The Siege of Basra - Operation Iraqi Freedom - Animated 

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If absolutely true, biggest kudos ever to the firefighters doing their job under a very, very extreme circumstances on trying to keep the pieces of the world together

Those firefighters...God bless them.

The little touch of the person icons twitching to simulate them talking around 11:29 got a big smile from me. It's these little touches that make these videos so great.

Firemen...in every country...are a rare breed. Battle or no...they got a job to do.

two things to say; 1: those firefighters are absolute legends. 2: i feel bad for the iraqis that were forced at gunpoint to defend their country, when they didnt want to

14:50 can hear the narrator giggle while talking about Soviet era tank turrets taking flight

I was part of the recon for 40 Commando on this operation.. it’s fascinating to see what else was happening over the rest of the battle field. There were a number of operations that were part of securing Basra, I hope you cover them all. Well done!!

15:15 a tank's coaxial MG is operated by the gunner, not the driver (as it is mounted coaxially to the main gun, it's right next to it and facing the same direction).

Please cover the events that lead up to the battle of Fallujah and the battle itself. A high school classmate of mine was killed on the way in to do battle in the city by an IED. Would love to see a video done by you on this. RIP, Lance Cpl. Branden Ramey.

This battle must have been insane for the crews inside those British tanks! Reloading and picking targets nonstop!

“The Changing of the Guard” by Simon Akam goes though this in great detail. It’s a fantastic look at British operations in Iraq, very worth a read.

The Scots went in ready to play! Waterloo 2.0 was a landslide win. I’m thankful you shared this story. I’ve never heard of this battle being fixated on what we were doing (U.S.). Great video!

I feel really sorry for the Iraqis, even rid of Saddam and life is still hard, the insurgency, isis and now Iran thinks it can take control.

Really interesting- though as a brit with a couple of friends who served in the Scots DG at this time I'll note that the regiment should be referred to either as the "Royal Scots Dragoon Guards", or "Scots DG" - the British army has never had a royal scots dragoons regiment, and the Royal Scots were an infantry regiment, predecessors to the Royal Regiment of Scotland

typical answer from an engineer "well I don't know exactly, we just figuring out as we go!" 😂😅I laughed so hard

Keep on the good work Operations Room team!

I'm really enjoying this series and how quickly it's coming out! It's giving me a new perspective on the Iraq War that I never truely had up to now and your videos are my favourite way of understanding the context and scale of these conflicts. Had a thought though; have you ever considered going out of your comfort zone and trying to animate battles that took place in the 19th Century, such as Waterloo, Balaclava, Gravelotte and Gettysburg?

"well its not a bloody advance is it?" is the most Scottish retort ever

This was the Challenger 2's baptism of fire in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Chemical Ali reminds me of Comical Ali. "The Americans are not in Baghdad." As a Abrams drives past behind him.

They're quite good, these Challengers, aren't they? 😂

LOL, those 2 firefighters. Its like the MCVs from Star Craft II repairing your army as there is a huge fire fight going on around them...completely defenseless, but heroically doing thier duty. Where was it that the 1 Challenger 2 had to hold out alone, while it was damaged or something? The one that took like 70 RPG hits and lived.

I was in Task Force Viking CJSOTF North. SF Medic & Sniper. ODA 056 B Co 2nd BN 10th SFG(A) We infilled via the MC-130 "Ugly Baby" (Bird #1 of 6) mission to Bashur and then posted on Hill Top 722 on March 23 2003. Attacked with the Peshmerga in Ayn Sifni on April 6th pushed south to Mosul first ODA or any Americans in there to the Airport by the evening of the 11th of April 2003. Fought tanks on foot and had never received as much machine-gun / ZPU 14.5, ZSU 23mm, mortar and artillery fire in my life before or since and I have dozens of deployments. Those opening weeks of Iraqi Freedom were nothing like Afghanistan I went through all my 9 lives in days. Semper Fi to the Marines and a big AIRBORNE to the 101st ABN who reinforced us at the Airport in Mosul. Damn glad to see you boys flying and rolling in. Finished off the deployment doing SSE for WMD and HVT Kill / Capture raids for the "The deck of cards". This was the most do it all (SF Mission Set) deployment you could have had as an SF guy. We did it all in one deployment. FID UW CT DA SR and some more shit we just thought up out of the blue:) De Opresso Liber Docsully Cardinal 1-6

Just constant quality, well researched, small nit-bits from people that were there and that animation!! If all I've got to-do is leave a like, a comment and turn notifications on to full, I'm all over it like beans on toast..

I'm 39 so I was well old enough to remember 911 and the subsequent wars that followed. I had many friends that served in Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. These videos are fantastic as I remember during that time period saying to myself "man I can't wait until I'm old and can watch documentaries about this on the history channel." Keep up the good work!

Not a single vehicle loss from the british advance thats insane considering the circumstances. The mines, mortar fire and hull down tanks is quite a tough challenge. Challenger 2's are hard as nails and they shouldnt of discontinued them

We had idiots who would drive their Toyota trucks in between the vehicles in our patrols. M1 A and LAV its called a Combat Push. But when they got clear of our patrol we took care of them. Who drives a truck in-between a tank and an LAV that are firing on targets??? Iraqi people did all the time.

British Challenger 2 tanks are awesome and they really kick ass.

15:08 I've watched countless videos from Ukraine where Russian tankers drove headlong onto exposed AT mines casually laid out on roads and blowing up... and you're telling me all they had to do was just spray the mines with the coax to get rid of them?

This is my favorite channel for military campaigns because it shows what happens and presents everything in a very real way and gives you a birds eyes view with a every day soldiers thoght process

Shoutout to the firefighters who will do their job even in a combat zone.

Shooting your way through a minefield while under fire is pretty badass

Loving this series, very informative! Merry Christmas!

