Battle of the Marshes
The Battle of the Marshes (Arabic: معركة الأهوار, Persian: نبرد نیزارها) was a part of the Iran–Iraq War.
| Battle of the Marshes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Iran–Iraq War | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Iraq | Iran | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Saddam Hussein | Hossein Kharrazi (WIA) | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Unknown | 250,000–350,000 troops | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
3,000 killed 9,000 wounded 60 tanks lost |
20,000 killed 30,000 wounded 1,000 captured | ||||||||
After the mostly indecisive Dawn operations in 1983, Iran opened a new, surprise amphibious offensive in the lakes of the Hawizeh Marshes in Iraqi Tigris–Euphrates river system.
After heavy losses at the beginning due to human wave attacks, 15,000 casualties and little progress, Iran began developing new tactics, involving amphibious assault, and deployed a regular army division, the 92nd Armored Division. Although the Iranians suffered heavy losses against the Iraqi artillery, tanks, air strikes and gunboats, Iran eventually managed to invade the oil rich Majnoun Islands with Operation Kheibar and nearly break the Iraqi lines before being driven back to the marshes and Majnoon Island.
Iraq heavily used chemical weapons (mustard gas) during the battle.