2nd Battle of Fallujah (Phantom Fury), LTG Natonski
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2nd Battle of Fallujah (Phantom Fury), LTG Natonski Operation Al-Fajr in Arabic, Operation Phantom Fury was the code name given to the second battle of Fallujah, considered the hottest point of conflict of all the military campaign in Iraq. Led by the US Marine Corp against the Iraqi combatants, who had held the city under their control, some consider it was the most difficult battle marines have been involved since Vietnam in the 60s. The battle put end to the insurgent control over the city and constituted an important victory for the US troops, however such victory had a high painful price 1. More than 90
The operation Phantom Fury was a join operation which also involved Air Force and joint tactical air controllers, Navy Seabees and SEAL sniper teams. It was a truly three block war, in the sense that combating, patrolling and offering first aids were taking place at the same time. As part of his strategy, the general idea was to make a rapid assault to penetrate deep all the way down to the middle, in order to divide the city in two sectors, North and South with the purpose to disrupt the enemy, from behind 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, and 1st Marines were cleaning buildings up, backed up by the Iraqi Battalion. His reputation as a leader placed him in the first line of combat, not also controlling the accomplishment of the orders but being present talking to the troops, commanders, and battalion commanders encouraging them to do better, and discussing the next steps with his subordinates face to face, not by radio. For him it was important to be there to state how his brave soldiers were doing under such stressing environment. He has said himself that a real leader has to be up front to lead, by visiting every point or unit during the combat made him take important decisions as quick as he could, besides of knowing in real time what it was needed to do depending on the psychological momentum 6. The plans for attacking Fallujah began around the September timeframe,