U.S. Army Sgt. Mark Phiffer stands guard duty near a burning oil well in the Rumaylah Oil Fields in Southern Iraq

With the arrival of dawn on March 21st, US troops crossed the border into Iraq. The first Marine division seized the Rumaylah oilfields. By the end of the day the Marines had succeeded in capturing the oil fields and their important pumping stations intact. The senior command of the 51st Iraqi Mech Inf Div surrendered. Their main opposition was Fedayeen The British seized the Faw Peninsula. In the meantime, the main air campaign against the Iraqis began. There were 832 air sorties and 381 cruise missiles struck Iraqis.