DESERT STORM: DAY 19 : Military

U.S. and Iraqi forces today traded fire across the desert frontier in northern Saudi Arabia. U.S. Marines lobbed artillery shells at Iraqi targets in Kuwait and used air power to blast an Iraqi rocket battery.

U.S. officials disclosed that the battleship Missouri used its 16-inch guns in action for the first time since the Korean War. The ship targeted prefabricated concrete bunkers that the Iraqis were moving into place in Kuwait.

Attacks by U.S. and allied warplanes has forced Iraqi soldiers to move in smaller convoys and top officers to seek protection in schools, U.S. military officials said.

In the Saudi port of Jiddah, pistol or rifle shots were fired at a shuttle bus Sunday night, slightly injuring two U.S. military personnel with flying glass, military officials said. No one was apprehended. U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Robert B. Johnston called the incident a “possible terrorist act.”

Allied bombers pounded Baghdad, and official newspapers promised that Iraq would retaliate with a ferocious hit-and-run ground war. The daily Al Thawra said the country will use its armor, mechanized units and special commando forces in coming battles.