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Battle of Nasiriyah
Part of 2003 Invasion of Iraq
Dead U.S. soldier in Nasiriyah
Date March 23, 2003 - March 29, 2003 Location Nasiriyah, Iraq Result U.S. tactical victory
Combatants
Iraq	Coalition Forces: U.S
Casualties
30-1,000 killed[1]	33 KIA; 6 POW;150 WIA

Battles and operations of the Iraq War
Umm Qasr – Nasiriyah – Baghdad – Debecka Pass – Red Dawn – Spring 2004 – 1st Fallujah – 1st Ramadi – Husaybah – 1st Najaf –  Sadr City – 2nd Fallujah – Mosul – Lake Thartar – Al Qaim – Haditha – Steel Curtain – Tal Afar – 2nd Ramadi – Together Forward – Sinbad – Amarah – Turki – Diyala – Haifa Street – Karbala – 2nd Najaf– Law and Order Full list of Coalition operations

Iraq War
Invasion – Post-invasion (Insurgency – Civil War) Battles & operations – Bombings and terrorist attacks

The Battle of Nasiriyah occurred during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Heavy fighting took place between Iraqi forces and the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade under the call sign Task Force Tarawa of the United States Marine Corps between about March 23 and March 29 2003. During the fighting 33 Marines and soldiers were killed and over 150 were wounded, while the Iraqi resistance was crushed fairly rapidly thereafter.

Contents 1 The battle 2 Participating units 3 External links 4 Bibliography 5 Notes

An Nasiriyah was the headquarters of the Iraqi Army's 3d Corps, composed of the 11th ID, 51st Mech ID, and 6th Armored Division -- all at around 50 percent strength. The 51st operated south covering the oilfields, and the 6th was north near Al Amarah, which left three brigade-sized elements of the 11th ID to guard the An Nasiriyah area.

On March 23, a convoy of the United States Army's 507th Maintenance Company and the 3rd Combat Support BN elements made a wrong turn into enemy territory and were ambushed near the city PDF, killing 11 soldiers and resulting in multiple soldiers including Private Jessica Lynch becoming prisoners of war. At least 15 American transport vehicles of different size (from Humvees to Hemtts) were destroyed in this action by small arms fire, RPGs, mortar and tank gunfire. Some of them swerved out of the road or crashed while attempting to avoid incoming Iraqi rounds. One truck was even rammed by a Type 69-QM tank. Only three units of the convoy escaped unharmed. This was the most widely reported incident of the whole war.

The bloodiest day of the operations for the Marines was also March 23, when 18 men of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines, were killed by a combination of mortar, RPGs, and indirect tank fire.

A friendly-fire incident occurred when an A-10 strafed Amphibious Assault Vehicles by mistake, killing at least one soldier.[1] Two other Marines, from the 6th Engineer Support BN, Corporal Evans James and Sgt. Bradley S. Korthaus drowned while trying to cross the Saddam canal under fire the following day. A third Marine from the Marine Air Control Gp-28 died from hostile fire.

The last American fatality in Nasiriyah took place on March 25, when Navy Hospital Corpsman Third Class Michael Vann Johnson, Jr. was killed by shrapnel from a grenade. This put the final US death toll at 33 Marines and Soldiers.

• 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines
• 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines
• 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines
• 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines
• 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit
• 3rd Combat Support BN (US ARMY)

• US Army official assessment about the attack on 507th Company
• First hand account of USMC C Company battle for the bridges
• Personal account of Regimental Combat Team 2 Communications Officer

• Lowry, Richard S. (2006). Marines in the Garden of Eden: The Battle for An Nasiriyah. Berkley Hardcover. ISBN 0-425-20988-1. 
• Livingston, Gary (2004). An Nasiriyah: The Fight for the Bridges. Caisson Press. ISBN 1-928724-04-3. 

1. ^ Villagers Enraged and Baffled by American Show of Force