd ID to camp Doha, then Yankee, etc. Nonetheless, Zuccino's book is an excellent overview of the troubles and successes of the Spartan Brigades experiences in Baghdad, the ferocity of the battle, the trepidation and elation of the soldiers, and the brutality that goes with war and the loss of comrades. Immediatley the author is shot en-media-rez into the action during the night that the brigade receives the WARNO and then the hasty OPORD to go to battle. Zuccino then takes the reader on a harrowing adventure of the first Thunder Run which killed or wounded an estimated 1,200 enemy and then the brave decision to move the brigade to the center of the city and hold it. But the adventure isn't as easy as it seems and the reader begins to understand the complexities of keeping this force alive, supplied, and preventing it from being isolated. Zuccino takes you to the brutal intersections of Larry, Moe, and Curly, Saddam's palace, and the staging point of BIAP, then Saddam International Airport. Zuccino's task, like Mark Bowden with the Battle of Mogadishu, was immense: to study and disseminate the pivitol battle of the war, and he succeeds magnificiently.

The author was an embedded journalist with the US armored forces that made the first thrusts into Bagdad. Accordingly, he was a privileged eye witness of the at times intense and fierce fighting that accompanied the US forces on their way.While this is not a definitive history of the armored assault and other US operations that eventually led to the final defeat of the Iraqi regime, the author's writing style and the composition of the book makes for an interesting and catching account. In passing he also corrects the usual appreciation that taking over Bagdad was an easy task with little fight. At times the reader gets the impression that he is immersed in a fierce battle the size of D-Day landing at Normandy, but which ends with "only" a few casualties on each side, so the narrative at points verges at the more sensationalist side. Overall however, the author succeeds in presenting the insight of modern armored fight in urban environment like I have not seen before, and as such this book is recommended for both the casual reader more interested in the battle scenes as well as to the more technical reader who wants to read about how tanks are lead in an hostile urban environment and the corresponding challenges and solutions.

Great book. This is history. Not the media painted picture that lead the American people to believe the road to Baghdad was a cakewalk. Highly recommend.

I have recently become interested in the war in Afghanistan/Iraq and this book, taking place April 2003, gave a glimpse of what our military do, endure and have to live with. Thank you for such a great account of Thunder Run, and a great thank you to all our military who participated and gave their lives.

An outstanding work covering a complicated fast moving battle. Told with compassion and understanding. Gives insight into !modern armored warfare

The first night I began this book I had trouble sleeping. The sheer force of violence of these few days in Baghdad was overwhelming. I could not put this book down. The heroism, leadership and duty of these U.S. soldiers amazes me, yet I guess it really doesn't, as it seems the U.S. continues to produce folks from places like Ames, Iowa, Racine Wisconsin and Albany Georgia that are willing to risk it all. There is an element of comfort reading about the men and women of our military who stand in "harm's way" while the rest of us sleep at night.The other element of the book that stuck me was the willingness of the enemy to "risk it all" as well, especially given the extreme disparity of equipment and training.If you enjoy military history this is a must read. It is also a "must read" if you have an interest in what "harm's way" really represents.

Embedded writer in an armored unit uses too much jargon (e.g., 'lit up' meaning shot) and is crude ('cut them in two'). Uncritical of what sounds like a poorly-conceived, murderous 'joy ride' of dubious value, i.e. the "thunder run", in tanks and APCs. Nobody in the tank column had been killed all the way up from Kuwait, nobody in the battalion, until this would-be joy ride to the airport. Then a couple days later a larger convoy made a "thunder run" up to the Republican Palace at the center of Baghdad, securing 3 intersections en route, which they codenamed Curly, Larry, and Moe. The only thing that kept it from becoming another Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down) was a bunch of Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles, which provided protection and firepower. Valuable reading but it seems unlikely that the appropriate lessons have been learned.

It's a decent enough book, but not so much my style. I do prefer my military books to be a little personal, focusing on a limited group of people. This book focuses on the experiences of various officers and enlisted in a whole brigade during the battle of Baghdad.It isn't a bad book, I learned a bit about the battle, so my time wasn't wasted.

If you enjoyed Mark Bowden's unputdownable book then you'll find similarities of style in this account of the US tank raids into Baghdad in 2003. The vivid description, the building of suspense and tension to breakpoint, the focus on personalities and the gunsight-viewpoint are all here. Zucchino and Bowden have evidently passed from the same school. Expect appallingly graphic descriptions of injuries and mouthwatering insights into the latest US military technology & tactics, actually put to the test. As in the former book, the reader has the sense of being right there, in the dirty, dusty, sweaty, fearsome, deafening battle, with the only calming thought at the back of the mind, the consoling fact that it was them and not me.

