Operation Granby

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Operation Granby
Part of the
Jaber III restored
Executed by United Kingdom
Operation Granby is located in Kuwait
Operation Granby

Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict.[1] Forty-seven British personnel were killed during Op Granby and many more were injured during the hostilities there.[2] The total cost of operations was £2.434 billion (1992), of which at least £2.049 billion was paid for by other nations such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia; £200 million of equipment was lost or written off.[3]

The Joint Commander Gulf Forces, based in the United Kingdom at

Air Vice-Marshal Ian Macfadyen
from March 1991.

The Air Commander British Forces Middle East, initially Arabian Peninsula, was Air Vice Marshal

William (Bill) Wratten
from 17 November 1990.

The Senior British Naval Officer Middle East was Captain Anthony McEwen, Royal Navy until September 1990, on HMS York, then Commodore Paul Haddacks from September to December 1990. Finally, Commodore Christopher Craig, on HMS Brave and HMS London, was in command from 3 December 1990 to March 1991.

Royal Air Force

Tornado F3
, an aircraft used by the RAF in the Gulf War.

Within nine days of the

TriStar aircraft supplied both the Royal Air Force and other military endeavours; Nimrod MR.2P aircraft assisted naval operations. At bases in Tabuk, Dhahran, and Muharraq, the RAF deployed Rapier missiles as part of surface-to-air defences. In total, around 6,000 RAF personnel were deployed to the Gulf.[5]

RAF commanders, along with the other partners in the

Scud ballistic missiles and chemical weapons, they could not be left to help support Iraqi ground forces, now entrenched in positions on the border. Because of the level of supplies coming from Iraq to forces in Kuwait, it would have been impossible to separate targets merely in Kuwait from an offensive into Iraq. Coalition forces outnumbered the IrAF 3-to-1.[5]

The first part of the

River Euphrates. During operations, civilians were killed when the sophisticated guidance systems on the weaponry used failed, and buildings close to these bridges (many in populated areas) were hit instead. On the whole, many pilots were frustrated by the lack of combat.[5]

In every combat role, the RAF was second to USAF involvement, but ahead of other members of the coalition. Of the around 55 Allied aircraft lost, eight were RAF Tornados; these aircraft types flew a total of 2,500 sorties. Five air crew were lost in operations, and three in preparations.[5]

British Army

British Army Challenger 1 tank during the Gulf War.

A single

Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, "insisted on Challenger's reliability in the Gulf. In consequence to this demand BAOR regiments became 'a scrap yard' of [tank hulls] without spares, sitting on wooden blocks. Everything else was being sent to the Gulf as spares in support of 7th Armoured Brigade."[7] The entire British Army's power pack repair facility was deployed to the Gulf with the division.[8]

The ground forces had a maximum strength of 28,000 men comprising 7,000 vehicles including 179 Challenger 1 tanks, 316 Warriors, 79 artillery pieces and 16 MLRS.

During the ground phase, the 1st Armoured Division took part in the "left-hook" which outflanked Iraqi forces.[9] It participated in the Battle of Norfolk. British Challenger 1 tanks destroyed approximately 300 Iraqi tanks, including achieving the longest-range tank-kill in the war from three miles away.[10] The British Army also inflicted heavy artillery and various other combat vehicle losses on the Iraqi Army.[11] The British Army destroyed approximately five Iraqi divisions in 48 hours of combat.[12] A friendly fire incident, when an American Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt aircraft attacked two British Warrior vehicles, resulted in the deaths of nine British service personnel, this incident was featured in a edition of The Cook Report entitled "Death by Maverick".

Royal Navy

The

HMS London, mine countermeasures vessels
, and the US battleships.

See also

References

  1. ^ "1990/1991 Gulf Conflict". MOD.uk. Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom). Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  2. ^ https://www.forces.net/news/gulf-war-everything-you-need-know-about-conflict-30-years#:~:text=Forty%2Dseven%20British%20personnel%20were,direct%20result%20of%20enemy%20action.
  3. ^ "Gulf war cost taxpayer 615m pounds". Independent.co.uk. The Independent. 2 December 1992. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 1 February 2018.
  4. ^ Grp Cpt Bill Cope, RAF. "Gulf War Buccaneer Operations". RAF.mod.uk. Royal Air Force. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d Air Vice-Marshal R.A. Mason (1991). "The Royal Air Force". Britain's Gulf War: Operation Granby. London: Harrington Kilbride. pp. 35–43.
  6. ^ Simon Dunstan, Peter Sarson, Challenger Main Battle Tank 1982-1997. (London: Osprey Publishing 1998), 37, cited in Cronin 2014, 21.
  7. ^ McManners, Hugh (2011). Gulf War One (2nd ed.). Reading: Ebury Press. p. 48. in Cronin, P., 2014. The Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars in the desert on Operation Granby, and the issues constraining their deployment 1990-1991, MA in Military History thesis, University of Buckingham, 2014, p25.
  8. ^ Cronin, p24.
  9. ^ "1st Armoured Division". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 4 March 1991.
  10. ISBN 978-1851099474
    .
  11. OCLC 51313637
    .
  12. ^ Bourque P.319

Further reading

  • Allen, Charles. Thunder & lightning: the RAF in the Gulf: personal experiences of war (HM Stationery Office/Tso, 1991).
  • de la Billiere, Peter. "The Gulf Conflict: Planning and Execution." The RUSI Journal 136#4 (1991): 7–12.
  • Hayr, Kenneth. "Logistics in the Gulf War." The RUSI Journal 136#3 (1991): 14–19.
  • Newell, Clayton R. The A to Z of the Persian Gulf War 1990 – 1991 (2007).
  • Smith, Rupert. "The Gulf War: The land battle." The RUSI Journal 137#1 (1992): 1–5.
  • Bourque, Stephen A. (2001). Jayhawk! The 7th Corps in the Persian Gulf War. Center of Military History, United States Army.
    OCLC 51313637
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Granby&oldid=1204063492"