Everything about Operation Undeniable Victory totally explained
Operation Undeniable Victory also known as
Operation Fath-ol-Mobeen was an
Iranian operation conducted during the
Iran-Iraq War, in March 1982. Some believe that this operation was the turning point in the war and that it was this operation that led to the eviction of
Iraqi troops from Khuzestan, as this was Iran's first major victory and because the strategic initiative shifted from Iraq to Iran; Others (including
Efraim Karsh) believe it was actually the operation working in tandem with others which led to the expulsion of Iraqi troops from southern Iran. They believe that in fact,
Operation Jerusalem, which lasted from April to May 1982, had the greatest effect, because the Iranians were able to capture the strategically important city of
Khorramshahr. The Iraqis suffered much greater casualties than the Iranians, because the Iranian attack didn't fully involve the unsupported frontal assaults made by the
Pasdaran which would be associated with Iranian attacks during the attempts to conquer Iraqi territory; the Iranian forces still had to contend with an Iraqi army which was entrenched on the front-line; and they enjoyed a good amount of tank, artillery and aerial support. In the operation, the Iranians were able to encircle Iraqi forces around the town of
Shush. In a week, the Iranians were able to destroy three divisions and win the battle.
Prelude
On
22 September 1980,
Saddam Hussein, attempting to repeat the success of the
Isreali pre-emptive air strike against the Arab air forces, launched numerous sorties against Iranian air fields, hoping to destroy the
Iranian air force on the ground. Although they failed, Saddam was still not going to be prevented from achieving his aim of establishing complete and utter Iraqi dominance of the
Shatt al-Arab waterway. He launched a land invasion of Iran, focusing on southern Iran. He was able to achieve success, capturing the important Iranian city of Khorramshahr. Although the Iraqis were not able to capture the city of
Abadan, the way was open to
Tehran as the Iranian defences had collapsed. The Iraqi advance was halted at the
Karun river and now Iran was able to counter-attack; although their first counter-attack was a failure, this one would be successful.
The Battle
On
22 March 1982, precisely 18 months to the day of the Iraqi invasion, the Iranians launched Operation Undeniable Victory. They intended to use a pincer movement to encircle Iraqi forces around the Iranian town of
Shush, which was under Iraqi control. Under the command of the young Iranian Chief-of-Staff, General
Sayed Shirazi, the Iranians launched an armoured thrust on the night of the 22nd followed by constant human-wave attacks by Pasdaran brigades, composed each of about 1,000 fighters. The Iranians kept up the momentum against the Iraqi forces and, after heavy Iraqi losses, Saddam ordered a retreat on the 28th. Three Iraqi divisions were encircled in the operation.
Aftermath
Along with
Operation Jerusalem Way and
Operation Jerusalem, the Iranians were able to evict the Iraqi forces from southern Iran. The Iranians had succeeded in achieving their standing aim of reversing the gains made by the Iraqi armed forces in the initial stages of the Iran-Iraq War. Afterwards, the Iranian hardliners, headed by the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament
Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, argued for the expansion of Iranian war operations into Iraq. They eventually succeeded in getting their way, and the Iranians commenced several operations to conquer territory.
However, whereas the Iranians had successfully used combined-arms operations to emerge victorious against the Iraqi troops in Iran, during their operations in Iraq they relied upon unsupported human wave attacks by the semi-trained troops of the Pasdaran and the Basij. The wider operation to re-capture
Khuzestan is rightly to be considered a turning point in the Iran-Iraq War; the Iranians were able to secure the
Fao Peninsula in
Operation Dawn 8, another victory in the Iran-Iraq War.
The Iraqis eventually stabilised their armed forces after their retreat from Iran. The result was that the Iranians wouldn't be able to press their determined, but futile, assaults against a resurgent Iraqi army due to Iraqi chemical weapon attacks. Iraq was supported by both the
USA and the
USSR who saw Saddam's regime as a much better option than the revolutionary government of Iran.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Operation Undeniable Victory'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://operation_undeniable_victory.totallyexplained.com">Operation Undeniable Victory Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