Excellent report and presentation. Thank you.

Such a well done video! I would expect nothing else from the operations room! The best group on you tube

Puts a whole new meaning to “firefight”

This was well done very informative good narrative thank you

Happy holidays, thank you!

Hey OR, I'm sure you have a long list of battles to do, but I really think the battle of Jutland would make a great video. A massive dreadnought clash and lots of political significance on who was the larger navel power. Also seeing the navel tactics during WW1 would be very interesting as they are often seen as a mix between old navel warfare and modern navel warfare. Keep up the good work!

Shooting mines out of the way like its Goldeneye 007 multiplayer

I just realised it is coming up to 20 years after the siege of al amarah detailed in the book sniper one and where Johnson Beharry earned his VC Would be good if you could make a video on these events

excellent stuff - keep 'em coming!

Love your videos and keep up the great work👍 Would love to see a video about The battle of Jutland.

That was fantastically told, what an amazing engagement.

I always love your videos. Thank you.

i like the little detail where the actual person talking shakes haha. Yet another amazing, well-researched video!

Those Challenger tanks are something else

I learn more about war and battle from this channels than in history class keep it up your video are amazing

Literally the t55 where in an uptier battle 💀

Every video you made was very good, explained very well and for everyone's understanding you chose me for those who are passionate about the great battle in history and strategies, I would like to see a video where you explain the battle of Kursk. Respect

gotta say, probably my favorite part of this video has been the spectacular British banter. XD

I just wanna say I love your videos and how you show more detail than others

Amazing story, graphics and narration .................. thankyou

Thanks for another terrific video!

Love binge watching these!

I liked that the narrator used military lingo in this video. Can't wait for the next part. This is turning out to be a great series.

I throughly enjoyed your video.

Great video!

15:20 the driver can’t fire any of the weapons. The coax is fired by the gunner.

amazing videos on iraq war 2. Usa and Uk were really alone in taking a country. And UK did not get the credit it deserved in most USA media outlets back then. Keep up the good work, love to see more GWOT videos, 20plus years of battles

Well done mini documentary. Thank you.

6:10 boy how things have changed

Continuing greatness of vids.

I can't wait for you to do the battle of as-samawah. I was there. 1st PLT C co 1/325 AIR, 82d

Tanks for keeping me occupied for 20min. Needed it. Cheers!

I enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

I love all of these! videos!!!

Please cover either Ramadi or Fallujah, I have a family member who served in Ramadi, and would be interested to see the full extent of the Battle.

40 Commando also had naval gunfire support from HMAS Anzac and HMS Marlborough.

Another excellent video fellas. Keep up the good work.

another great vid

Suggestion to OR: When you shift your focus throw a quick blip on the screen to indicate where your new subjects are. Just a quick flash and disappearing circle or something.

The attention to detail is always amazing but the fact that Fedayeen Saddam icon is the Darth Vader Helmet, takes to the next level. Only few people know or remember that black Darth Vader style helmet were worn by some of the black-uniformed Fedayeen, as Uday Hussein commander of the Fedayeen and eldest son of Saddam was reportedly an avid fan of Star Wars. The helmet shell was made of fibre glass, with a nylon webbing cradle. Fixed to the right side was a moulded rubber Fedayeen badge, which consisted of a silhouette of Saddam and the motto; Allah al-watan qa'ed God, homeland, leader.

Thank you.

The narrator sounds very much like Marcus Hearn who is known for his Hammer films commentaries (and Hammer books). It's probably just a coincidence, but I did wonder if it was Marcus narrating or not.

I love how this series highlights how during the early war despite being out numbered and facing an enemy in prepared positions technology can turn the tide of a battle. Imagine the same battle but in WWII? Then think of the late war on how two dudes in pajamas with EFP's could turn into a tank columns worst nightmare.

every time i see one of ur vids about the iraq i feel sad and proud for my country !

Hey love your videos I have a quick question what editor do you use to make there animations and map battles

Yessss new video for breakfast 🤌

Laught so loud when you told about the fire trucks. Surreal😂😂

This is one of the best series on RU-vid

Awesome work mate. What are you using for this animations? is possible to know? i’m a military advisor, and this could be a great tool for my job. Thank you.

Thanks!

Shared video.

I love the M1 don't get me wrong, but Challenger 2s are beasts

Its been awesome to watch the animation get better and better over the years

The co-ax is not operated by the driver, it is coaxial with the main gun.

I was plattoon leader on the M3 with the german army. When I met the, now 28th, engineers I was impressed they used the M3 in Iraq, as that was the last palce I imageined them to be used in. I had a love hate relationship with the rig, it was awsome for fast bridgeing but damn did it need maintanance. Interestingly enough the German and British forces now form a single battalion combining their M3 capabilities for NATO.

That Challenger 2 was OG during the battle.

How are you able to get such precise details for the videos that you do? You even have the radio transmissions.

Pretty sure the firefighters weren't oblivious to anything, they saw exactly what was up and chose to do their job anyways. Legends.

There's one slight error in the wording around the 15:18 mark "the driver sprays the path ahead with the coaxial machine gun" this would of been the gunner not the driver. other then that the video is perfect as always.

Would be cool if you included photos for each part

15:16 the driver does not operator the coaxial machine gun, the gunner does, I believe the confusion stems from the presence of bow mounted machine guns on WW2 tanks

Could you do a series about Korean War? Not many knows how it went, the operations, or who were involved in the war

I had no idea of that type of mine clearing procedure 😅

That was a very sad turn of events at the end.......

I love the overhead view reminds me of the very first GTA games

Here we see just how unfair this war was. T-55’s against tanks 40 years more advanced than it, those soldiers didn’t stand a chance, but they fought hard despite everything against them, that’s real soldiers.