3rd Division (Iraq)

The 3rd Division is a formation of the Iraqi Army. Itwas active by 1941, disbanded along with the rest of theIraqi Army in 2003, but reactivated by 2005.

1 History

Before being disbanded in 2003, the previous 3rd Divi-sion had been one of the four original divisions of the IraqiArmy, being active in 1941 during the Anglo-Iraqi War.The division’s most notable activity in the war came on22 May when the division’s 6th Infantry Brigade staged acounterattack against British forces in Fallujah which wasrepulsed.In July 1958 elements of the division had overthrownthe Iraqi government in the 14 July Revolution, withAbd al-Karim Qasim, commander of the 20th InfantryBrigade (an armoured brigade according to Darwish andAlexander) stationed near Ba'quba, the originator of thecoup. However the actual overthrow was led by a battal-ion commander, Abdul Salam Arif, in the 19th InfantryBrigade.[2]

Soldiers of the 3rd Division during a training exercise in 2011

Some time in the 1950s or 1960s the division was con-verted into the 3rd Armoured Division, which was de-ployed to the 1967 Six Day War. Iraqi participation inthe Six Day War was limited, principally owing to theslow reaction of the 3rd Armoured Division, which hadbeen stationed in eastern Jordan.[3] The 3rd ArmouredDivision did not organise itself and reach the front linebefore the Jordanians ceased operations. Later during theevents of Black September in Jordan, 1970, the divisionwas still stationed in northeast Jordan. Though the Jor-danians needed forces to repel the Syrian invasion, they

had to keep the 99th Brigade of their 3rd Armoured Di-vision out of the conflict so that they could watch the Iraqidivision.[4]

The 3rd Armoured Division saw service later in the YomKippur War, under the command of Brigadier GeneralLafta, and was deployed alongside the Jordanian 40th Ar-moured Brigade. By that time, 'the division was the eliteunit of the army, and Iraqi officers avidly competed tobe assigned to it.'[5] The Division suffered heavy casu-alties during the war, losing more than 157 tanks, 278dead and 898 wounded.[6] The 8th Mechanised Brigadewas completely destroyed on 13 October in an ambushset by four Israeli armoured brigades at Tel Shaar, be-tween Maschara and Nasej.[7] The division later foughtin the Iran-Iraq War, Persian Gulf War, operations in the1990s, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Just before the IraqWar it was part of the II Corps, on the Iranian border.It comprised the 6th Armoured Brigade, 12th ArmouredBrigade, and 8thMechanised Brigade.[8] It was disbandedwhen the Iraqi Armed Forces were formally dissolved byCoalition Provisional Authority Order Number 2.After its reformation post-2003, the division was head-quartered at Al Kisik. Its units were part of the origi-nal three division New Iraqi Army. As of January 2005,the division was commanded by Maj. Gen. KhursheedSaleem Hassan.[9] The 3rd Division was transferred fromcoalition control to the Iraqi Ground Forces Commandon 1 December 2006.[10]

In 2014, the 6th Brigade of the 3rd Division was de-scribed as the 'The first line of Mosul’s defence' againstISIS. Reuters said that 'On paper, the brigade had 2,500men. The reality was closer to 500. The brigade was alsoshort of weapons and ammunition, according to one non-commissioned officer. Infantry, armour and tanks hadbeen shifted to Anbar, where more than 6,000 soldiershad been killed and another 12,000 had deserted. It leftMosul with virtually no tanks and a shortage of artillery,'according to Lieutenant General Mahdi Gharawi, com-mander of the Ninevah operational command.[11]

Jane’s Defence Weekly's 30 July account of the IraqiArmy’s poor performance against ISIS during theoffensive in Northern Iraq during June 2014 said the di-vision, by then comprising the 6th, 9th, 10th, and 11thBrigades, had almost totally dissolved or been destroyedin fighting. The exception appeared to be the 4th Bat-talion of the 10th Brigade, which had been defending aposition outside Tall Afar in early July 2014.[12]

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2 5 EXTERNAL LINKS

2 Subordinate units

• Division Headquarters

• 9th Motorised Brigade

• 10th Motorised Brigade ('Desert Lions’)

• 11th Motorised Brigade

• 12th Brigade (formed in April 2008)

• 3rd Motor Transport Regiment?

3 Notes[1] Dunstan, Simon (2003). The Yom Kippur War 1973:

Golan Heights Pt.1. Elsm Court, ChapelWay, Botley, Ox-ford OX2 9LP, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing Ltd.p. 18. ISBN 1 84176 220 2.

[2] Pollack 2002, p. 156

[3] Pollack 2002, p. 167

[4] Pollack 2002, p. 343

[5] Pollack 2002 p. 167

[6] Dunstan, Simon (2003). The Yom Kippur War 1973:Golan Heights Pt.1. Elsm Court, ChapelWay, Botley, Ox-ford OX2 9LP, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing Ltd.p. 83. ISBN 1 84176 220 2.

[7] Dunstan, Simon (2003). The Yom Kippur War 1973:Golan Heights Pt.1. Elsm Court, ChapelWay, Botley, Ox-ford OX2 9LP, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing Ltd.p. 75. ISBN 1 84176 220 2.

[8] Cordesman 2002, p. 3

[9] “IRAQ: Iraqi Army’s 8th Brigade graduate multipleclasses”. Noticias. 17 January 2005. Retrieved 24 March2010.

[10] United States Department of Defense, Transcript of dis-cussion with Commander Multinational Division North, 1December 2006

[11] Reuters/Business Insider Australia, An Iraqi General Saysthat Baghdad is Wrong about How Mosul Fell to ISIS,'October 14, 2014.

[12] Mitchell Prothero, 'Baghdad breakdown', Jane’s DefenceWeekly, 30 July 2014, p.22

4 References

• Cordesman, Anthony H. (2002). Iraq’s MilitaryCapabilities in 2002: A Dynamic Net Assessment.Washington, DC: The Center for Strategic and In-ternational Studies. ISBN 978-0-89206-416-8.

• Darwish, Adel; Alexander, Gregory (1991). UnholyBabylon: The Secret History of Saddam’s War. Lon-don: Victor Gollancz. ISBN 978-0-7881-5108-8.

• Pollack, Kenneth M. (2002). Arabs at War: Mil-itary Effectiveness 1948–91. Lincoln and London:University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-3733-9.

5 External links• “3rd Armored Division 'Salahuddin'". Globalsecu-rity.org. Archived from the original on 27 April2010. Retrieved 24 March 2010.

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6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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