Battles of the Gulf War

From the Allied point of view, the Gulf War consisted of two main phases:

An air phase, lasting about six weeks, during which Allied air forces softening up Iraqi military forces by aerial bombardment.
A ground phase, during which Allied ground forces advanced into Kuwait and Southern Iraq, and evicted the Iraqi military from Kuwait.

Of course, the situation was more complex than that simple picture: some ground operations, as well as operations at sea, took place during the air phase, and air operations continued to take place once major ground operations had started.

During the air phase, Britain's major contribution was made by the Royal Air Force (RAF). In particular, Tornadoes performed many low-level attacks on Iraqi airbases using the JP233 runway denial weapon as well as unguided ("dumb") bombs. After the loss of 5 Tornadoes in low-level missions, and since the Iraqi air force had soon been largely destroyed or fled to neighbouring Iran, the Tornadoes switched to medium-level strike using laser-guided bombs, with the help of designators that had been hastily added to the Tornadoes themselves, or with the help of Buccaneers serving in the laser-designation role.

The Royal Navy also made a significant contribution to Allied efforts in the early stages of the war. In particular, Royal Navy Lynx helicopters were responsible for the destruction of almost the entire Iraqi Navy. Additionally, Royal Navy minehunters cleared Iraqi mines near the Kuwaiti coast, allowing the US battleships Wisconsin and Missouri to move in close enough to launch devasting bombardments against Iraqi ground forces.

During the ground phase, the British 1st Armoured Division took part in the gigantic right-hook which outflanked Iraqi forces. British Challenger tanks destroyed approximately 300 Iraqi vehicles, including achieving the longest-range tank-kill in history. Tragically, a friendly fire incident, when an American A-10A aircraft attacked two British Warrior vehicles, resulted in the deaths of 9 British service personnel.

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World War II

Operation Barbarossa
1941 German Invasion of Russia

Operation Citadel
1943 The Battle of Kursk

Operation Dragoon
1944 Invasion of southern France

Operation Varsity
1945 Crossing the Rhine

Invasions That Never Were

Operation Sealion
1940 German invasion of England

Operation Olympic
1945 US invasion of southern Japan

Operation Coronet
1946 US invasion of northern Japan

Special Forces

Operation Entebbe
1976 Entebbe Airport Rescue

Operation Nimrod
1980 Iranian Embassy Siege

British Cold War Operations

Operation Musketeer
1956 Suez Crisis

Operation Corporate
1982 Falklands War

Operation Black Buck
1982 Vulcan raids on Port Stanley

Operation Granby
1990-91 Persian Gulf

British Post Cold War

Operation Herrick
2002- Afghanistan

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