The Republican Guard Forces Command (RGFC) is the best of the Iraqi ground forces. The RGFC is Iraq's most capable and loyal force, and receives the best training and equipment. An elite force, the RGFC was initially organized to protect the Iraqi government.
Later, this force was employed in highly successful offensive operations against the Iranians. In 1990, brigades of the Republican Guards conducted the blitz-style attack into Kuwait. It was also used in areas where there was opposition to the government, such as the Kurdish north and the Shiite south.
Former President Abdel Salam Aref set up the Republican Guards after he seized power in 1963 and staffed it largely from his al-Jumayla tribe to be the elite unit of the regime.
Saddam Hussein has further developed the Republican Guards into a Praetorian corps after the Baath party took government in 1968, giving the brigades names from Mesopotamian history, such as Hammurabi, the king who promulgated the first known legal code and Nabonassar, a conqueror of Palestine.
These units served as the core around which to build an elite offensive force, which grew dramatically during the last two years of the war with Iran (1980-88). During the 1980s, it was expanded from a Palace Guard of one brigade into a separate force -- the Republican Guard Forces Command -- of thirty to thirty-three brigades in seven divisions. To stress its importance to the regime, the RGFC is subordinate to the State Special Security Apparatus, not to the Defense Ministry.
Within RGFC, there is the “golden division”, which is often referred to as the Presidential Guard. The Special Republican Guard (SRG) had some 16,000 troops in the outset of 2003. An elite part of the Republican Guard, it functions as the last line of defense for the regime. It is the only force of divisional size in central Baghdad. It includes units that protect Saddam personally. The most loyal Republican Guards units are inside Baghdad protecting also vital facilities.
Soldiers in this unit tend to be recruited from in and around Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit.
The SRG was at the center of disputes between Iraq and the UN weapons inspectors in 1998, when the Iraqi authorities refused access to its facilities where proscribed weapons were believed to have been stored.
The RGFC possesses advantages of personnel and equipment over the larger Regular Army. RGFC armored battalions had nine more tanks than Army tank battalions, giving them added firepower. Otherwise, the organization of combat arms units in the Guard and regular Army appeared identical. All Republican Guard troops were highly motivated volunteers rather than conscripts. Personnel recruited into the RGFC were given bonuses, new cars and subsidized housing. All had more training than the regulars; and all had the most modern equipment in the Iraqi inventory, including the Soviet T-72 tank with night vision capability. This elite corps included infantry, mechanized and motorized infantry, and armored divisions.
Battle History
Early in 1986, Saddam took the Iranian town of Mehran, and said he would trade it for Al Faw. Instead of acquiescing, Iranian forces recaptured Mehran and drove off the Iraqis, raising doubts about Iraq’s ability to prosecute the war. A few days after the debacle at Mehran, the leaders of the Baath Party held an “Extraordinary Congress” in Baghdad and decided on a mobilization. Colleges were to be closed and students put into summer training camps.
To sweeten the call-up for these students, the Baathists declared that volunteers would be accepted into the Republican Guard. The chance to enter the Republican Guard was attractive to ambitious students. Before this move, only young men from Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, were allowed into the “elite” Guard. The Republican Guard began changing from a praetorian bodyguard for Saddam to a tough, well-equipped force for special missions. Later in the war, the expanding Republican Guard would enter its final phase, becoming the Iraqi Army’s major offensive element.
The RGFC had been the key to the victory over Iran in the final battles. The RGFC was the major assault force in each of the 1988 multi-corps offensive operations that reclaimed the Al-Faw peninsula, Fish Lake and the Majnun Islands from the Iranians. To prevent the fall of Basra in 1987, 12 Guard brigades were committed to battle. Without the determined RGFC defense, the Iranians would have penetrated the Iraqi lines. In early 1988, RGFC elements again were sent hurriedly to shore up a weakness in Basra defenses in anticipation of an expected Iranian offensive.
Kuwaiti armed forces were taken by surprise in 1990, only one brigade of which opposed the RGFC as the bulk of the Kuwaiti forces were overrun in garrison. By 1 August 1990, there were eight RGFC divisions between Basra and the Kuwaiti border. Some units had moved as far as 700 kilometers from their home bases. The Iraqis had assembled almost 140,000 troops, supported by more than 1,500 tanks and infantry vehicles, plus the required artillery, and logistics.
On Feb. 27, 1991, the tankers and gunners of the Medina al Munawara Division came face to face with the U.S. 1st Armored Division. The M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles of the 1st Armored's 2nd Brigade had destroyed 61 Medina Division tanks and 34 of its armored personnel carriers.
In 1995, several military officers of the al-Dulaymi tribe from western Iraq staged a coup attempt in May. According to media reports, Saddam executed the participants, then returned their bodies to their kinsmen. In response, a Republican Guard battalion led by outraged al-Dulaymi military officers attacked the Iraqi prison at Abu Gharayb.
Two loyal Republican Guard brigades defeated the rebels, but Saddam was disturbed by the fact that some of his normally loyal Republican Guards had turned against him. A purge of the Republican Guards followed in July. The Iraqi president has purged the army and security apparatus periodically and put his son Qusay in charge of the Republican Guards few years ago.
Current Situation
The linchpin of the Iraqi Army is made up of three armored Republican Guard divisions, numbering -- before the U.S.-led coalition started bombing those forces in recent days -- around 8,000 to 10,000 each, U.S. officials said.
The Guards include an estimated 13 mechanized brigades, eight infantry brigades and five special forces brigades.
There are a total of six Republican Guard divisions in Iraq, Pentagon officials said. Among the three assigned to defend Baghdad is the Medina division, brought in from the north to the area around Karbala, and now under heavy bombardment by invasion forces.
The al Nida and Baghdad divisions are also in the capital area. US officials said the Adnan mechanized division has been brought down from Mosul to Tikrit, to defend President Saddam Hussein's birthplace, which is a key power base for the Iraqi regime.
In addition to uniformed forces, Saddam has Baath Party militia and Fedayeen Saddam units in the capital, many of them in civilian clothes. It was members of Fedayeen Saddam who captured a group of American prisoners in Nasiriya at the first days of the war. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
