Active Unknown – 2003 Type Armoured Division | Country Iraq Branch Iraqi Republican Guard | |
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The 1st 'Hammurabi' Armored Division (Arabic: الفرقة المدرعة حمورابي) was an elite formation of the Iraqi Republican Guard.
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The division was named after Hammurabi; a Babylonian King known for the set of laws called Hammurabi's Code, which constitute one of the earliest surviving codes of law in recorded history.
1991 Gulf War
The division commander has stated that he ordered his tanks to use high-explosive anti-personnel munitions, rather than anti tank rounds, so as to minimize Kuwaiti casualties in tank engagements of the invasion.
Towards the end of the war the division was involved in the controversial Battle of Rumaila, when US Army forces under Lt. Gen. Barry McCaffrey annihilated the retreating division near the Rumaila oil field, resulting in the division suffering some 7,000 casualties.
2003 invasion of Iraq
During the Invasion of Iraq the division was given orders to retreat from Suwayrah on the night of 5 April 2003 after several days of bombardment by American planes. Further orders on exactly where to regroup were not forthcoming, and senior officers disappeared, leading to mass desertions and the collapse of the division.