Operation Ramadan

date	July 1982
place	Basra , southern Iraq
output	tactical Iranian victory

Parties to the conflict
Iraq 1963 Iraq	Iran Iran
Troop strength
60,000–80,000 soldiers	100,000 soldiers
losses
80,000 soldiers on both sides

Operation Ramadan was an offensive in the Iran-Iraq war . The operation started near Basra in July 1982 and was the largest land battle since World War II .

prehistory

By mid-1982 Iraq had been driven almost entirely from Iranian territory and withdrew to the south of its own country. Saddam Hussein used the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 as an excuse to end the war and send aid to the Lebanese.

Iran refused the peace offer and began preparing for the advance into Iraq. At first, some politicians rejected the idea of an invasion of Iraq, as this could reduce the sympathy gained with the Muslim countries. These politicians were supported by the Iranian military. However, these opinions were ignored. At that time, the Iranian people were in a euphoria of victory. So the government planned an invasion that included the destruction of Iraqi artillery , the annihilation of the 3rd Iraqi Corps and the capture of Shatt al-Arab . Since the first day of the operation coincided with the holy month of Ramadan , the Iranians called the offensive Operation Ramadan.

course

The operation began with heavy artillery fire, which lasted two days. Then, on July 13th, the following radio message was broadcast on Iranian frequencies:

Ya Saheb ez-Zaman! (O Lord of Time! - meaning the (absent) 12th Imam of the 12er Shia)

Over 100,000 Pasdaran and Basij-e Mostaz'afin advanced towards the Iraqi lines. These were still supported by the 16th, 88th and 92nd Panzer Divisions and the 21st and 77th Infantry Divisions . The Pasdaran and Basij-e Mostaz'afin were mainly used to detonate minefields and make room for the tanks . After the eighth day, Iran had advanced over 16 km into Iraqi territory and captured several bridges.

However, the attack stalled as the Iranian soldiers dug trenches as defensive measures . According to the military, this was necessary because the Iraqis used Mi-25s and French aerospatiales to stop the Iranian tanks and mechanized infantry from advancing. These “hunter-killer” teams of Iraqi helicopters, formed with the help of the East German advisors, turned out to be very useful for Iraq as they inflicted heavy losses on Iran. The operation was also notable for the aerial battles between Iraqi MiGs and Iranian McDonnell F-4s .

On July 16, Iran tried again to advance further north, which they succeeded. But the poorly trained Iranians were intercepted by the better trained Iraqi soldiers and tanks just 12 km from Basra. In the fighting that followed there were heavy losses on both sides. Iraq was forced to use the 3rd, 9th and 10th Panzer Divisions to counterattack in order to prevent the front from collapsing. But the Iraqis only succeeded in doing this with high losses. The 9th Panzer Division had to be disbanded and has not yet been reconstructed.

consequences

The operation was the first of many disastrous offensives that cost thousands of lives. In retrospect, the Iranian government lacked the effective command and control over its armies, air support and logistics to plan a successful offensive. Saddam Hussein offered several peace treaties in the following years, none of which were accepted by the revolutionary government.

literature

Kenneth Pollack: The Persian Puzzle . Random House, 2004
Christopher de Bellaigue: In the rose garden of the martyrs . HarperCollins, 2005
Efraim Karsh: Essential Histories: Iran-Iraq War 1980–1988 . Osprey Publishing
Dilip Hiro: The longest war . Routlage Chapman & Hall, 1991.

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Pollack: Arabs at War . 2002, pp. 204-205

[1] Pollack: Arabs at War . 2002, pp. 204-205