Quick questions on Operation Desert Storm 1991: HSC Modern History Conflict in the Gulf

Operation Desert Shield (from 7 August 1990) deployed Coalition forces to Saudi Arabia. At the war's start, the Coalition had around 700,000 personnel, of whom 540,000 were US. Other major contributors: Saudi Arabia (100,000), Britain (53,000), Egypt (36,000), France (18,000), Syria (14,000), Kuwait (7,000), and 30 other states.

The air war opened with F-117A Nighthawks attacking Baghdad command centres at 03:00 Gulf time on 17 January 1991. Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the USS San Jacinto and other vessels at the same hour. The first wave destroyed the Iraqi integrated air defence system.

Iraq fired around 88 Scud-B and al-Husayn missiles between 17 January and 25 February. 42 hit Israel; 46 hit Saudi Arabia. The largest single casualty was the Scud hit on a US Army Reserve barracks at Khobar Towers, Dhahran, on 25 February 1991, killing 28 American soldiers.

Schwarzkopf's "left hook" plan used Marine and Arab forces to fix Iraqi defences while VII Corps and XVIII Airborne Corps swept west, north, and then east through the empty desert of southern Iraq to envelop the Republican Guard.

Iraqi forces began retreating north from Kuwait City on Highway 80 on the night of 25-26 February 1991. Coalition aircraft (A-10s, F-15Es, F-18s) and helicopters attacked the retreating convoys. Around 2,000 vehicles were destroyed on Highway 80 and the parallel Highway 8 by 27 February.

Powell and Bush decided to halt. Bush announced the ceasefire on television on 27 February at 21:00 Washington time. The cessation of offensive operations took effect at 08:00 Gulf time on 28 February 1991, exactly 100 hours after G-Day. The Safwan ceasefire talks (3 March 1991) saw Schwarzkopf and Khalid bin Sultan meet Iraqi Lt Gen Sultan Hashim Ahmad, with Iraq agreeing to all UN resolutions.

Coalition combat deaths: 240 (146 US, 47 from friendly fire or accidents). British losses: 47. Iraqi military deaths are uncertain: estimates from 8,000 (Beth Daponte 1993) to 25,000-50,000 (DIA contemporary).

Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor (The Generals' War, 1995) is the standard operational history.

The air campaign degraded but did not destroy the Iraqi army. The ground campaign was needed and was decisive.

The Marine amphibious force off Kuwait was a feint.

28 February 1991, 100 hours after G-Day. The formal UNSCR 687 terms came 3 April 1991.