Battle of Ramadi (2004)

The Battle of Ramadi was fought in the spring of 2004, during the same time as the First Battle of Fallujah, for control of the capital of the Al Anbar Governorate in western Iraq. A coalition military force consisting of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines were stationed to defend the city from an insurgent assault.

In April 2004, Fallujah was under siege by Coalition Forces and insurgents were looking to relieve pressure on the city by attempting an offensive of their own. Ramadi, the capital of Al Anbar Province, was seen as a center of gravity to coalition forces, and thus a critical city in western Iraq.

Before the battle started, insurgents cut off the highway out of Al Anbar to Baghdad.

On April 6, 2004, Marines fought with insurgents throughout the city in running gun battles that day. At the end of the first day of fighting 12 Marines had been killed in action. The following day fighting continued. Over the course of a four-day period it was reported that 250 insurgents had been killed.

After 6 months of fighting in Ramadi, 34 Marines and a Navy corpsman had been KIA, and 269 Marines had been wounded. The city remained an unstable environment throughout the course of the 2000s which lead to the subsequent battle in 2006. Five NMCB Seabees were killed in action and 31 were wounded.