Battle of Phase Line Bullet  The Battle of Phase Line Bullet was one of a series of clashes which led to the destruction of the Tawakalna Iraqi Republican Guard Division, on the 26 February 1991, by a simultaneous attack of the 1st and 3rd armoured divisions, the 1st Infantry Division, and the 2nd Armoured Cavalry Regiment. The battle was one of the rare examples of an American armoured force being repulsed by a screen of Iraqi entrenched infantry, APCs, and Iraqi T-72 tanks during Desert Storm. The incident also involved American friendly fire casualties. The initial skirmishes between American and Iraqi Republican Guard units took place earlier that day around pre-established line 73 Easting, some 30 miles west of Wadi al Batin, where the 2 ACR managed to destroy two Iraqi armoured brigades. The skirmishes in this sector were still going on when the 3rd Armoured Division, positioned north, made the first contact with a brigade of the Tawakalna Armoured Division around 03:30pm. Weather conditions were extremely poor, hampering visibility and identification of targets. As the usual practice for armored reconnaissance, a troop of M3 Bradleys (Alpha Troop), belonging to the 4th Squadron of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, was scouting ahead of the main tank force. The flank screen maneuver took place along the southern boundaries between the 2 ACR and 3rd Armored Division operational areas. Task Forces 4-34 and 4-32 were advancing from the rear. The general movement of the US forces followed an eastward direction. The fumes from hundreds of oil wells set on fire by the Iraqis, combined with an intense shamal, forced the US vehicles to use thermal sights. At 03:00pm, the reconnaissance troop of 14 Bradleys received information from the GHQ of the 3rd Armoured Division that no enemy unit remained between them and the Kuwaiti border. Suddenly, they found a screen line of Iraqi APCs straight ahead, barely to the east. The poor weather, along with burning oil fumes, reduced the visibility conditions to almost zero. The enemy screen line was part of the 9th Armored Brigade of "Tawakalna" Division. A burst of small-arms and heavy machine gunfire, RPGs and Sagger missiles erupted. Initially, the American commander thought they were engaging dismounted infantry supported by BMPs, but later he realized that they were also receiving main-gun tank rounds. The US vehicles retaliated by firing TOW missiles, 25 mm cannon and machine guns.