A DAYLIGHT DASH

If Saturday’s armored column attack into Baghdad stunned the city’s defenders, the idea of such a daylight dash had also surprised American tank commanders.

“We all thought they were kidding when the battalion commander said we’re going to drive tanks up into the middle of Baghdad,” said Capt. Jason Conroy, an Army officer who took part in the operation.

“I told the lieutenants and they all dropped their [briefing] books.”

Before it was over, the column had thundered through a Republican Guard gantlet, killing 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and destroying 30 antiaircraft batteries, according to Col. David Perkins, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Brigade. The numbers could not be independently verified.

One American tank commander was killed in the three-hour foray from here into Saddam Hussein’s capital, which American commanders said was designed to stun an Iraqi leadership that had claimed in news conferences that U.S. forces had not yet crossed the Euphrates River, more than 20 miles southwest of the city’s outskirts.

During Saturday’s strike, an Iraqi general was captured when his car nearly collided with an American tank as he drove to work in Baghdad, tank crews said.

“We marched through town and knocked on Saddam’s door and said, ‘We’re here, we’re taking over,’ ” said Conroy, 30, whose bullet-riddled tank barrel was emblazoned with the message: “Courtesy of the red, white and blue.”

Perkins described the attack as both a tactical and psychological blow to Hussein’s regime.

“This is supposed to be his city, yet we drove right through it,” Perkins said, his face still caked with dust and grime from the battle.

“This shows we can go anywhere in the city at a time of our choosing,” he added. “The world saw today that the American Army is, in fact, not bogged down.”

The dawn raid came less than 48 hours after U.S. forces seized the international airport here. It left U.S. forces in control of the two main highways leading north into the capital and east into the city center.

The U.S. has also laid claim to the southwest corner of Baghdad.

Armored columns can now use the highways to strike deeper into other parts of the city. The destruction of the 30 antiaircraft batteries will also reduce the threat to U.S. warplanes.

Perkins said the attack was designed to persuade the Iraqi leaders to reconsider a drawn-out defense of the city.

“We are here in strength. For those who think they can continue to fight the Americans, that is fruitless,” Perkins said. “A lot of people in the regime who thought things were going well will have second thoughts.”

The Republican Guard forces mounted an intense counterattack, commanders said. Each of the 29 Abrams tanks and 14 Bradley fighting vehicles that roared into the city was peppered with holes from small arms and grenades. Upon their return, some were still smoking.

The tank commander who died, a staff sergeant whose name was not immediately released, was struck in the face by grenade shrapnel, said 1st Lt. Shane Williams. Six to eight other Americans were wounded, tank crews said.

One Abrams tank, hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, caught fire and was destroyed to keep it out of enemy hands. Returning tank crews, resting in the shade of their vehicles at the Baghdad airport, described a battle in which Iraqis fired from rooftops and highway overpasses. Even so, they said, Republican Guard forces were taken by surprise and caught in the open.

“It was a very good hunting day,” said Williams, standing next to a tank with the words “Creeping Death” painted on its barrel. The tank was littered with windshield glass from a car that had rammed it.

Tank crews said that at least three civilian vehicles tried to crash into the American column. In one case, returning forces said, a man in a white headband with explosives strapped to his chest was shot dead in his car a few feet short of Perkins’ armored personnel carrier.

“That car was cheese,” said Sgt. Carlos Hernandez, adding that it was hit by perhaps 500 rounds.

At least two U.S. soldiers were wounded when Iraqis rained small-arms and grenade fire on the crippled Abrams tank. The crew escaped, said Hernandez, who tried to douse the flames with fire extinguishers and 20 bottles of water.

He added that he and others beat back the flames long enough for a crew to begin towing the tank.

But the blaze, fed by fuel, erupted again and Perkins ordered the Abrams destroyed. Perkins said that intense Iraqi fire was threatening his men.

The tank was destroyed with a shell fired by Williams from his Abrams. Afterward, Hernandez piled .50-caliber rounds inside and tossed two grenades down the hatch.

“It’s hard to be the only officer in the U.S. Army to personally destroy an Abrams tank,” Williams said. “Doesn’t look too good on the resume.”

The fighting was harrowing, tank crews said, with Republican Guard infantry firing from behind trees and walls along Highway 8, which cuts through the southern half of Baghdad. The roads were thick with “technicals”-- jargon for the white Nissan pickups driven by Iraqis that are mounted with heavy machine guns.

The armored attack helped drive some Iraqi tanks north, where the U.S. 7th Cavalry destroyed several of them, Capt. Conroy said.

“This is unprecedented, to take an armored task force into the center of a major metropolis and be able to say, ‘We’re here -- we’re taking over,’ ” Conroy said.

“We don’t have to ‘park’ in the city to accomplish our goals,” Perkins said. “We hold the airport and the main road, so no part of the city is safe for [Hussein] now.”

Lt. Col. Eric Schwartz said taking Baghdad would be “a real challenge.” But, he added, “we will do this again and again until he’s completely isolated.”