Lying in Wait for the Battle

The Marines rolled out before dawn Monday during a chilly downpour.

Water dripping from their combat gear, they walked half a mile from the staging area to the spot where a line of 7-ton troop trucks was waiting to transport them to the northern outskirts of this city.

The troops were eager to be on the move, especially toward Fallouja, where American forces began an invasion last April, but aborted the mission after five days. “Gentlemen, this is payback time,” said 1st Sgt. Jose Andrade.

As the trucks began to roll, 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Rafael Pegeuro contrasted what he was about to do with what was going on his neighborhood in the Bronx. “My friends are back home flipping burgers.”

The trucks pulled to a halt at a traffic circle on the outskirts of the city as the rain continued to fall. The Marines pulled out their shovels and began digging fighting holes for protection against the mortar and rocket fire landing nearby. They checked the soil closely, mindful of black scorpions that build nests there.

Marine Col. Craig Tucker, commander of a combat team made up of three battalions -- two Marine, one Army -- said he believed the insurgents inside Fallouja would misjudge what was about to happen.

“I don’t think the enemy fully understands what’s coming through the railroad tracks,” he said, referring to the set of rails the Americans would have to cross to move into the city. “In his mind, it’s Bradleys [armored vehicles] and Abrams [tanks]. But 2,000 infantrymen are going to stand up and walk through.”

The troops waited through the day, hunkered down as the fusillade from inside the town increased. The air filled with a cacophony of tracer bullets, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells. At other times, troops heard loud and insistent calls from the city’s mosques urging the people of rebel-held Fallouja to fight against the Americans.

“A-Hour” as they called Attack Hour, was set for 7 p.m. As the hours led up to it, American jets and helicopters blasted away at the city, especially the northern edge where the troops would enter. Phosphorous bombs lighted up the night sky as the troops cheered from where they waited. In the light of the bombs, they could see the destruction that already had been wrought -- gutted buildings and twisted car wreckage.

Still the troops did not move, thinking that snipers might sneak up on their flank, even as it continued to rain. A line of tanks soon arrived, bringing increased firepower, which meant it would soon be time to move out.

The hazy glow of dawn today began to appear in the east and the soldiers could see the outline of Fallouja. They’d been told it would take at least four days to clear the city. Already, one night had passed.

Then word came down the line: It was time to move out. The day was breaking as the troops prepared to take their first target, a mosque about half a mile away. An armored bulldozer led the way toward the city. And then the sniping from the rooftops began. The battle had been joined.