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Gulf War Fact Book
Presents a concise history of Operation Desert Storm, with information on Coalition and Iraqi forces, and discusses the air campaign and the ground action
- GenresHistory
104 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1991
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September 18, 2026
GULF WAR FACT BOOK is a most authoritative source of information on the Gulf War, considering it only has 104 pages, yet includes illustrations and excellent colored maps.
Iraq had fought an eight year war against Iran to a stalemate. The Iraqi army was huge and full of veterans with modern equipment. Yet the Coalition Forces destroyed their army in one grand offensive. On the scorecard 4000 Iraqi tanks were destroyed for the loss of less than 10. Less than one front line fatality was suffered for each Iraqi division destroyed. Thousands upon thousands of Iraqi troops surrendered, some even to Coalition helicopter gunships. It was a lopsided battle, matched by few in history. This booklet covers it all. It might not go into detail like a work of 300 pages but it still has room for some interesting tidbits of information.
The best units, or most loyal to Saddam, were the Republican Guard. Recruited from his home province, they had the best equipment.
The Iraqi special forces were not special in the way we think of the word. They were more like the German Stosstruppen of WWI. These were highly motivated and trained men who led the others in the attack.
The Coalition Forces worked as a team, with one goal. One reason that made this possible was English being a common language between pilots of the various nations.
They say that an aircraft made for more than one task excels at neither when compared to an aircraft designed for a designated role. For instance a fighter is a better fighter than a fighter-bomber. There is always an exception to the rule and in this case it is the C-130 Hercules. It is a transport and gunship par excellence.
In 1992, it was said that the US B-52 strategic bomber had first been flown before half of the air force personnel had been born. That was some 34 years ago, and it is still flying!
US General Norman Schwarzkopf was in total control but utilized a brilliant staff from various countries. His plan was a huge success. By comparison, Saddam had no military experience, not even as an enlisted man. Several top Iraqi generals from the war with Iran had been killed in suspicious helicopter 'accidents'. These accidents seem to be a common occurrence in that part of the world. A helicopter pilot once told me that just as he was taking off with some dignitary a ground launched missile of unknown origin was fired at him but missed.
Saddam ordered his troops to use chemical weapons but they refused. General Schwarzkopf said it was because the Iraqi chemical munitions were old. This book said that it was probably due to the PsyOps campaign where leaflets were dropped on the Iraqi positions stating that anyone who used them would be tracked down and punished like the Nazis in WWII.
The Iraqi soldiers had no desire to hold their positions so that others behind them could loot the wealth of Kuwait.
Patriot batteries shot down Iraqi Scud missiles. This was a first of its kind.
Desert Storm was compared to video games with the smart bombs and other electronic warfare weapons. Some US fighter-bombers are blind at night and in bad weather so they use the television lens in their air-to-ground Maverick missiles to find a target and then launch the missile at it.
This is a great book on the war if you can find one.
I have to add something that was not covered, naturally, in this book. Since the war there have been numerous cases of what is described as Gulf War Syndrome. Troops have become sick, like Agent Orange exposure from an earlier war. The government denied such a thing as Agent Orange at first. In my opinion this was to protect the makers of the chemicals. Is that any way to treat our veterans? It is something to think about.
Iraq had fought an eight year war against Iran to a stalemate. The Iraqi army was huge and full of veterans with modern equipment. Yet the Coalition Forces destroyed their army in one grand offensive. On the scorecard 4000 Iraqi tanks were destroyed for the loss of less than 10. Less than one front line fatality was suffered for each Iraqi division destroyed. Thousands upon thousands of Iraqi troops surrendered, some even to Coalition helicopter gunships. It was a lopsided battle, matched by few in history. This booklet covers it all. It might not go into detail like a work of 300 pages but it still has room for some interesting tidbits of information.
The best units, or most loyal to Saddam, were the Republican Guard. Recruited from his home province, they had the best equipment.
The Iraqi special forces were not special in the way we think of the word. They were more like the German Stosstruppen of WWI. These were highly motivated and trained men who led the others in the attack.
The Coalition Forces worked as a team, with one goal. One reason that made this possible was English being a common language between pilots of the various nations.
They say that an aircraft made for more than one task excels at neither when compared to an aircraft designed for a designated role. For instance a fighter is a better fighter than a fighter-bomber. There is always an exception to the rule and in this case it is the C-130 Hercules. It is a transport and gunship par excellence.
In 1992, it was said that the US B-52 strategic bomber had first been flown before half of the air force personnel had been born. That was some 34 years ago, and it is still flying!
US General Norman Schwarzkopf was in total control but utilized a brilliant staff from various countries. His plan was a huge success. By comparison, Saddam had no military experience, not even as an enlisted man. Several top Iraqi generals from the war with Iran had been killed in suspicious helicopter 'accidents'. These accidents seem to be a common occurrence in that part of the world. A helicopter pilot once told me that just as he was taking off with some dignitary a ground launched missile of unknown origin was fired at him but missed.
Saddam ordered his troops to use chemical weapons but they refused. General Schwarzkopf said it was because the Iraqi chemical munitions were old. This book said that it was probably due to the PsyOps campaign where leaflets were dropped on the Iraqi positions stating that anyone who used them would be tracked down and punished like the Nazis in WWII.
The Iraqi soldiers had no desire to hold their positions so that others behind them could loot the wealth of Kuwait.
Patriot batteries shot down Iraqi Scud missiles. This was a first of its kind.
Desert Storm was compared to video games with the smart bombs and other electronic warfare weapons. Some US fighter-bombers are blind at night and in bad weather so they use the television lens in their air-to-ground Maverick missiles to find a target and then launch the missile at it.
This is a great book on the war if you can find one.
I have to add something that was not covered, naturally, in this book. Since the war there have been numerous cases of what is described as Gulf War Syndrome. Troops have become sick, like Agent Orange exposure from an earlier war. The government denied such a thing as Agent Orange at first. In my opinion this was to protect the makers of the chemicals. Is that any way to treat our veterans? It is something to think about.
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