Could not put this down! Just the right mix of history and human interest and incredibly well written, the author was there which helps. No wonder they are making this into a movie in 2013, if you cant wait for that catch the original news footage on you tube....

Das Buch ist das bisher beste Beispiel für "Embedded Journalism", das ich bisher gelesen habe. Spannend und dramatisch wie ein Roman geschrieben, aber dennoch genau und sorgfaltig recherchiert, erzählt es von der Eroberung Bagdads im letzten Golfkrieg. Kern des Buches ist dabei die Eroberung des Zentrums und des Regierungsviertels durch eine Brigade aus gepanzerten Einheiten praktisch ohne Unterstützung von Infanterie. Auf der Gegenseite standen unkoordinierte, teilweise irreguläre Einheiten, deren Waffen allerdings den gepanzerten Fahrzeugen der Amerikaner kaum Schaden zufügen konnten. So gerät die Heldengeschichte, die hier auch erzählt werden soll, etwas merkwürdig, denn Verluste auf amerikanischer Seite gibt es eher aufgrund von Zufällen, übersteigertem Selbstvertrauen, eigenem Feuer oder wenn sich mal wieder zwei Tanks gegenseitig in die Quere kommen - es gibt gleich mehrere Auffahrunfälle im Buch. So hat man den Eindruck, dass die Amerikaner oft mehr mit der eigenen Organisation zu kämpfen hatten als mit dem Feind. Und das wurde dann auch noch einigen Reportern zum Verhängnis, deren Hotel von einer amerikanischen Granate getroffen wurde."Raids" nannte man im Zweiten Weltkrieg isolierte, schnelle Vorstöße hinter die feindlichen Linien durch gepanzerte Fahrzeuge. Neu dagegen ist die Taktik, Raids auch in geschlossenen Städten durchzuführen. Ob es allerdings wirklich eine so gute Idee ist, sich in einer Stadt auf seine Panzerung zu verlassen, kann man auch hinterfragen, da die amerikanische Brigade letztendlich doch über eine nicht blockierte Autobahn direkt ins Stadtzentrum fahren konnte. Insofern erscheint mir der Verlauf dieser Aktion doch eher ein Sonderfall zu sein. Daher bin ich immer etwas skeptisch, wenn im Buch die Leistungen der Brigade als taktisches Meisterstück und als Neuerung in der Militärstrategie gefeiert werden.Ohnehin ist das Buch spannender, wenn man es als politisches Buch liest. Die Form der Eroberung von Bagdad war nicht so geplant. Nach einem ersten, erfolgreichen Vorstoß in die Stadt wurde auf operativer Ebene vor Ort entschieden, das Stadtzentrum zu besetzen. Nicht ohne Grund spricht einer der leitenden Offiziere von einer "Putschstrategie", in der man ein Regime stürzt, indem man die wichtigsten Gebäude einer Hauptstadt besetzt. So entstand das Konzept für die Beendigung des Krieges nicht durch Politiker sondern durch die Militärs. Durch den überraschenden Vorstoß ins Zentrum sollte das Regime mit einem Schlag zusammenbrechen. Und damit löste sich natürlich auch jede öffentliche Ordnung sofort auf. Wie inzwischen bekannt ist, ist sie seitdem auch nicht wieder hergestellt worden.Man ist deshalb versucht zu sagen, dass die Eroberung trotz des scheinbar so sichtbaren Erfolges (amerikanische Panzer vor Saddams Palast) eben doch irgendwie gescheitert ist. Aber diese Geschichte erzählt das Buch leider nicht. Denn der Epilog, der über die Weiterführung der Kämpfe bis heute erzählt, bleibt leider ohne Erklärung. Auch irritierend wirkt die ständige Schilderung, wie fest doch viele der amerikanischen Soldaten im christlichen Glauben verwurzelt sind. Und als dann der Militärkaplan das Töten der bösen Feinde rechtfertigt, kommt man sich als Europäer wie in einer Satire vor.Aber Humor kennt dieses sonst sehr flüssig und spannend geschriebene Buch leider nicht wirklich.

AUN SIENDO DE SEGUNDA MANO ME LLEGO EN PERFECTAS CONDICIONES